Want me to grasp what you're saying?

I'll probably regret this blog later, but I need to get it off my chest right now.

Scaring me into submission is not the right way to get me to absorb a message you may be trying to say to me.

Let me explain this a little bit. This weekend, my church has participated in a prayer awakening revival. We had a speaker come in to talk and everything. I've heard she's a great speaker, but I have to say that I wasn't exactly impressed by what she was saying. She does seem nice enough though.

She's a bit radical. She preached today at church and it felt like she was yelling at us the entire time. And she kept making us stand and then telling us that we may be seated. What is this, the Catholic church? No offense to Catholics. I just remember sitting and standing a lot when I used to go. I couldn't handle a lot of what she was saying and honestly I just wanted to get out of the room, but I didn't. At the end of the service we had to stand again and if we weren't fully 100% with God there was an alter call. And when she didn't get enough people the first time, she (as my friend told me) guilt tripped more into going up. And she told us that those standing were 100% right with God and that we shouldn't be sitting down. I sat down and prayed (I'm a rebel). I can't stand while praying; I move around too much.

Everything she was saying scared me. Scaring me into submission is not the right way to go about all this. It's happened before that I've been scared into submission and it came with consequences.

When I first got saved when I was in middle school, I did it because I was afraid. We had been up late talking to some friends and they were talking about judgment day and going to hell and stuff and it just freaked me out, so I decided to get saved.

I accepted Christ into my heart scared and it didn't help my relationship with God any. At least, I wasn't serving God in the same way I do today back then. I don't regret the decision I made, but if I could go back, I would want to do it when I wasn't scared into doing so.

So do you want me to grasp what you're saying?

Don't scare me please. It only encourages me to make decisions I might later regret. Instead, I think people need to be taught with love. I think love binds things together. I think love is the way to go.

I'm not saying that our speaker didn't use love. I just think her way was a little harsh. Not at all what I'm used to. I'm sure she means well and it's all in love, but to some people like me, it seems like she's trying to scare us into submission.

I only heard her speak once out of the 4 times in total she spoke because most of the time I was helping with kids ministry. I like how the kids ministry was run this weekend. I enjoyed the lessons. They're a little easier to grasp onto and seem to be full of love. Of course, I think children need to feel this love.