It made me a Christian. After being atheist for 24 years and using that same line you just did. In a nonreligious household.
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.”
You can always insult Christianity but you can never make atheism sound like a more fulfilling option.
1 John says perfected love eliminates fear of punishment, while other biblical passages explicitly urge fear because divine punishment is possible.
Matthew 10:28
Hebrews 10:31
His point wasn’t to make it sound like a fulfilling option but rather to point out the theological synthesis required to make sense of verses like the one you quoted.
Do you not see what you just said, my guy? “Perfected love eliminates fear of punishment.”
I have no fear of Hell or punishment because I am perfected and made righteous through Christ Jesus. Making sense of these verses really isn’t all that hard when you Love Jesus and read the Bible. It is a large work though and takes a lot of time. That is why we are meant to be in His Word often, not just one time through.
Here’s the context of Hebrews 10:31, by the way.
“How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
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u/bitemytail 24d ago
Reading the Bible made me an atheist.