Macabre (Word For The Week)
The word macabre was originally used to reference the “dance of death”. It has gone on to broadly refer to anything grim or gruesome.
In modern English, macabre is used as a synonym of horrible or distressing, always with a connection to the physical aspects of death and suffering.
In arts, macabre is used as an adjective to describe the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. It emphasizes the details, symbols, and personality of death.
It refers to works particularly gruesome in nature.
Why exactly am I describing and defining macabre again and again? It all comes down to one thing.
There is a school of evangelism in Christianity that is too fascinated with death, hell, and the devil. This is something I just can’t wrap my head around.
True enough, hell is a summation of all misery that has existed in prerecorded and recorded history. It is so tremor-inducing, that it shouldn’t be wished on one’s worst enemy.
I understand being scared of hell and not wanting anyone to spend eternity there. In fact, I am a hundred percent behind that.
What I don’t understand is the fascination some Christians and preachers have with hell. Fascination is an understatement.
I can understand a sermon like “sinners in the hand of an angry God.” What I can’t understand is repeating it as your sermon for 52 Sundays in one year.
The earth is already disaster-laden enough. Going to a church with a macabre atmosphere, or a preacher whose area of specialization is the several departments that exist in hell is not good for your mental or spiritual health.
Add to that the living-hell experience of being a Nigerian in Nigeria. I think you deserve a little better.
If people need to be frightened out of hell, I think the news is doing a great job of that. Staying tuned to any twenty-four hours news channel for a day is sure to leave you with enough macabre feeling to last you a month.
I don’t think the church should be piling on that.
The Bible lets us know God is a Judge. An angry one, but a just one too.
That same Bible reveals to us that God is a loving father. A forgiving one, whose mercies are everlasting, and His loving kindness abides forevermore.
With the picture of the beauty and pleasures that heaven has to offer, I think the preacher would do a more effective job driving people towards heaven than driving people away from hell.
Advertising heaven should be easier than demarketing hell.
I am not saying all 52 Sundays of the year should be about the fun heaven holds, but I know I will prefer that to 52 Sundays of judgment and righteous indignation.
The earth is already boiling. Some people’s life is already the definition of macabre, to them, hell couldn’t be any worse.
You know “how beautiful heaven must be,” why not do a better job of showing that.
And while you are at it, kindly stop faulting others’ method of pointing people to Christ. You will be surprised how many people found Christ from listening to DMX or watching “Lucifer”.
Calm down. You are not responsible for the Book Of Life.
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
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