I don’t think we should repent because we fear Hell. We should repent because we have sinned against our creator. Is there anything wrong with that thinking? I agree that Hell-fire teaching only makes for fearful repentors who don’t love God, only fear his wrath. We want tear-filled repentors who are truly sorry for sinning against God (breaking God’s law). Teaching God’s love to a repentful person is correct, but only teaching God’s love has a dangerous result of people thinking, “God loves me and I’m not that bad so God will automatically forgive my sins when I die”. That is not what the Bible says so that is not true. As best I can tell, repenting is a necessary step toward being saved so everyone needs to know that. If most of the people coming to you feel sinful, that is great, because they are (we all are). But we can’t just say to them, “Don’t worry because God loves you and will save you”. Everyone has a part to play in receiving forgiveness and that is repentance. Is John the Baptist wrong? I think the most prevalent message out there is, “God loves you, don’t worry about anything”. That worries me. Going back to my original question, what do you think about the need for repentance?

I don’t really like that the above reads like I know the answer. But I need to throw my thoughts out there so someone can point out why they are wrong (if they are).