By Ken Yates

INTRODUCTION

Many years ago, I attended a summer camp for Boy Scouts near an Army post. It had a large swimming pool. The Army provided soldiers as lifeguards. These soldiers warned us about what would happen if we misused the pool water. They told us that the Army had put a chemical in the water, and if we mistook the pool for a bathroom, the water around us would turn a dark shade of purple. Anybody making the water turn purple would no longer be able to swim in the pool for the rest of the camp. These guys walked around in military uniforms when they were not working as our lifeguards. What they said sounded very official to us.

For 11- and 12-year-old boys, it would have been devastating to be embarrassed in this way. Plus, we all wanted to swim. So, for the first few days, anybody watching the pool would have seen all us boys constantly running out of the pool and taking a shower in the stalls that were
along the pool. Everyone knew what we all were doing. We went to the showers and stayed there long enough to make sure no residue would be left on our trunks to turn any water around us purple. Even a little bit of purple color in the water would have resulted in a great deal of laughter from our friends. And who knows what else the Army soldiers would have done?

But after those first few days, these numerous visits to the showers ceased. I don’t know who first figured out the scam. Perhaps it was a boy who took a chance on being embarrassed, or who didn’t take a long enough shower, and nothing happened. He spread the word around. In my case, I do remember my best friend telling me when we were swimming around the pool, “You don’t need to go to the showers; there ain’t no special chemical in this water.”

I am sure those soldiers did it for a laugh. For two days they saw boys running out of the water and taking needless showers. But, at least in some way, the soldiers had good intentions. The thought of two hundred boys swimming around in that pool, without going to those showers, was pretty nasty. The alternative was not good. I am sure the soldiers used the pool when we were not there. They wanted the water clean. In their minds, what they told us was for our own well-being, as well as theirs, even if it wasn’t the truth.

But it didn’t work. Boys will be boys, and there was going to be that one kid who drank a lot before he got into the pool and didn’t have time to make it to the showers on one occasion. It was inevitable that one of us was going to be too lazy to get out of the pool, get cold, and take a two minute shower. One of us was going to hear the soldiers laughing at us and figure it out. Whatever happened, the cat was out of the bag. The soldiers had threatened us with public humiliation. It may have worked for a short period of time, but ultimately the whole thing was doomed to fail.

AN ILLUSTRATION

I think my experience that summer is a great illustration of how many people look at the Christian life. They think the best way to get people to live godly lives is to threaten them. The soldiers wanted to stop us from misusing the pool water, so they threatened us with the worst punishment we could imagine. So, it is maintained, the best way to get people to do the right thing, to do what is in their best interest, is to threaten them with an even worse punishment. What could be worse than an eternity in hell?

This threat can be worded in different ways. We could tell people that if they keep sinning, it just shows they were never believers in the first place. We could tell them they will lose their eternal salvation if they sin too much. That would be great motivation to try to live righteously. Such a terrible prospect would be like an 11-year-oldboy losing the right to swim during his summer camp as he gets out of the pool, surrounded by purple water, hearing the laughter of his friends.

We can even make it sound official. We can take certain verses from the Bible, use them out of context, and say that these verses teach such things. We can use people who look like they have authority in these matters, kind of like the lifeguards who wore Army uniforms at the camp, to threaten us with these things. Such people can appear in pulpits in large churches or occupy seats of professorships in Christian seminaries. Such warnings can also be placed in scholarly Christian commentaries. Like an 11-year-old-boy at a camp near an Army post, who could argue with such warnings?

A COUPLE OF WARNINGS

I certainly heard such things when I was a new believer. The warnings sounded convincing. For example, in 1 Cor 6:9, Paul warns that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, if you are unrighteous, you have no hope. “You had better live righteously. If you don’t, you will suffer in hell forever.” That should be enough to get us to do the right thing.

But these verses are taken out of context. In 1 Cor 6:9, there is a difference between entering into the kingdom of God and inheriting it. All believers will enter the kingdom. Those who live righteously will also inherit it. They will be greatly rewarded in it.

Probably the most famous threat of all, when discussing this matter, is found in James 2:17. There, it says faith without works is dead. This threat is found on t-shirts, coffee mugs, church bulletins, and everywhere else Christians meet. If you don’t have good works, you are dead spiritually. Hell will be your home forever. So, you better do good works.

Once again, such a threat has no merit. James is saying that if we don’t do good works, our Christian faith will be of no use to us in our everyday lives. In that regard, our faith will become dead. It won’t grow. If you want a strong faith, you must do good works. But James is not threatening children of God with hell.

Doing good works is a good thing. But the bottom line is that there is not a single verse in the NT that teaches we must do them to enter into the kingdom of God.

Oftentimes, however, the threats work. Just as we boys worked to make sure we didn’t turn the water purple, many in our churches do righteous deeds in order to attempt to prove to themselves, and others, that they are children of God. But fortunately, many see what a scam these threats are.

THE GIG IS UP

There are many reasons why these threats quit having an impact on those who hear them. Perhaps they recognize that all of us sin. We sin all the time. How much sin is sinning too much? They see that the very teachers who have threatened them to live righteously, or else, struggle with sin themselves. Or it might dawn on them that if living righteously is a requirement for entering into the kingdom, we better have a pretty low standard of righteousness, or we are all in trouble. Plus, didn’t Christ pay for all my sins? Some people may just give up. Like a boy in the pool who got tired of getting out of the pool to take a shower every 20 minutes, some people find the threats are too hard to live by.

For many, thankfully, they discover in God’s word that eternal salvation is indeed free. Works play no part in it whatsoever. They can’t lose it. They are like us boys in the pool who realized there “ain’t no special chemical in this water that will turn the water purple.” Salvation is a gift by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone. Your threats do not worry me anymore.

SPIRITUAL SWIMMING POOL

That summer camp many years ago is also an illustration of something else. We could say that as believers, we are in a swimming pool of sorts. We certainly would like to swim in clean water.

It would be better if we didn’t misuse the pool water. If we compare that to sinning, what is the best way to deal with it? Well, it is a fact that it won’t stop completely. Just as some of the boys at that camp were going to do what they shouldn’t do, we are all sinners and will remain so.

But it is wrong to lie. The lie didn’t work in that pool all those years ago. The motivation was good. The soldiers wanted the boys to keep the water clean. But it didn’t work. In fact, it probably got worse. I hate to think what I was swimming in for the rest of those two weeks after we figured it out.

Telling us the truth would have been better. What if they had said, “Boys, if you have to go, get out of the pool. That is what those showers are for. The water will be gross if you don’t! Do what is best for all of us.”

There is no doubt that we misused the pool much more as a result of their deceptive rule than we would have without that lying law.

I am sure that in the spiritual pool we swim in, the truth is the better option as well. Yes, sin pollutes our lives. But it is wrong to tell people the lie that if they swim around in it, then they will go to hell. How about teaching the truth?

First, the way to escape hell is by believing in Jesus for the gift of everlasting life. Turning from our sins won’t save anyone.

Second, sin is not good for you. Walking in obedience is good for you and those around you. It is what is best. Sin is gross. You don’t want to swim around in it.

____________________

Ken Yates (Lt. Col. Retired; Ph.D.) is “El Jefe” of the GES international ministry. He and his wife, Pam, live in Columbia, SC.