Hell? No!

I was driving my daughter to swimming the other night, when she just busted out laughing.  

“What is so funny?”  I had to know.  

She just kept laughing and pointed to a sign in front of a church. “Read the Bible. It will scare the Hell out of you.” It proclaimed.  

“That really makes me want to read the bible.” She added.  

We both laughed at the silliness of that statement.  

I suppose the sign did its work and got our attention. I do not know that it would motivate me to read my bible or to attend church there.  

An ad caught my eye, this morning, in a small paper we receive. It was announcing a guest speaker at a local church. It billed this speaker as the author of “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.”  

I guess I am so far removed from traditional religion that I had forgotten what a powerful motivator “fear of Hell” is.  For whatever reason, I have seen the word “hell” on several church signs in the last couple of weeks. Is it a seasonal issue, with all Hallows Eve just around the corner?  

I don’t know, but I don’t think I have any “Hell” in me. If I did, I am not sure that scaring me would be the way to get rid of it; and if “Hell” has really well kept secrets, I think I will skip any lecture which seeks to point them out to me. It may be better, in my case, to let sleeping secrets lie.