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Originally Posted by Zezima
It causes anxiety in a lot of saints. I’ve seen saints completely abandon the faith because they committed certain sins and thus according to the LR are disqualified for the banquet feast. I’ve seen saints who are in crippling fear that they won’t make it, and their entire Christian pursuit is motivated by being an overcomer.
For me personally, I felt that the only reason I pursued God was so that I could be an overcomer. Using God in order to attain something, how sad now. I didn’t read my Bible to be washed, I read it to get more spirit to make sure I wasn’t stuck in the “outer darkness”. I made this thread tho, to make sure that my displeasure of that doctrine wasn’t based on my personal view, but that it is in fact a false doctrine. I believe it is, I think it’s very damaging. Like GraceAlone said, it robs people. Oh how robbed I was for years and years.
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As I've shared on here a number of times, when I was in the Recovery, I heard that God had a purpose and would get it no matter what. And while there is truth to that, it was conveyed as God was like a steamroller, who would flatten you if you got in His way. Many instances of saints leaving the Recovery were conveyed, where God supposedly judged them for that. A sense of fear prevailed because of teachings like this, and also teachings that believers might be severely punished for a thousand years, if we weren't "overcomers" according to the standard way that was being taught.
When I left the Recovery, I really feared that God was out to get me, and I was actually sorta looking over my shoulder all the time . . . One day I realized what nonsense that was - I was under my car doing some maintenance and a thought came to me, "God can flick that jack stand away and you'll be instantly crushed." I then got light that this was nothing but the Accuser & Slanderer, and this silly idea was exposed.
But it took several years more for the Lord to reveal to me that His prime motivation and actions toward us is actually His great love for us. When I began to see that His purpose was all about love, then this began a journey away from the idea that He was some kind of "Steamroller God" Who crushed people that got in His way - again, light came and this idea was exposed too. At that point scripture began to open to me in a much clearer way than ever before. In the Recovery, I thought the foundation to it all was purpose, but then He showed me that the real foundation (of even His purpose) is love.
Concerning being an "overcomer," in Greek, the phrase "judgement seat" is "bema." The bema was the place the officials/judges sat in the Olympic games, where they could judge and communicate who won an event or a race, who should be disqualified, etc. So it was their job to give recognition and present awards to the contestants who deserved it. If someone lost, that contestant didn't get the prize, but they also weren't punished by the judges.
Their job was to award prizes for things "well done." In this light, I've come to believe that at the Bema seat of Christ, it will be the same way - rewards or loss of reward . . . not punishment.
(I'll let others give, what they see as, the balancing word to this)
Article Regarding the Bema Seat
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"So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it. For we must all appear before the [bema] seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad . . ." 2 Cor. 5:-9-10
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