Like most people my age I grew up in a time when we were taught to fear God and to keep his commandants. This was our duty. Our mental vision of God was a stern face old man looking down from the sky with an upraised flaming sword in his hand ready to strike down the wicked. The preachers of old had a way of preaching the gospel that instilled a certain type of fear in you that made you afraid to commit sin and cringed at the prospect of meeting God. Preparation to meet God was like preparing to meet a grumpy old relative who you wanted to meet but was afraid or somewhat apprehensive. The message was simple and clear, ‘the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.’ The definition of sin was clean. Sin was anything that was contrary to the teaching of the Bible. If you died a sinner you were going to hell. If you believed in God and asked God to forgive you of your sins, then you could go to Heaven and live happily ever after. This simple message designed and shaped our belief in God. We feared God because he was the one who would send us to Hell. We were more afraid of going to Hell than we were of meeting God. The believability of God was easy because we were taught how to believe. We believed in the tooth fairy because we got money for loosing a tooth and we even believed in Santa Claus. Believing was simple, there were no gray areas, you believe or you don’t believe. more