Today I was walking on campus and I heard someone shouting. At first I panicked because it sounded to me like someone was hurt, or in some sort of trouble. Upon turning around I realized it was an evangelical Christian, Bible in hand.
Before I start my rant, I think it should be understood that I truly have the utmost respect for people who stand up for what they believe in. No matter what they are standing up for, it really does take a lot to truly believe in something and to stand up publically for it. This does not even apply only to religion. Look at Rosa Parks. She believed in something firmly. It was not easy standing up for equal rights, as shown by her time and jail and constant reticule, but her name is still remembered today because she stood up for what she believed in.
I have no problem with anyone who is strong in their faith. Actually quite the contrary. People who are strong in their faith impress me a lot. It gives people a set of codes to live by, and people who practice what they preach are usually pretty predictable people, a quality we all want in a friend.
I do, however have a problem with what I saw on campus today. This man was targeting people who were walking by, calling them sinners, shouting out that they were going to go to hell. I have a problem with this on many levels.
The man is distorting and casting a dark shadow on Christianity as a whole. That is something I take very personally as a Christian. The Christian faith is the only faith that promises salvation to any and everyone that accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. When you look into the scripture, salvation is the bottom line. The Christian faith accepts the fact that we all sin and that none of us are worthy. Through Christ and his endless mercy, the sinner is saved. When you think about it, it’s actually quite an uplifting message, though it’s often distorted to be about guilt and hell and not being worthy. There is no telling how many people walk by who may be on edge about the Christian faith who get completely turned off for good with this mans absurd and offensive message. If this was the first thing I had ever seen of the Christian faith, I would have been completely turned off too. It’s ludicrous.
To me, it seems like these evangelical morons are looking for self-attention, and are using Jesus and God to gain attention while simultaneously turning people off to the Christian faith who do not know any better. I personally see religion as a private matter and it is not something I talk about a lot. I instead try to live the best I can every day, attempting to be the best I can be. With that said though, I have no problem with someone who wants to stand outside and read the Bible and talk to people about their beliefs. I think things like that are healthy, and in the end makes everyone more confident of those beliefs, no matter what those beliefs are.
To me, these men are very similar to the Muslim terrorists. They are a very small minority that are totally distorting entire religions. These religions are full of great people who could not disagree more with what these extremists are doing. These extremists unfairly cast a bad shadow on the religion as a whole. There are always going to be crazies, and these crazies must be overlooked because giving them too much attention is very dangerous. These men on campus want attention or else they would not be out there. Every time I see one of these people on campus, very unholy thoughts come across my mind of what I would like to say to them, but refrain because attention is what they want.
No comments:
Post a Comment