So I saw on Facebook today that there was a guy in the courtyard on campus that was out preaching the gospel and condemning everyone to hell. I immediately packed up my laptop and drove to school. I was pretty excited, I was hoping to catch Fred Phelps spewing hatred in the name of Christ and yelling at the "whores" walking around in the daisy dukes, smoking their cigarettes, saying cuss words and listening to Cheap Trick. I'm no Bible thumper, but I've studied it enough to condemn anyone displaying these types of actions. One of the things that gets my blood boiling like no other is to see news reports of that Westboro piece of crap showing up at soldiers funerals and disrespecting them in front of their parents, kids, family and friends. He'll get his one day, but that's a different story.
What I saw when I got there was a bit different. The guy was roped off by plastic chain and and had someone filming him. There was a group of students gathered around. They came, watched for a bit, some staying longer than others and went. Never more than 20 students at a time. I had hoped to show up and start arguing with him, proving him wrong and making him look like a fool. So did everyone else. When I walked up he was already in a debate with a student. I decided instead to sit and listen to to the dialogue.
The guy knew his Bible. Whenever someone quoted a verse (more often mangled than verbatim) he was able to name the book and verse and follow up with the context. He could be argumentative at times, interrupting and not always listening to what some of the students were saying, but never showed signs of anger. Me? I would have gotten downright frustrated. This guy was getting attacked on all fronts. I listened not only to him, but the students that were walking up and making statements or asking other students what was going on. One thing they all had in common - they had already made up their mind about this guy and how they were going to respond to him. I sat outside and listened to him for about 30 minutes and never heard him preach anything unbiblical, even though he was a little more hardcore than I would have gotten about some things. But they were treating him like Nathaniel Hawthorne had showed up on their campus. They called him a hypocrite, a liar, a horrible example of a Christian. Of course, the most critical of him always said they were Christians themselves and that what he was doing was wrong.
The guy said he went to college campuses all over and even to spring breaks to preach the Gospel. He said he was doing as he felt called to, go out into the world and preach to college kids about sin and salvation. Lord knows, there are not many more in this world that could use a sermon. High school and college age kids are under extreme pressure and are subject to an inordinate amount of temptation. Couple that with the fact that college age kids are for the first time, legally able to do many things they have always wanted to and most of them are freshly out from under the protective eye of their parents and you have the perfect recipe for what most would consider a sinful lifestyle.
I sat silent mostly. I asked a couple of questions to the guy, just to get a feel for his beliefs. They were not far from mine. It really bothered me though that so many kids came up to attack, mock and ridicule someone who was there in their best interest. Someone who was there to preach the word of peace, love and forgiveness. They saw it as an opportunity to gang up on someone and to make some funny jokes in front of their classmates. Like I eluded to earlier, if he had been hateful and condemning, I would have loved to have done just that; but this guy was doing nothing of the sort. His only condemnation was that, "if you continue to live a sinful life, you will go to hell." Most Christians would agree with that. It just really bothered me how disrespectful these kids were. It bothers me that it's cool and funny to be disrespectful to people like this. He stood on one side of the courtyard, not following anyone, not yelling at passersby, but by trying to preach to anyone that would listen. It also bothered me that the kids were not only disrespectful to him, but to others that were there maybe trying to listen. His message was getting lost because most of his time was spent arguing with people who were just there to mock him and cause trouble.
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