Letter to the Editor
Dear Colonnade,
Really for the first time since I came here in the fall of 1996, I am embarrassed. Oh sure, I’ve had embarrassing things happen to me from time to time in the last six years, but this is different.
Yesterday, someone, who claims to have the same faith as me, embarrassed himself in the name of his faith and therefore embarrassed me. It really seemed silly to most of the people listening to the “misguided preacher,” and I had to laugh a couple of times, but really it was to keep myself from hitting him.
You see, I can take a lot of things. You can talk about my mom, kill my dog, and slash my tires, whatever you want, and I’m just going to laugh at you. Because even if I get mad at those things, I’m still generally considered a nice person. But now we have a guy coming around saying he’s saved and he’s a Christian, and whether he is or not is not my concern. But by saying I’m a Christian, people now lump me in with him, and my whole perception in other people’s eyes has changed.
Now I’M considered a bible beater. Now I’M considered a maniac. And I’m not. I’ve never beat my Bible over anybody’s head. I’ve never told anybody “you’re a sinner you deserve to burn in hell.” The fact is, this man claims to love God and love Jesus, but he has no clue of who Jesus is. The Jesus that I read about and know of, spent time with crappy people like me. He showed interest and cared about people like me. He would never have yelled at me and called me a “masturbater” and a “fornicator,” and never would have told me that my faith is worthless. Now, some people are reading this and don’t believe in Jesus. They don’t believe anything about him. That’s fine. That’s your choice. I do believe in Jesus and everything the Bible says about him. If you tell me you don’t believe in Jesus, I say “cool,” and log it away. It doesn’t change my idea of you as a person. I don’t think you are any less of a person just because you don’t believe what I believe. That’s ignorance. That makes me a fool.
Basically, this is a letter of apology. On behalf of the Christians on this campus, I’m sorry that you had to deal with a man like him. Yeah it was funny, but at the same time, standing out there, I could see the hurt in some of my fellow students, and it broke my heart. And it was being spoken in the name of my God, which makes me angry. I’m sorry to all of you who were hurt and angered by this guy. And I also want to thank people like Bill Baker from Wesley, and all of the other Christians on this campus who are here just trying to love others, simply because that was what Jesus was about. Whether or not you believe that he was the “Son of God,” or that he died and came back, no one can deny that he was a good person, someone that people would be honored to associate with.
A guy named Cliff Young once said that he hated the fact that “Christians are viewed as haters, that we are the people who bomb abortion clinics, and boycott companies. Why instead can’t we just be known as people who love other people?”
It changed my way of thinking. Sure there are things that people do that I don’t agree with, but I don’t love any less. If I had a friend that was having an abortion, and she needed me to be her friend, of course I would be there for her. I wouldn’t like that she was doing it and I’d try to talk her out of it. But most important to me is that she feels loved, and I would hold her hand all the way through it if I had to.
The fact is we are all different. We have different beliefs, different faiths, different strengths and weaknesses. But we still have to go through this crappy world, with all of its disappointments, hurts, rejections, losses, pains, and the occasional joyful moment. That guy said, “us perverts and fornicators are going to Hell.” Well personally, I know I DESERVE Hell, but my faith tells me that I’m not, because of my relationship with Jesus. That’s MY belief. You believe it if you want. I hope you do, but if you don’t, you’re still the same person to me. A human being, trying to graduate, trying to get a job, trying to figure out life.
I’m also sorry that different denominations and different ministries have to fight amongst each other, tell each other that the other is wrong, and talk about each other. That makes US the same as our preacher friend out on front campus. I’m not Catholic, but I don’t think that Catholics are bad people. Sure we have different opinions on things but so what! I think McDonalds fries are awful, but does that mean they aren’t good to someone else? Overall, I just want people to realize that Christians, like everybody else, are here at school, living life, just like everybody else, going through crap. And we’ve found something to help me through that. Of course we want you to know about it and believe it, but it’s your choice. Don’t ever let anyone try to force you. And again, I apologize for having to hear that hate preacher preach. Don’t hit him because he’ll collect insurance or sue you or something. Peace.
Patrick Steed
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 8 2002. Filed under Letters to the Editor.
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