Christianity has been around for thousands of years now, and we have a very particular belief system. We are followers of Jesus Christ and have dedicated our lives to being just like him. We are supposed to be full of love and compassion, to share this love to the world as we know it.
But sadly, Christianity has been twisted into different ways than what people have always been taught, losing meaning to several people who claim to be followers of Christ.
On Oct. 18-19, our campus was tempted by two people who claimed to be sharing the word of God.
Now, as a Christian school, we would usually be ecstatic by this. We have so many programs on campus dedicated to the word of God, and would absolutely welcome new people with open arms who want to witness us to the word furthermore.
These “street preachers,” however, were sharing the word in a very odd way. They would get in the face of people passing by trying to get to lunch, and would tempt people of various belief systems in a way that would rile them up. They would talk about people such as loud women, the LGBTQ community, Muslims and others. The students’ reaction would lead into outrageous commentary from the street preachers. I personally witnessed them using derogatory slurs. I also heard from several people that they spat in a young girl’s face, and these two things shocked me to my core!
What shocked me the most, however, was the reaction of our students to these preachers. There were two separate groups; those who wanted to share the true word and meaning of being a Christian, and those who probably didn’t believe in God, wanting to protest them being on campus in the first place.
The students who wanted to share the word gathered other people around and read their bible. They read out various Bible verses, and I wish I had written down the message they shared. They were peaceful and delicate, but the street preachers harshly yelled over them, disturbing the peace. They were eventually weaned out of the crowd, knowing that giving them the attention they sought out would only give them what they wanted.
The other group, on the other hand, protested in a different way. They were loud and got back in the face of these street preachers. They screamed at them, made posters, and drew more attention to the crowd that quickly grew to at least a hundred people.
On one hand, I applauded them. People definitely need to stand up to prejudice. I mean, nobody was doing anything about them being on our campus. So, taking matters into their hands seemed necessary at the time.
However, on the other hand, I know in my heart that getting back at them wasn’t the Christian way. Being a Christian means loving them anyway, praying for them. Praying that God will shed a light on these obviously lost souls.
Those street preachers only sought out two things from our campus those two days they were here, and that was attention and publicity.
I feel by the reaction some of the students gave, they got what they wanted. They were prowling for our attention. If we had been silent, ignored the ignorance, they would’ve moved on to the next destination.
They will probably be back in the next year or so. As a Christian campus, I believe just simply praying for them will send them off. Jesus ate with and washed the feet of those who betrayed him, so being a Christian means loving these people anyway and praying that God shows them the way to be. They won’t accept who we are, so we must pray for them.
