They come from San Fransisco with signs that say "Trust Jesus" and "Jesus Forgives Sins," with bibles in their fanny packs. Today, there were two people holding said signs, flanking an older man in a red plaid shirt and glasses. There was no need for him to start conversations, because taunts and accusations flew from the crowd constantly, which he answered with scripture, mostly from the teachings of Jesus. He had a clean-cut, blanket answer for every question. When someone asked him what he thought about the war in Iraq, he said, "I came here to talk about Jesus, not the war." People were screaming, laughing, and were walking away talking about how crazy this guy was. Christians who I recognized in the crowd were shaking their heads. Everyone was disgusted by the way in which the man in the red plaid shirt (I'll call him Red) judged and condemned groups like gays and Muslims. He said a few things that may not have been biblically sound, but on the whole most people didn't like Red not because of the truth in the things he was saying, but in the way he iwas presenting them. Through all his shouting and finger-pointing, all that people heard was God's judgement; nothing about his love. All about God's condemnation, and nothing about his forgiveness.
This made me think about the way that I share Christ with other people. I think that there are times that I leave out some of the "harder" or "scary" parts of the GOSPEL to make it easier to digest for non-believers. Do I tell them all about the love and forgiveness of Christ, but nothing of his judgement? Is there action without consequence? Love without hate? Disobedience without discipline? Life without death?
As a believer, I've been called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't agree with the way that Red preaches all about judgement, but I don't think that leaving it out all together is any more right; any distortion of the nature of God is wrong, whether I'm yelling or not. God does not fit into either of these boxes; he is greater and more complex that I can ever possibly understand. I desire to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I believe that God greater than I know, so I'm going lay aside my concerns and fears and let the truth speak for itself. I don't want to tell half of the story anymore; love and hate, judgement and forgiveness, passion and patience, all flow together into the intricate, unfathomable, holy nature of GOD. I'm just gonna stop acting like I know better and start letting God tell his story through me; the paradoxes, difficulties, "hard" stuff and everything else that I'm afraid to share because of what other people think. I'm going to let GOD's holy, incomparable love speak for itself. Thanks for the inspiration, Red.
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.(2 Timothy 2:2-5)Postscript: I know that this issue is a very tender and weighty because of the way that the actions of a few reflect on the whole Christian community, here at UC Davis in particular. I said that "for the most part their teachings were biblically sound," but on listening to them further this week heard several things that pointedly disagreed with my understanding of authentic, biblically sound Christianity. My desire in this post was not to make light of the impact that zealous evangelists have on the authentic, loving relationships that we Christians seek to build with non-believers; these thoughts were simply convictions that arose in my heart from pondering the way that I share my faith, thoughts inspired by my interactions with Red. Sorry for miscommunicating my heart.
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