Three Steps Backward

I was sitting in the arboretum today reading my book because I had some time to kill before my next class. All of the sudden I hear shouting and screaming, wondering what was going on I looked toward to sidewalk. The shouting continues and a group of people who were obviously not students begin to set up lawn chairs in the grass. The shouting man comes into sight and he is in a shouting match with a student, telling her why she was going to burn in hell for not hating gay people.

As the scene inflated, more students gathered to hear what the commotion was about, and the man began to scream at all the students who could hear, Bible in hand, as to why they all were heathens and going to burn in hell for their sins. Some students just stood and laughed, and took pictures of these people with their camera phone. Other's yelled back at the man, swearing and telling him why he was full of shit. Still others just stood and shook their heads, in awe of the scene. Most of these students who stopped to watch were freshmen, the upperclassmen just walking around the scene. They were use to it since this man comes to our campus every year with members of his "church" and his young children.

It makes me really sad to see this happen at a public university. There are many students who are turned off to Christianity for many reasons, and this man yelling at them is just going to solidify their anti-christian opinions even more. What is even more sad is that this man honestly believes he is doing the Lord's work, even though his actions are more out of hate than showing the great abundance of love that our God has for all human beings. 

I prayed for that man as I sat in the grass with my book, and then I could no longer stand listening to his wild ranting, so I walked away. I couldn't help but feel sad though, because he probably influenced at least a hundred students negatively that day for Christianity.