Note: For those who don't know, like I didn't, or don't have this kind of thing at your school, Campus Outreach is a Baptist recruiting agency.
Campus Outreach is likely very annoyed with me.
You see, CO writes messages on the sidewalk of my school to advertise their meetings. These messages are usually quite tame and only warrant eye-rolling or nothing at all.
However, one of them caught my eye and my indignation: "Why does God send people the Hell? Find out at Campus Outreach."
This may not trouble you, just as it didn't trouble my atheist and Wiccan friends, who did not oblige me in the least with anything so much as a scoff of disbelief as I ranted and raved about CO and the misinformation they were causing and a number of other unfounded and biased anti-denominational arguments.
So I chased down the president's (of CO) telephone number and called to see if he had approved this message (he did not, by the by) but got the machine. I tried to call back later but the secretary was out to lunch.
Later, after I had gone to lunch, I happened to sit next a group of CO members and asked them how they felt about the nature of this message.
Where I come from, God loves everyone and he tries desperately to get everyone into heaven, giving a million and one chances to be saved because no one should go to hell.
What I understand from what the CO members told me, and do correct me if I am wrong, is that God sends some people to hell, who have done wrong, because it reinforces his power as God, the sovereign ruler of all that is beyond the grave.
These two interpretations of God are clearly different: a savior versus a king.
So I see why they would write that kind of message on the sidewalk. (They believe that these are the kinds of questions that people are asking themselves, but I think that we need to avoid any mention of the idea that God is actively sending people to hell because that's just terrible PR, and the idea is to reel them in and THEN be zealous.) They do indeed believe that their god is actively sending people to burn in the absence of light and mercy for eternity. That, I can let live. However, they are calling themselves Christian, and I am calling myself Christian, and I do not want to be associated with a God that damns people to make an example of them. This is a human thing to do, not a Godly action. So, to sum all this up,
I wonder if people who believe the Baptist version have disciplinarian fathers?
You just came for the food, didn't you?
By zelkwin - Posted on March 16th, 2008
Tagged: Personal freedom
wow...yeah I think I would've taken offense to that message too...although I probably wouldn't have taken the action you did...It makes me really mad that people who proclaim themselves as Christians would then promote a God that makes people fear that which is so great...I think you were correct in saying he should be a savior not a king...if they honestly think promoting such a being is going to help people come to them...then their recruiting tactics are whack...seriously...
mad props for doing something about it though
Thanks for your response. It's just how they interpret the bible text but it makes them seem a bit out of touch with the rest of the campus.
sig: haHA!
haha no problem...and yeah I know...but it's people like that that give other religions a reason to mock and attack other christians
"Christianity" is sort of a big blanket religion that covers all those who believe Jesus is the savior, yet there are a lot of different beliefs within it. Also, there are many different individual beliefs within each subset. Who's to say which one is right?
I'm not saying that my mom is right or that they are wrong, but sometimes i wish we could get together and agree on something appealing and joyful. I personally think the Methodists have it right. I used to go to a Methodist church and mostly, we prayed, sang and had luncheons. It was a happy environment and they was never a mention the people going to hell for misbehavior. The lesson was all about preventing anyone from suffering.
sig: haHA!