Bible Beaters: Living in the Bible Belt

So here's a subject we all know that I just adore: Bible Beaters. Yes, bibles beaters, what I have so lovingly come to call them. Whether or not they are formally known by that name, I am unaware. To define this term, these are the people sent out by various churches, colleges and combinations thereof to yell the word of God into the hearts of a handful of drunks on the many corners of Bricktown. Here is where I step in.
I take offense to these people but not for the reasons that some would think. Yes, I believe it is their full right to stand on the corner and yell whatever they want. No one has yet to arrest the guy that stands on the corner of Sheridan and Oklahoma Avenue for playing the sitar after all of these years, why should these heartfelt individuals be? I am offended because they are representing me and anyone else that believes in God. The state of Oklahoma is said to be the buckle of the Bible belt. This statement is justified considering you cannot go more than six blocks without seeing a church of some sort, be it Baptist, Methodist, Nazarene, etc. Despite being such a wide array of these churches, not everyone has been exposed to religion. For some, these super churches have been a mysterious place that they have only driven by without giving a second thought. To these people who have yet to step foot into the house of God, these men are the only facet of religion they now know. These men, who are standing on the corner with scotch-taped poster boards, using their Bibles as megaphones, handing out tracts that end up scattered on the ground around them.
Tonight, a friend and I walked by these men. We walked by them yelling to drunks and the sitar player and one offered me a track. I politely declined and walked on past him. To me, he was another Bible Beater that I shouldn't embarrass my friend by arguing with and to him, I was just another sinner who was now going to go to hell because I didn't take his empty piece of cardboard. Thinking that we would just continue with our night, I suddenly stopped. I stopped and stood there agitated and frozen. I stopped because something told me that maybe I should. I stopped because I was so angry on the inside that this is what was out in the world representing me. Finally, the man that tried to offer me a track came over and politely said, "Can I ask you a question?" I told him go for it and he continued with "If you were to die right now, do you know if you were going to Heaven?" I grew up southern Baptist. I've seen so many Romans Road to Heaven tracts, I practically have it memorized. So I replied, yes. Then I asked if I could do the same and ask him a question. He politely said yes, thinking he was now in the presence of a Christian who would agree wholeheartedly with what him and his two buddies were doing. So I asked my question. I asked him how does he believe this is reaching anyone? How can he stand here and believe that yelling is going to help bring people to Jesus? He continued with how the Bible says that we are to go and preach the word of God. They are just informing people that Jesus died for our sins, we are all sinners and are all going to Hell unless we believe this. I then continued with my spiel that I have already elaborated upon; how this may be the only taste of a Christian that those walking by may know. And how is this supposed to bring them to God? Someone who is secular will see these men standing on the corner and not want to step foot into a church for fear of the excessive yelling. He tried to assure me that they were making a dent in the secular world. I continued asking him how? He has no idea what these people are doing, he does not know whether or not they are saved, if they believe in Jesus, if they have strayed or are ignorant altogether. He told me how I was right, we had no idea what they were out here doing but that he did know we were all going to hell. I then told him how Jesus didn't stand on the corner condemning people, he made personal relationships. He went into the dark places, he went to the heart of sin and saved people. Bible beater then proceeded at telling me how Jesus preached to millions and how he was incapable of renting out a stadium; even if he did, they probably wouldn't come. What he doesn't realize is they wouldn't come because all they see is him standing on the corner with poster boards and tracts. This man firmly believed that these meaningless pieces of cardboard were going to bring people to Jesus.
Here comes the part that saddened me the most. I told him I commend him. There are many Christians who stand back idly and do nothing and at least he was making an effort, whether I believed his methods or not. I recommended a book I read with my old church group called The Gutter. I told him how it shows how despite believing we are doing good, we aren't truly accomplishing anything with these thoughtless acts. That many people perform tasks as their good deed for the day and are done with having anything to do with the secular world. I told him how I couldn't remember the author but it was from the founders of xxxchurch.com. The look that came over his face was a new one. He asked me to repeat that and I said founder of triple x church dot com. He asked what that was and I told him it was originally geared towards helping those Christians who had an addiction to pornography because it is something that church leaders do not want to address. He wearily nodded his head at me and then said, "Oh, ok. I'm not sure if that will be blocked on my Baptist college's server or not."
Blocked?
Now, I'm not suggesting that he runs home and looks up all of the pornography he can find. But why would a Christian college, a college who is obviously sending their students out to "preach the gospel" block and shelter them from the very world they are trying to save? How can these world leaders, college leaders, Christian leaders send boys who are barely older than me, such baby Christians into a harsh world so unprepared and innocent? They don't even know what they are trying to save people from; they are just blindly trying to reach people who are in too deep of some mysterious world of evil they are unaware of. Jesus didn't shield himself from sin; he threw himself into the heart of the secular world and built personal relationships in order to save people. He didn't shield himself from the darkness. These men may have been on the corner near bars and night clubs but they were still in their safe little world, ostracized from the public because no one wanted to talk to them. While I was having this discussion or debate with the Bible Beater, a girl came up to Billy and made a comment on what I was saying to him. She then said, "I don't know, I'm just so confused about all of this stuff." That girl is the one hurt by these men. These men don't even realize the power of the book they were holding in their hands; how much clarity they could have offered that girl who openly admitted how confused she is about religion and about God. Instead of creating a comfortable, approachable environment for her to question and learn, they continued to raise their voices to passer-bys.
What has happened to the Christian world?