Preacher Man

I was reminded by my brother that he does have a blog, so I moseied on over there to check it out. I came across his post about the campus preacher, Gary, and decided to look up some info myself.

When I was in college, Gary came to preach. I remember the first time I heard him preach on Sanford Mall, I was a young freshman, who still had a ways to go in her own journey of faith. But I still remember that day as clear as it were yesterday. Several of my friends were sitting around debating with Gary, and I walked up to join them, just to listen. Gary pointed at me and asked me, "Do you love God?" I answered, "Yes" and he continued, "Then why do you sin?" This infuriated me, and I walked away, completely stunned that a man who considered himself a Christian could espout such hatred.

The God that I knew (and know) is a God of love... a God whose harshest words were saved for the religious right of his day. I felt that Gary grossly misrepresented God, and that those who weren't Christians would label all of us according to the standard set by Gary, or at least something like that. Every year, Gary would return in the spring, pointing at people, and telling them they were going to hell. Every year, I would walk by Gary, angry at him and the other Christians debating him. I had come to realize that arguing with Gary did no good. The best I could do was to live my life to show my own beliefs that God loves everyone... Gay, Straight, Christian, Atheist, Muslim, Hindi, Black, White, and so on... We can't choose who God loves... therefore, we shouldn't choose who we love. My one hope is that I live my life showing others love... and that possibly I can somehow undo some of the damage done by preachers like Gary...