Our youngest son
attended Open House at East Tennessee State University last week via ZOOM. He
will be our 5th child to attend college, and Open House through ZOOM
is definitely different, but so is everything else about 2020. We are learning
new ways to do what needs to be done.
Let
me say that ETSU did a wonderful job with how they had to work this. The
presenters did great, and it’s always good for future students to hear directly
from current students in their own words, and we were able to do that.
At
one part during the Open House the student leading the “virtual tour” was
showing (on a digital map) the area outside of the library. She mentioned that
this area is a “Free Speech Zone” that could be used for just about anything,
but “the only real free speech will be the crazy preacher guy”, she said, “who
just yells at you that you you’re a sinner, so just ignore him and go on. He’s
basically harmless.”
I
must admit, her words shocked me when I first heard them. And then she was
moving on down the map showing other buildings and explaining the campus
layout.
But
her words have really stuck with me, which is why I wrote them down when she
said this.
I
want to be honest here, because this is my Free Speech Zone, and share with you
that I am an adamant believer in the need for effective evangelism, especially
in this day in which we live, but I am also not a big fan of ‘sidewalk
evangelism’. There is something that just turns me off for a preacher to stand
and yell at people who pass by. I wonder how many people have heard a stranger
yelling at them that they are a sinner, that the wages of sin is death, and
that if they don’t repent of their sins they will spend eternity burning in the
fiery flames of hell, and that caused them to stop and think about their own sins
and ask for salvation? I don’t know for sure, but I suspect not many. And I
base that off of hearing several sidewalk preachers over the years, and seeing
the reactions of people passing by who just want to try to get around him
unscathed, or choose to walk to the other side of the street in avoidance. I
have even had a man wielding a big black leather Bible at me once, pointing his
finger in my face while yelling at me that if I didn’t know Jesus I would burn
in hell and was I ready to repent? He never even asked me if I knew Jesus, or
if I knew how much God loved me. And I was just on my way to get an ice cream
cone.
I suppose that is where my concern is…not in
ice cream cones, but rather in love.
Jesus
told his disciples, “By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John
13:35)
Love
is how we are called to evangelize. Not in judgement, condemnation, or fear.
I
don’t know the man who this student Open House leader referred to as “the crazy
preacher guy”, but I do know that if that is how others see us as we share the
Good News of Jesus Christ, then we are not doing it right, or at least not the
way that Jesus did.
There
is a reason why the religious leaders of Jesus’ day (aka Pharisees) called
Jesus a drunk and friend of sinners. It’s because he was with the people who
needed to hear his message, and he didn’t wave Torah scrolls in their faces in
the market square, he went into their homes and sat down and talked over dinner
and wine (and maybe an ice cream cone for dessert).
I
wonder how many students stop to listen to someone yelling at them that they are
sinners, someone who doesn’t even know them, and who isn’t taking the time to get
to know them.
I
wonder, what if there was a soapbox preacher message of how much God loves them,
that all of the beauty of this world is God speaking to them words of love
through the warmth of the sun and the cool of the breeze. I wonder if a message
that tackled tough questions head on to help students see God in their everyday
lives, or a message that we are all God’s children and that He loves us all so
deeply that He died for our sins so that we could really experience an abundant
joy filled life here and now would have. Would anyone stop and listen? Maybe
not, but I would much rather hear about that “crazy preacher guy who tells everyone
how much Jesus loves them and hands out free ice cream cones.” We need evangelism. But we need evangelism based in love. There is already enough hate. It's time to stop being part of that problem, and get back to what we are called to do.
