Spreading word of true Christianity

Spreading word of true Christianity

Not all religious groups preach fire, brimstone

By Andy Lucas

Three cheers for Princeton Kim! His Wednesday column ("Heaven help me: Bibles blitz Bruin Walk," Jan. 24) was right on target - most of the time.

It has been the everlasting source of dismay for Christians on this campus to walk down Bruin Walk and feel helpless against the barrage of hell and brimstone pouring out of Brother Jed's mouth.

It has also been our unfortunate experience to encounter "holy hounds," though we affectionately refer to them as the L.A. Church of Christ (because that's where they come from). The only thing I have a problem with is that Kim lumped all Christians into a slimy pit of proselytizing mayhem, and assumes that Christianity is out to rape, pillage and convert.

Assuming that this were the 1500s, Kim would be largely correct. The attitude of our conquistador forefathers, and the crusaders of earlier times, was that if we beat people over the head hard enough, for the love of Jesus Christ, they would eventually submit and become believers. The flaws in this logic are obvious - but not obvious enough to Brother Jed or his cultist counterparts.

Two or three of you out there might remember from last year a freshman, Bible in hand, pointing out the biblical flaws in Brother Jed's arguments. That was me. My basic argument was based on Romans 5:8 ("But God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"). Anyway, Jed was missing out on the "L" word. That's right: LOVE.

Jed's whole spiel is based on God as the giant club of judgmental death swinging downward to thwart all the sinners in their paths. As I tried to tell him, God loved the world - the WORLD, us, PEOPLE - and then, while we still sinned, Christ died for us.

Either Jed didn't want to believe me, or it wasn't working; I don't know, but I spent the better part of an afternoon trying to get through to this guy, and I got absolutely nowhere. He eventually called me a masturbator and a child of Satan (which I found to be quite amusing), and then turned his back on me, sat down and let one of his followers take over from there. I guess I was just starting to make too much sense.

The L.A. Church of Christ has a tactic that they use to get people to come to their church (read: cult) in which they corner you, two-on-one, - wait, why am I telling you this? You know all about it!! So anyway, they pester you and keep after you, and when they eventually get you to come to their church, they use mind control tactics, Bible verses out of context and other means to bring your life into orbit around their church - and theirs alone.

It is their stipulation that only members of the L.A. Church of Christ are going to heaven (which means that everyone who has been a Christian before L.A. Church of Christ's inception 30 years ago has gone to hell - don't tell St. Augustine), and that denominations are evil (which means that you can't worship in a style that suits you - you have to do it their way).

They also say that to have separate groups on campus for different cultures is wrong. Are we to deny our diversity by limiting spiritual support groups to ones with multiethnic memberships? Would the Asian American Christian Fellowship remove a non-Asian believer from the room during a meeting? I certainly think not!

The L.A. Church of Christ simply has no idea how much we work together, how many people are members of several different groups at the same time, and the uncountable numbers of friendships that bridge different cultural groups. The implication that members of the different groups hate each other and compete with one another is absurd.

Here is the bottom line: Christians have been commanded by Christ to tell others about Him (Matthew 28:19-20). In addition, 1 Peter 3:15 says we are to "be ready always to give an answer to every man who asks you to give a defense for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." Too often, Christians miss the gentleness and reverence line and move straight into a defense - as if they've been attacked!

My point is this: If you are attacked rather than counseled, berated rather than helped, judged rather than loved, keep on walking. If you are truly curious about Christianity, and what Christ really stood for, find a friend to tell you about it, or go up to one of the people passively sitting at a table on Bruin Walk in support of their Christian group.

I hope and pray that you don't let Jed become your idea of Christianity, and that L.A. Church of Christ won't scare you away from the warmth of true Christian fellowship.

Be smart, my fellow Bruins. Don't be fooled into believing that Jesus died to judge. He died to forgive, and died forgiving. Like I told Jed last year - His love is out there; all we have to do is grab onto it.

And what a ride it is!

Lucas is a second-year English student.Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu

Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu