Just thought I’d chime in with what a lot of people I know think was a total waste of time. The Campus Crusade for Christ (Crusade? shudder) at my school recently spent spring break in Panama City Beach trying to convert people. Now, isn’t that the stupidest thing in the world? Don’t you think that those are the last people on Earth that want to hear about Jesus (i.e. drunk college students looking to have sex)? According to their own numbers, they talked to 6,977 people and 210 of them “received Christ”. Or perhaps 210 people said they did so they could get back to drinking.
Here’s some quotes from people and the articles in the student paper:
“The minute we see it, it’s like seeing somebody a walking dead (sic). It’s like please, please, open your eyes. open your eyes before it’s too late.”
“Keville said she believes not all Catholics are necessarily Christian. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the only way, something she said she realized last year. ‘That’s why a lot of Catholics aren’t saved.’”
Can this show any more selfishness and intolerance? Can they be any more patronizing to people who believe differently? I wonder if the first person quoted thinks our 25% Jewish population at school is going straight to hell too. Why do people have to think their religion is the right religion? There’s no right religion. It’s whatever one works for you, even if that’s no religion. This is a choice that people need to make for themselves, and I totally disagree with people pushing any religion on others.
Someone wrote a letter to the paper today and called this trip a great waste of effort compared to, say, working for Habitat for Humanity on spring break and building a house instead of trying to convert people. I had to agree that such a project would have a much more tangible benefit.
Wow. I hadn’t heard about this sort of thing yet. sighs I was thinking you were talking about people who do alternative spring breaks, often supported by religious groups, and go build schools, houses, etc. For which I would have had to yell at you. But no, this is a pretty dumb extreme.
What I wonder is how many of them went on the trip to get to Panama City and drink themselves. I’d have to agree, if you want a spiritual experiance over Spring Break, go buld stuff, work at a shelter full time, or otherwise improve the world and let the partiers party unhindered by your intolerance.
As a Christian, I think evangelism, as it has been conducted in the past and present, is a waste of time in this day and age.
We’ve spent far too much time and effort talking and spouting off, instead of putting our faith and belief in Jesus’ teachings in action.
It’s the ol’ “shup up or put up” thing and I haven’t seen many Christians willing to do either.
I agree: Habitat for Humanity would’ve been a MUCH better thing.
A number of the trips that are planned for the youth group in our church are trips where they go to Central America and help work on an orphanage (the buildings and etc) that the church is involved in.
I knew (and dated once) a girl who did this during college. I was polite with her about it, but it certainly seemed to me like a huge waste of time. She, at least, was considerate and open-minded enough that you could be friends with her regardless of religious beliefs. Some of her friends, however, were not nearly so pleasant to be around. They were the kind who probably wouldn’t join Habitats for Humanity unless the recipients had to convert before they could get anything.
Her conversion score, btw, is -1. She turned me into an atheist :D.
This reminds me of Mardi Gras, 1991. I was in New Orleans, struggling through an unruly crowd when I saw her on the corner–almost ran into her in fact. She was beautiful, like a shining pearl in the slimy raw oyster of humanity. Our gazes became transfixed on one another. She smiled at me; I smiled back. I was convinced that a spark had instantly ignited between us.
Then she handed me a Chick tract. Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!
I think Medea’s onto something. I used to hang out with the CCC in college (they loved being shocked, and I loved shocking them!). I recall a couple of them were real hell-raisers, and one used to try to oonvert me above the table while groping my leg beneath the table.
Damn. I missed all the fun by coming to this school in California with all the hippies. I should have just stayed home in Ky. Out here, even the Evangelical Protestants vote for Nader.
