Screaming At College Kids And Condemning Them To Hell Won't Make Them Christians

Dear crazy Jesus people,

First off, I am a Christian. I very much believe in God, love God and follow God. I understand what you're trying to do... I think. You want the students on campus to realize that the last day could be any day and that they need to repent and become a follower of Christ in order to save their souls... right??

However, in my opinion, you're going about it the complete and total wrong way.

College kids are not going to take an old man seriously who is wearing a sign that says "repent or receive hellfire" yelling that we are all going to hell. They might engage you long enough to Snapchat a picture of you with a caption of "wtf." Or they might ignore you completely. That is the best-case scenario.

The worst-case scenario would be that the outrageous way that you're acting right now will make them stay far away from churches and Christians entirely.

You will give them the idea that Christianity is all judgment, all crazy old men, and all screaming about hell. Which, thank goodness, that is not at all what it is like for me.

We need college students to know that Christ is accepting. Christ is love. Christ is forgiveness. It's not crazy, or screaming, or condemnation. It's not in your face and harassing. It's a choice they can make all on their own, no pressure. It's a gift that they can accept on their own time.

College kids are all about what's cool. Social media, celebrities, that kinda thing. They like to do things that are cool, be a part of things that are cool. An old man yelling at them is not cool. An older guy passing out flyers for a college-geared church service would be cool. A social media page that posts bible verses would be cool. Calmly asking a few people to have a minute of their time to share a little gospel is cool.

I know being cool isn't what Christianity is about, but it's all about the packaging. You've got to appeal to your crowd. You've got to make what you're selling sound interesting. Just lead them to a service, a conference, etc. and God will do the rest.

You're doing God a disservice by scaring college kids away.

Thankfully, a few of us learned about our great God through a much different approach. But there are those who have yet to find him, have yet to come to know him. We must be truly careful about the way we approach those people.

I'm sure you have good intentions, but your ways are outdated and your approach is outrageous.

Sincerely,

An embarrassed Christian