Bothered

Last Saturday night bothered me. More importantly, concerts in February bother me. Brainwashing bothers me. Winter Jam bothered me.

Well, I guess it's pretty clear that I'm bothered. Last Saturday night I took a group of my youth to the Winter Jam concert in Charlottesville. We went up early and stood in line. We got in and got our seats. We were looking forward to a great concert. We enjoyed the opening bands. (I especially enjoyed the Sidewalk Prophets.) I was irritated by the amount of "he" language that was being used as well as referring to "Father God" over and over in prayer. As the evening went on, it came time for a "message" of some sorts. The speaker was introduced and came to the stage with a youth. He offered the kid a $50 bill in exchange for a penny. The message was, who wouldn't want a large amount of money in exchange for just a little. The speaker tried to tie this to how accepting Christ is. The guy said that when one accepts Christ they get all the ever needed or wanted. He said, "Girls, it's like when you walk into a mall and you see the shoes and clothes and you can get EVERYTHING you ever wanted." That's what believing in God is like. He then followed up with, "And guys, if you are worried about the clothes and shoes, then I'm worried about you." Everyone sitting around me took that as a snide remark towards gays.

After this intro, he turned to trying to scare the youth into believing in Christ. I was thoroughly disgusted and he wasn't even five minutes into his sermon. The hell, fire, and brimstone message was in full swing and continued on for what seemed like forever. I physically felt sick. The youth were texting me continuously...asking what is this dude talking about. One texted and said: "I'm not drinking the kool-aid." As the speaking went on, the more fed up I got. Finally I thought he was done and he prayed to "Father God" even more.

When it was time to collect the love offering the speaker got back up and gave a message about how it was just a "drop in the bucket". He tied this into the scripture of the boy with the loaves and the fish. He gave all he had, and before Jesus multiplied it, the disciples said his donation was just "a drop in the bucket." I wasn't buying his crap.

I was seriously turned off. It was as if after the glorious picture was then turned to scaring the youth into believing. I grew up with the hell, fire, and brimstone messages and I never wanted to hear another one again. When we left the concert that night, I felt as if the youth needed to debrief what had happened. I was so thankful that they had many questions. I was thankful that they could put into words their disgust for what they heard. I was thankful that they had been taught the message of God's love and that they know what a true relationship with Christ is like, instead of being scared into one.

As the week has gone on, I have had plenty of time to think about why I'm bothered and what I wanted to write about it. While there were many details of the evening that I chose to forget, I remember the speaker saying how the message being offered was one of hope. Just a couple days ago, one of the adults that went on the trip with us emailed me some of his thoughts. He shared that at the concert, we could interpret that as hope for the moment. He felt the youth were being scared into believing and with that belief would come hope for the moment. He then said that at our church, we are teaching and experiencing a lifestyle of hope. It is important for us to all remember that there are many ways to bring people to a belief in Christ. However, the scare tactic doesn't work. It may work for a week or two, but there is no follow through.

After this experience, I've decided that what God is calling me to do is preach the truth. The truth is that God loves all people. God loves. God made us to love and be loved. Instead of scaring people into believing, it's time for Christians to love like Jesus did. That love will preach. That love doesn't take many words. That love is saving grace. There's no need to scare...there's just a need to love.