I was walking to class today and noticed a middle-aged balding man standing on the street corner, wearing a suit. Not a matching suit, mind you, but one of those dark-pants-with-a-beige-jacket ensembles which I so despise. Anyway, I was running late because downtown is a mess of orange cones and men in work boots, and I had wanted to get there early to do some last minute cramming for my test on Hinduism, but so much for that... And this guy in the mismatched suit stops me.

"Would you like a free New Testament?"

My first thought is, "Good Lord, I'm late, and I don't have time to deal with this guy." My second thought was, "Let's see what he does." So I smile and say sweetly, "Sure, thanks." He hands me the little green volume and moves on to the next unfortunate student who has to cross the street.

I promply navigated the intersection, entered Old Central, and deposited the book on top of a pile of student newspapers.

Now how is that helpful? What makes that guy think that simply putting a copy of the New Testament (in extremely small print, by the way) into the hands of college students is an effective way to get his message across? My copy was probably one of the luckier ones...it didn't end up going directly into the trash.

Why do people treat God like a product? Standing on street corners, handing out Bibles like they're election propaganda...it's so useless. Sad thing is, the mismatched suit guy probably went home feeling like he'd done his good deed for the day.

That does not work for my generation. That is unbelievable, impossible to relate to, cold, unfeeling, callous and lazy.

Hey, man, when are we gonna give the world the good stuff?

Our school, like many others I’m sure, attracts loud screaming preachers who rant about homosexuals and call passing women whores. I have a great deal of respect for the people who pass out those little green Bibles, simply because their behavior is exactly the opposite: they are not forcing their message on anyone or being offensive in any way. They simply offer their message to whoever is willing. If you don’t want one, you don’t have to take one.

I agree that the effectiveness of passing out anything on a college campus is limited at best, but if it works for Powerade, why not Jesus? If they reach just one person, I’m sure they feel that it was worth the effort. Their polite decorum alone is worlds more effective than screaming about short skirts and gay sex.

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