Thoughts On Street Preaching

I was deeply bothered today by the preaching of Gary Birdsong on the campus of Appalachian State University. I was touched, and not in a good way by his passionate fundamentalist message of hatred and condemnation.  An article about this man describes his ‘conversion experience’ “Birdsong professes to be an ex-Hells Angel, citing that fact multiple times when he is preaching of forgiveness. He claims that his "calling" came to him in the middle of 40 Hells Angels in Durham County in North Carolina.”

            It made sense to me to stand there and try to reason with this man, using my religion major and my theological upbringing to combat any means of condemnation he threw my way. For more than an hour and a half I stood there, calmly reassuring him that I knew in some ways what God is, and that I believed that love would conquer hate in the end. I was screamed at plenty of times by Gary, claiming that I was heading straight for the fiery depths of Hell, as he clutched his King James Version of the Bible in his hand, I wondered, was I losing my religion?

            I don’t claim to have lost spirituality, or my belief in a deity that created me, but let me be clear. I want nothing to do with a religion that chooses hatred instead of love. It seems to me that Gary is becoming more of a common occurrence amongst the faithful, the “do what I say or I’ll hurt you.” I even at one point asked Gary if he would pray for me, as I certainly would for him. He refused offering hell as a consolation prize.

            Lately I’ve been studying the work of Joseph Campbell. The great mythologist offers these words about the myth of religion: “Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.”

            As I explored that quote today, I realized the truth in Mr. Birdsong’s religion. He has such passion; such hope that people will see his point of view. He gets stuck in his facts by claiming that Hell is something to be terrified of or begging us to live our lives in fear of that Hell. Let me be clear, the God of love, regardless of what any text written by man says, is far beyond any form of eternal hell. What kind of god would claim to love her creation then cast more than half of it into eternal damnation? What kind of god would claim to have sent his son for humanity but deny humanity the benefits of such? I posed these questions to Mr. Birdsong today, and I got the answer not to question the authority and inerrancy of the Bible.

            It was interesting the conversations I had with friends after this ordeal with Gary. We began thinking what questions mean to us, how important they are to our lives. We thought of how we are sojourners through this religious experience and must cherish every little question we have.

            I continue to ask these questions, not because I am trying to rebel in college and be ‘that guy’ no I ask these questions because I think they deserve answers. Why do we fight the fight if the fight isn’t worth fighting for? I question everything to be honest, there is a certain sacredness to those questions we have. I remember my grandmother when I was little would tell me if I had a question about God that I couldn’t find the answer to that I should put it up on my shelf and come back to it later.

            So I do, I put those questions about hell and God and love up on the shelf until I will be able to fully answer them. It may very well take a lifetime of searching to find these answers, but I’m willing to wait. A holy impatience as I sit here, and press on with life.