The Power of Choice

"This is Christianity. This is real true Biblical Christianity.

"Anyone who doesn't agree with me is actually giving Christianity a bad name."

"If my words are the Truth, they will offend."

-Kerrigan Skelly-

Last Tuesday, October the 27th, MTSU was visited by preachers from Pinpoint Ministries. I passed by these preachers as I was heading to my next class and did not have the time to stop and listen. Although I knew exactly what he was preaching: sinners must repent or face the hellfire. Who are sinners? Fornicators, immodest women, homosexuals, drunks, the list goes on and on. I've written on this type of evangelism before and prayed to Yahweh it wouldn't come to MTSU. Confrontational Evangelism is a method used by some evangelists to spread the gospel by grabbing their audience attention by intentionally being confrontational. I'm ashamed this happened at my school, and worse that they may even return in February.

[Photo by Kurt Lee Mullen]

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You can read the full story here, and watch videos here and here. You can check out Pinpoint Evangelism's video at the campus of MTSU here. Here are some of the more interesting parts.

10:00 Immodest woman at fault for being raped
17:00 Restates his mission and beliefs on sinners (crowds begin to gather)
22:50 Argument over Shellfish being an abomination (Leviticus 11:10)
26:03 Skelly states he's fit to judge others
37:30 Varying levels of Sin and Sinners
46:50 Question on Evidence for Christianity
50:00 Explaining 'the peacemakers' from the Beatitudes
54:10 "I have Holy Sex"
58:50 Testimony of a Rape Victim
1:02:15 The crowd attempts to reason with Skelly
1:02:45 A person can not be a Christian and a Homosexual
1:03:30 Original Sin is a False Doctrine

The preachers say they came to spread the Good News but I can guarantee you that not only did they fail to win anyone over to Christianity with their gospel of hate, but they probably turned some Christians away from Christianity. One theme ran throughout Skelly's preaching and the events that resulted in the arrest of one student: the power of choice. Even if Skelly and McGlone had the right (and the permit) to preach on the campus of MTSU they chose to preach words of hate. The preachers see their ministry as words of truth not hate and there is nothing we can do to change their view. They believe they are preaching the damnation of God out of love, yet there is no love in saying that an immodestly dressed woman is partly responsible for being raped. Nor is it loving to say that the homosexual chooses to carry an "unrighteous" lifestyle because he/she loves to sin. I can't think of anyone who would willing choose to face a lifetime of discrimination (especially in Tennessee) because they love the lifestyle. Skelly made a similar argument stating that the early Christians would not have suffered and died for what they believed if they had not experienced the resurrection.

Regardless of what actually happened or what may have happened, both parties (Michaela Morales and the Preachers) were in the wrong that afternoon. Michaela for pushing the preacher (although she claimed she was defending herself) and the preachers for spouting hate. At the end of the clip, the video asks MTSU if we're ready to apologize for the lies and slander (about God, homosexuality, sin, the incident etc.) we have been spreading. A better question would be: are we willing to love others even when we're confronted by hatred?