I'm a junior in the journalism program at the University of Cincinnati and need some input from Christian college-age students. I am writing an article on campus witnessing and how college-age students think Christianity is perceived by the general public. Of course, I'm also eager to hear opinions on what direction or approaches you think are more effective or necessary to change public perceptions.
I was inspired to write this piece after I encountered a preacher on campus, witnessing to anyone who walked past him on the quad. As a Christian myself, I felt compelled to stop when I saw that he was holding a sign that read "Jesus Saves From Hell" on the side facing me. I wondered if maybe that was too confrontational away to witness, but I quickly realized that was this gentleman's intent when I saw the other side of his sign. It said "Ask me why you deserve hell." In my discussion with him, I asked repeatedly if that seemed like the right way to present a loving God to unbelievers. Eventually, he explained that we all (including himself) deserve hell, but another student in the crowd asked him why his sign didn't say "we" or "I" and the preacher's response was that he wanted to make it personal.
The whole situation left me pretty shaken and disturbed. While I completely agreed with the idea that anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as their savior will spend eternity in hell, I questioned the accusatory and hostile tone this man chose to deliver the message. The unfortunate reality, at least on my campus, is that this is often the only exposure that the general student body gets to the Word of God. As I continued to think about the problem, I realized that on a larger scale Christians are often perceived as narrow-minded, judgmental, holier-than-thou, uninformed fools. Certainly the media has a large amount of culpability for this distorted image (which is why I chose journalism as a major) but I wonder if perhaps an even greater problem is what I think of as the Christian "silent majority," the people who believe in a more loving, honest approach to witnessing but sit by silently and allow the more extreme believers to represent our faith to the world.
What I would like to do is interview a dozen or so students to get their input on this idea of public perception and how we as believers can change this image. Instead of posting the questions right now, I'm trying to gauge interest. If anyone would like to participate in private, please email me through my profile here. In addition to the detailed questions on the topic, I'll also need some basic biographical info, like name (first only), age, major, year, university and denomination.
I appreciate everyone's help with this.
Danielle
I was inspired to write this piece after I encountered a preacher on campus, witnessing to anyone who walked past him on the quad. As a Christian myself, I felt compelled to stop when I saw that he was holding a sign that read "Jesus Saves From Hell" on the side facing me. I wondered if maybe that was too confrontational away to witness, but I quickly realized that was this gentleman's intent when I saw the other side of his sign. It said "Ask me why you deserve hell." In my discussion with him, I asked repeatedly if that seemed like the right way to present a loving God to unbelievers. Eventually, he explained that we all (including himself) deserve hell, but another student in the crowd asked him why his sign didn't say "we" or "I" and the preacher's response was that he wanted to make it personal.
The whole situation left me pretty shaken and disturbed. While I completely agreed with the idea that anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as their savior will spend eternity in hell, I questioned the accusatory and hostile tone this man chose to deliver the message. The unfortunate reality, at least on my campus, is that this is often the only exposure that the general student body gets to the Word of God. As I continued to think about the problem, I realized that on a larger scale Christians are often perceived as narrow-minded, judgmental, holier-than-thou, uninformed fools. Certainly the media has a large amount of culpability for this distorted image (which is why I chose journalism as a major) but I wonder if perhaps an even greater problem is what I think of as the Christian "silent majority," the people who believe in a more loving, honest approach to witnessing but sit by silently and allow the more extreme believers to represent our faith to the world.
What I would like to do is interview a dozen or so students to get their input on this idea of public perception and how we as believers can change this image. Instead of posting the questions right now, I'm trying to gauge interest. If anyone would like to participate in private, please email me through my profile here. In addition to the detailed questions on the topic, I'll also need some basic biographical info, like name (first only), age, major, year, university and denomination.
I appreciate everyone's help with this.
Danielle
