I am seriously offended by the obscene misrepresentations of Christianity by certain people on campus.

By 'certain people,' I mean those who stand and shout at passersby and claim, sometimes with ridiculously large signs, that rebellious children, lazy Christians, homosexuals, people who masturbate, liars, thieves and (my personal favorite) unsubmissive wives, among many other groups of people, are all going to burn in hell.

THESE PEOPLE DO NOT REPRESENT MY RELIGION, and my utmost hope is that each person on this campus would recognize that these people do not speak for the Christian church at UCLA or anywhere.

The phrasing of a t-shirt, no matter how clever, coupled with overzealous ranting, is not sufficient or appropriate to express the Message of God. The being that I worship has called me to do something much greater and more important with my life than to publicly degrade others. As a matter of fact, he calls us to do the opposite:

"'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'
Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."

-Matthew 22:36-39

So showing love to others is second only to loving God. ***What a WONDERFUL God we have that all he wants is to love us and have us love each other!***

I am not saying that we should ignore sin or condone it; we need to recognize sin by calling it what it is. However, we need to recognize sin and handle it in a way that brings people closer to God and his love rather than promoting anger and misunderstanding. In the end, the most important message about sin is how accepting Christ will save you from it.

May the true followers of Christ be motivated to present a true picture of God's love, in order to counteract the presence of those who misrepresent the faith.

"For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

-John 3:17