Letter to the Editor concerning Jared Epps’s column published on Oct. 25.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 4:34PM Jamie Sweatman
Junior elementary education major
I’d like to address some of the statements made by a guest columnist in “Student offers fun religious viewpoint.” After reading this article, I’m sitting at my desk feeling like I just got punched in the gut.
It makes me so distraught to read how students view Christians as a bunch of finger-pointing vampires (my words, not his). I’m sure there are finger-pointing vampire ‘Christians’ out there, but is that the only type of encounter people are having? Stop by any campus ministry and I bet you’ll find something much different.
Now I’ll move on to some specifics. Epps says his advice to a friend resulted in his being deemed a “heathen, or whatever Christians call unbelievers of their religion.” Yikes!
Do people think Christians sit around denouncing people like that? If you’ve witnessed this from Christians, point them to the book of Luke in the Bible where Jesus tells us, “Judge not…condemn not.”
It’s a clear command, but lack of education can lead to Christians giving our beliefs a false reputation, which then leads columnists such as Epps to feel justified in describing Christians as ridiculous bigots.
Epps also asks, “Why do [Christians] feel the need to do God’s work and judge the rest of us?” Like I just pointed out, judging is in no way the job of Christians. However, we are called to be disciples and to spread God’s message and way of life.
I’m sorry if the Christians you know got this mixed up with passing out tickets to hell. It upsets me, too, that fear tactics are used. However, I would like to point out that you keep throwing all Christians into a very ugly bag.
You accuse Christians of discrimination, but is your article much different?
Lastly, I find it interesting that you pose the question that if a god really exists, does he (or she, as you put it) “even care what happens on our tiny, inconsequential blue speck of a planet?”
The answer is yes, he cares! Isn’t that so amazing?
