sissy christian

i wanted so badly to do this last night that i could taste it, but it was very late when i got home and i needed to go to bed.

i didnt wake up until 11:30 yesterday, which is good because i needed the sleep. i dont like sleeping that late though because i feel like i wasted the whole morning. i finally did get up and got ready. we were going to drive to atlanta to watch the braves play the cardinals. we are all big braves fans and vance has always been a mark mcgwire fan. anyway, we went. this is not the important part. the part of the trip that hit me the most was an encounter with a strange man with a sign. to be honest with you, it was kind of good to have something exciting and eventful happen in my life for a change, as small an event as it was.

i wont give you the whole story and bore you, but i will hit the highlights. walking from the car to the turner field has always been an adventure. from walking past the homeless and beggars, to being bombarded by the ticket scalpers, to being harassed by the merch vendors, the *fun* just never stops. i love going to see the braves play, i just wish that they had put the stadium in a better part of town. but, i digress.

stuck right in the middle of all of these adventures was a new one that i had never encountered before. there was a man standing there with a big sign that had the ten commandments written on it. that was cool. what wasnt cool was that he was yelling at the people that passed. i mean *literally* yelling at people.

children grow up learning to love a game when they should love God. the bible teaches us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. you are all going to hell.

this was our first encounter with this man and we just kept walking. i just took what he was saying with a grain of salt. vance, was obviously disturbed by it. he was visually upset. i told him not to worry about it and we kept going.

when we got into the stadium we discovered that we had forgotten the binoculars and camera in the car. someone had to go get them, so i volunteered. vance said that he would go with me. on the way back to the car, we had to pass the man again.

of course you think you do alright. sin doesnt recognize sin. a hog dont look ugly to a hog. let me tell you something, you are going to hell.

again vance was obviously perturbed. i said, fine we will go talk to him on the way back. when we got to the car, i looked up what verse it was that said, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. vance was so ready to talk to this guy. we get there and he is talking to this other guy. we wait for him to leave and vance says, "let me ask you a question, why are you doing this?" these are highlights of the conversation that ensued.

the bible says spread the word, i'm going to teach my fellow man, how are you teaching, how are they ever going to learn if i dont teach them, how many people do you think you are reaching, i am teaching you because you are ignorant, you didnt teach me *anything*, i just taught you the law, no, brother, i knew the law, why are you worried about why i am doing this, i am not worried about you, i am worried about these people walking by that you might corrupt, go ahead and defend the sinners, you cant scare people into heaven, you are not a christian, you are going to hell, *excuse me*, how do you know whether i am a christian or not, the bible says judge not lest ye be judged, what about that, well i just judged you, you have no right to judge me, i am going to heaven, brother, you know what you are you are a couple of wimpy, weak, *sissy christians*, a bunch of worldly christians

from the time that we started quoting scripture to defend our position, he wanted us to leave. he obviously wasnt happy that we knew what we were talking about. the conversation got quite heated and i wonder what the people walking by were thinking. he returned to his yelling at the people and wouldnt talk to us. i had tons more things that i wanted to say, but we just walked off. as we were walking away, he started into his worldly christian spill. we just kept walking while he was yelling at us. vance was so upset. i thought he was going to go back and beat the crap out of the guy. again, i had to calm him down.

sissy christians. i never thought that i would be called that. i have been called a lot of things in my life, but never a sissy christian. what does it mean? who knows, and who cares? but i worry about this man, i worry that he actual believes in what he was saying. i worry that he might corrupt others. this is the jim jones, this is the david koresh, this is the heaven's gate people. it's scary. i have always known that it was out there, it's just scary to come in contact with it. Matthew 5:19 says:

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. - NIV

i know he wasnt praying, but i think its the same principle. i could be wrong, but i dont think so. this is not how you witness to people. this is not how people come to know Christ. you cant scare people into Heaven. i dont think that God wants people who have to be scared into Heaven. i think he wants people who earnestly want to be in Heaven. sissy christian. those words are still ringing in my head.

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