Here, have some Jesus...

Today is cold and rainy, but despite this fact, the Bible Hander Outer Guys(BHOGs from here on out) were out in full force at 8 am. On my way to class, I was too tired and grumpy to really give it too much thought. I was also too busy quoting Nobody's Fool with my roommate as we walked(we watched it last night...great flick...Paul Newman R.I.P.) On my way home from class, however, I really started to ponder the BHOGs. Some questions came to mind.

1. "What is your conversion rate?" In essence, how many people actually agree to take your free miniature bible(Please note, they are really only handing out the New Testament....so it's like half a bible)? Of those people, how many do you think aren't already practicing Christians? Of those people, how many do you think don't intend to just deface or throw away on principle, your free tome of salvation? So of the remaining bible accepters who aren't Christian and won't deface/throw it away, how many of them do you think will actually read it? Of those left, how many will think, "Golly gee! I've never heard of this Jesus character. I can't believe he died for my sins, and all I have to do to reap the rewards is to just believe in him! How have I never heard of this before?" I'm guessing we're probably down to zero at this point. I can't imagine that somebody has made it out of high school without somebody already attempting to push religion onto them(parents, friends, "youth" groups, etc.)

2. "Do you happen to have any copies of the Quran or the Bhagavat Gita in that bag of yours?" The answer is going to be no, of course. I then wonder if they've ever even considered reading either of those books. These BHOGs were all in their 50s at least, and I would bet money that none of them have or ever would. I picture them telling me that Christianity is the one true religion or something like that. Faith is a funny thing. You really can't truly believe in something if you have never once called its truth into question. I would have much greater respect for Christians in general if they all had, at some point in their life, turned their back on their faith or studied an alternative religion or two. Spend a year studying Islam, you might find that there really is nothing in the Quran that says Allah wants you to kill Americans and hate freedom. To sum up with a metaphor, how can you know that Harry Potter is better than Lord of the Rings if you've only read Harry Potter?

3. "Do you think this is the best way to spread your message?" Basically, by handing somebody a book, you're hoping they'll read it, find it relevent to their interests, have questions, go to church, and become Christian. That seems like a stretch to me. Granted, it's a better approach than the guy who comes to campus every now and then and tells everyone they're going to hell. That's not missionary work, it's a spectacle in the name of the Lord. The BHOGs are at least polite and nonconfrontational.

Please note, the author was raised Catholic, stopped going in middle school, started going again in high school and baptized nondenominational Christian, stopped going in college, briefly became Mormon(again baptized), and is currently non-religious. Author has also studyed all 3 major religions through college coursework and some of the lesser ones as well(buddhism, hinduism, native american religion, etc).