Festival of Arts in GR
11:02 — He said, “I am Holy and without sin”
How can you discuss religion with that guy on the side of the road holding a sign telling us that we’re all going to HELL and shouting that God will one day judge us?
Last night, Jodi and I went on a date to the Festival of Arts in downtown Grand Rapids. Despite the horrible parking issue the whole thing was set up rather well.
Obviously there was alot of amazing art but the second best attraction was the wide variety of food. From Indian/Pakistani all the way down to a Vegetarian booth - it was all there. A total of 32 different styles of food were being represented from all over the world.
After hangí in around the Seafood Grill for a bit it was time to experience the real festival. There was a Community Mural, Poetry, Storytelling area, Film & Video, the Art Sales Tents, and much more. Of course there was good art and some art that I wasn’t particularly impressed with, but over all loved the atmosphere.
The craziest part of the whole festival was this guy with a sign yelling at everyone that they are sinners and are going to hell. This wasn’t considered an event but there were more people there than some booths.
The problem with this guy is that he wouldn’t listen to you or anyone on what you had to say. You could be a Satan lover or a strong Baptist Christian and it didn’t matter to him. If you said you were a Christian - odds are you weren’t really a Christian and if you loved Satan you obviously were going to meet him soon.
The one nice thing about the whole deal was that alot of people got into groups around him (Christians and non-Christians) and discussed religion on a much deeper level.
I got to meet a couple of really cool people and we discussed religion and politics for a good 2 hours. Within those 2 hours people would come into our group after talking with the street evangelist and would talk for a while and leave.
So was this guy really helping everything because through what he was doing - others were able to unite and discuss the real meaning of religion?
My thought:
People came together and talked about religion but I feel he did much more harm than there was good from the whole event. He lost alot of people when he started preaching about God as a man and that children should listen to their fathers and women didn’t have authority to tell people what to do.
There is alot more this guy did and if you really feel like talking with him he’ll be at the festival today and tomorrow.
What would you have said or done though?
Trin Says:
I wish I’d seen him down there today. I’m not sure what I would have said — to him. When people become so absorbed in their own message that they won’t listen to anyone else’s…. It’s hard to get through to them.
*doesn’t have much else to say for now*