You, sir or madame, are the product of Augustinian Christianity.  Augustine influenced Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, pretty much every important theologian.  So, how did this happen, and what does it mean?

Augustine was born in 354 CE, pagan turned gnostic turned mainstream Christian.  In everything he did, he strove for perfection.  So, when he finally became a Christian, he wanted to be the BEST Christian.  [Dr. Denova said that Augustine had the biggest ego (and libido) of anyone...] 
Augustine decided he wanted to be a bishop, so he took his vows and lived a life of physical chastity.  However, he couldn't stop thinking about sex, and that bothered him.  He thought maybe it would go away, but when he found out that a 72-year-old man in his congregation was fathering a child, he gave up all hope.
Strongly influenced by Greek philosophy, Augustine decided he should be able to control everything about his body, and his mind.  But, since no one, apparently, could control their own thoughts, it mustn't be their fault!  With no knowledge of DNA or genetics, Augustine decided that the inability to control one's thoughts (about sex) was inherited.
So, Augustine went on a mission to find backing, going to the place he was sure he would be proven correct--Genesis.  And he stumbled upon the story of the Fall...
First, he looked at Genesis 2:25, "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame."  Then, he turned to Genesis 3:7, "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."
Augustine decided that something must have happened in there to make them ashamed of their nakedness.  And, since he couldn't stop thinking about sex, he decided that must have been it.  Augustine thought that God created sex to be passionless, just like any other natural function--going to the bathroom, eating, scratching your head--and that the moment lust entered the picture, something bad happened.  The newly created soul received a black mark on it from that lust: Original Sin.  And, of course, Original Sin is genetically transmitted, from parents to child.  Sex should have been passionless, as per God's design, but humans ruined it and thus, themselves.
Augustine wrote 150 books, 600+ treatises, and countless letters, and as the "Vandals were at the gates", a monk of his saved the works and put them in a library, to be referenced by future generations.  Augustine became the theology of the Middle Ages.

And this is where I bang my head repeatedly against the wall...

Regarding Augustine: why do we put so much credibility with one person?  And he mainly studied Paul, if that matters to you.  You can spout all the "inspired by God" ideas you'd like, but I won't bite.

And this dude is responsible for our whole concept of bodies and sex in the Western world.
Seriously, isn't a little passion necessary to make all the parts work correctly?  Why did God put so many nerves there if we weren't supposed to enjoy it?  Why does sex become sinful just because one man, 1,700 years ago, couldn't keep it in his psychological pants?  I mourn the shame related to the human body in our culture, the taboos on everything related to sex.  It's not a healthy attitude to hold.  Where would we be if the monk had just let the library burn?

And now you know what Original Sin is really all about.

We're not all like that, and they're misrepresenting our God.  We're sorry.

I think we need to start a campaign for that.  In chapter 11 of Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller talks about how he and his friends made a reverse confessional and put it out on campus.  When people sat in it, instead of hearing their sins, they confessed and apologized for all the heinous things Christians have done in the name of God over the ages.  I think we, as a faith, need to do that and make amends for how we have failed God and His message.

Here's the thing: there are many ways to evangelize.  I'm sure each one fits a certain culture or a certain time, but not all of them fit 21st century America.  And one of those doesn't-work-anymore methods is spreading the gospel through fear.

Fear?

Fear.  I've received several dozen tracts over my time here at college in the city; usually, they're hospital workers on lunch breaks.  I have received ONE that did not speak of how you will go to Hell if you don't believe in Jesus.  I read that one tract, and it made me think about my faith.  The rest of them?  They ended up in a recycling bin or a drawer.  This culture is not one that is responsive to the message of fear, of repenting to avoid Hell.  People don't believe that anymore.  They're not open to it; they're quite happy to go on being invincible, without your silly comic book that tells them how terrible they are.

That fear might have worked a hundred years ago; it might even have worked fifty years ago.  It doesn't work now, not in most of America.

And fear especially doesn't work when you include yelling and gruesome pictures. 

Here's the thing: I don't care if you're pro-choice or pro-life, I don't care if you're homophobic or not, I don't care if you hate stem cell research, want more women pastors in the church, care to save the environment, don't like our president, want to pull all of the troops out of Iraq.  You can have your beliefs.  This goes for everyone, though.

Yelling them on street corners does not convert people to your beliefs.  It makes them uncomfortable.  They're not going to come over to you to learn more--they're going to cross at the corner and walk on the other side of the street.  It pushes people away.  And the nasty pictures are just going to do that more so. 

All of your scare tactics push people away, and it makes it harder for the message to get through.  So, how should we be representing Christ and our beliefs?

Love.

People need to know that they are loved.  Your lifestyle, your actions show more about your beliefs than anything else.  What's the right way to witness to people?  Talk to them.  Show Christ's love.  Make friends before you try to talk to them about war or abortion or whatever it is about which you're convicted.  Telling them that if they don't agree with you, they get to spend eternity in a lake of burning sulfur, is just going to harden them against you.

And please, please, be able to back up your beliefs if you want me to agree with you.  A friend studying in the medical field said that he wishes people with a stance on abortion would talk to the doctors and patients who have been involved in them.  Get personal perspective, get unbiased facts (not just from your favorite pro-life website--might that not be just a tad biased?), and study up on it.  If you are using scripture, make sure to go back to the Greek and Hebrew to know you aren't misquoting it, and remember the importance of context, both the verses around it and the history behind it.  I'm not going to give you the time of day if I think your beliefs are completely ungrounded.

If nothing else, we need to just LOVE people.  Separate the sin from the sinner.  If you believe homosexuality is a sin (and have backing for your beliefs), that's fine--but do not make my friend feel unwelcome in the church.  God does still love him; nothing we do can separate us from the love of God.  And you should love him, too, even if you don't condone his lifestyle.  You're not going to go to Hell for befriending a homosexual, or any sinner.  Jesus himself did it!  So, welcome them, everyone.  Give God's love, and sneak in your little agenda after the fact.

So, to all the non-Christians out there, I apologize for my brothers and sisters who have yelled at you on street corners and told you that your lifestyle was going to send you to Hell.  I'm embarrassed at their actions.  Not all Christians are like that; not all Christians necessarily believe that.  The truth is, God loves you, and that's all that matters.  Please, keep giving us Christians a chance.  We're not all jerks.

What is your opinion?  How can we best reach others with our message?  Have you been hurt by Christians?  Would you like to join a "Some Christians are Jerks" movement?

I grabbed my new MP3 player, a hoodie, and a hat and walked out the door.  I had one "goal" for my walk--to get some exercise in the nice weather.  That turned into a few more--not to think too much and not to be bothered by backtracking.  That's one that always gets me; I'm horrible about never taking the same road twice.  So, walking down one block cul-de-sacs is not my cup of tea, but I did it today anyway.  I wanted to walk places I've never been before, so I did.

Right around the time I was ready to head back, I hit "Friendship Park".  It's a pretty little place; it reminded me of "Diamond Park" in Meadville, a loop with one way streets encircling it.  The park was next to a hospital.  So, I decided that I would walk the loop and then come back to go down a street that looked interesting (and I later realized would lead me right back to the 54C bus route, which I followed to get back to my apartment).

As I was finishing the loop, I noticed someone sit down on a bench; I thought I heard a sob.  And I decided that I would go over and talk to that person.  It was a stretch, even for me, but I'm glad I did.  I talked to the girl for at least a half hour.  She's a high school freshman; her grandmother was in the hospital.  She had a lot on her mind, and she shared it all with me.  It's amazing how we'll open up to strangers.

I hope I made her feel better.  Maybe this step out of my comfort zone brought some comfort to her.  We'll probably never meet again (she's moving to NJ at the end of the year), but our lives are intertwined.

Maybe I'll walk by the hospitals a little more often.