I'm sure that, if not everyone, a majority of the West Chester student body have heard of, if not witnessed first hand, the group Matthew 24 that has made their presence on campus twice this year. For those that are not quite familiar with this group, it is a "Christian" group that sets themselves up on college campuses, doing what they think is "preaching the word of God." The name "Matthew 24" is a mockery of what the Bible states in that particular chapter and how they relate what the Bible says to what they preach. In the Bible, Matthew 24 is all about "The End" or the coming of Christ and how prior to the return, there will be horrible famine, war, prosecution etc. Matthew 24 believes that particular groups of people or belief systems are the negative things the Bible referred to that would come before "The End." Completely incorrect. The words they say and the remarks they make are nothing shy of insulting, racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and downright full of hatred. This letter is both an apology for the way that this specific group represents the Christian community, and an explanation of how we are not like them:

To all those approached, affected, insulted, degraded and persecuted by Matthew 24,

I, as a Christian, am sorry. I am sorry for the words that were spoken, the hatred that was expressed, and the persecution that was put forth by Matthew 24.That is not Christianity. That is not what we believe in, it is not what is preached on Sunday morning, it is not our views towards certain things, rights or people, it is not who we are. We are not full of hatred, or persecution. We have our beliefs, and what Matthew 24 said, is not them.

That man talked about nothing but hate. Not once did he talk about how God loves, how Christians love, how much we believe in this incredible thing called love. Instead, he talked about hate. He talked about groups of people to hate, actions to hate, clothes to hate, genders to hate, identities to hate, religions to hate, ethnicities to hate, and even things like genres of music to hate. Every word out of his mouth was full of hate, and on behalf of a community that is full of love, I am sorry.

As cliché as it sounds or as hard it may be to believe due to groups like Matthew 24 and the slim number of those like them, Christianity is love; so much so, that if we were an elementary school, loving one another would be "the golden rule" that is hung on the banner above the stairwell. In the Bible, Mark 12:31 states, "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself' There is no commandment greater than these." The book that is the route of our entire belief system, literally tells us to love those around us as we love ourselves. Treat them, respect them, view them as you do yourself. That is the perspective that we live by, not what Matthew 24 demonstrates.

As I stood there, before the group, and listened to the words coming out of their mouth, I was completely and utterly disgusted. And as I was standing there, in my head all I could do was think of things that I wanted to yell back at them, the things I wanted to get in their face about. But, then there was a moment where I told myself that by yelling back to them, by showing them the same hatred they were expressing to everyone around me, I would be stooping to their level. By retaliating, in the same way, they were attacking, I would be speaking on behalf of the community represented by the cross around my neck no differently than how they were, with hate.

Rather than send hate, I stepped back, and I prayed for every single group of people referred to in a hateful manner that day. I prayed for every individual singled out, I prayed for those that were silently being affected by the words spoken, for those that found a way to retaliate with words of love, and most importantly, I prayed for everyone whose portrayal of Christianity was altered negatively that day. I prayed that they would see that we are so much more than what was said that day and just like a bad day doesn't mean a bad life, a bad "preacher" doesn't mean a bad religion.

There will always be the sour grapes in the bunch. There will always be those that give a negative stigma to a particular group or situation, however, no matter the group, religion, situation, etc. always remember that the few bad should not undermine the many goods. For every person that shares the beliefs of Matthew 24 and other similar groups, there are 100 people that do not. Take the darkness those groups bring and let the light of love true Christians bring shine through.

Sincerely,

A Christian