A Christian Perception?

Tonight I went to a "hip" Christian thing. I call it hip cause the font used on the big screen was hip. It was this big event with lots of kids there. I went because I like to think about spirituality and some of my friends were going, and I thought it was a concert. It was a concert, but before Jon McLaughlin and his band came on stage a guy gave a big, loaded, long talk. I don't really want to write this, cause I feel bad and close-minded when I critique. As he was talking I couldn't help but think about all the people in the audience who came looking for entertainment and now hate Christianity. I don't think those speakers realize how much of an imprint they leave in our minds. He was incredibly dramatic and quite strong. Somewhere after he had talked a while he proceeded to carry in huge wooden poles and make a cross on the stage using an axe. As chips were flying, and between his heavy breathing, he talked I think about how much he needed Jesus. After the cross was completed he got some guys to come up and hold the cross upright while he continued to talk. Sorry this is probably really boring. I remember him talking about how we were supposed to be in bondage to Christ and if people wanted to they could come and get a chain link to remember this after they wrote down their major sin on pieces of paper that were handed out and gave it to one of the guys to physically nail on the cross the speaker just made. I don't get it. People were coming in large amounts to the stage with their slip of paper and coming back with a link of chain. Was I the only one who thought this was just weird?

The speaker told us to ask the person sitting next to us if they wanted to go up there and that if they did that we should go with them. As if the more people that walk up there the more successful the event was. I looked at my friend Matt and said hey man how ya doing? He said he didn't want to go up there and I said, good cause I don't either. I told him about how strange I though this was as people were hugging, praying, and crying around us.

We were given another slip of paper with a pencil that had the name of the speaker's camp on it. There were three letters inside a heart that each symbolized something and we were supposed to circle which one represented where we were with our faith. On the back he asked us to write down how we had been impacted and to put our name and email so that he could email us. Also, the cards would be put into a drawing for an iPod touch. Quick everyone write about Jesus to get an iPod! I wrote about how I thought he was a great guy but that I thought the whole thing was very weird, and that I thought many people would be freaked out by this and have a negative perception of what they thought was Christianity. Then the band came out and I couldn't even enjoy it because of that whole long experience before they played. Oh and somewhere in the middle of that talk was a montage of clips from The Passion of the Christ with the emphasis on Jesus being killed.

I hate to just bash this guy, but what he is trying to do is very serious. Faith cannot be understood in an hour and a half talk/performance and it's a really personal serious matter. I couldn't help but think the whole time this was going on about what Jesus would think about this. I see Jesus chillin with a bunch of college students, carrying on, off of the stage. I see him making friends and hanging. I don't see him in huge, emotional, entertaining, convicting events.

I don't know it just kind of scared me, especially knowing the amount of people there who incorporate this into their understanding of Christianity.