Missouri evangelist faces criticism, debate from students during presentation
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 09/30/2008
Michael Carney | Staff Photographer
Brother Jed Smock, an evangelist from Missouri, talks to passers-by on Purdue's Memorial Mall Monday.
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An evangelist speaker attempted to spread his views on Christianity Monday afternoon, but some students were unhappy with his comments.
A group of students stopped in the middle of Memorial Mall between classes to hear what Brother Jed Smock, an evangelist from Missouri, had to say.
"Everyone is thinking that he looks like a complete ridiculous fool," said Natalie Folajtar, a sophomore in the College of Consumer and Family Sciences. "What makes me the most mad is the sign that says 'Jesus hates sin' because I'm a Catholic and the Bible states that Jesus forgives sins. It makes no sense."
Among the students who listened to Smock's preaching was the Purdue Queer Student Union. Clare Ford, the president of the group, said Smock has been to campus before to express his views. The QSU was not there to object to Smock's presence, but rather to show passing students that there are other views out there.
"I'm not going to change his mind," said Ford, a junior in the College of Liberal Arts.
Nicholas Goldsmith, also a member of QSU and a freshman in the College of Agriculture, said that people should express what they think.
"He has the right to come and talk, but we can't let people just see his side," Goldsmith said.
Among the topics Smock discussed were issues related to politics, sexuality and judgment. He compared oral sex to sticking pizza in a person's nose rather than in their mouth after a student asked a question about the subject. He also condemned Obama's campaign for spending unnecessary amounts of the public's money.
Jonathan Greiner, a senior in College of Liberal Arts and member of the Faith Baptist Church, said he was disappointed in Smock's presentation because Smock was passing judgment. In the middle of Smock's discussion, Greiner and a friend pulled out a Bible and asked Smock to read a verse. The verse stated that without love, preaching has no substance.
"I think it's pretty sad because he's giving Christianity an unfair and bad representation," he said. "Preaching like this hurts more than it helps because you're turning away more people instead of helping them."
Even though some of the students who paid attention to Smock's comments disagreed with him, Smock was doing what he felt the Bible intended him to.
Steve Spidell, a resident of Kokomo, Ind., who speaks about the ways of the Christian faith in his spare time, came to Purdue with Smock. He said Jesus Christ used to preach to the public also. It did not always go over well, Spidell said; people tried to kill Christ seven or eight times before he was crucified.
Either way, however, people learn about the Christian faith, and Spidell said it produces results.
"We need them all," he said. "It's one way to hear the Gospel."
Assistant Features Editor Laura Hoffman contributed to this story.