As one of my last opportunities to say, well, whatever I'd like to say to whomever takes the time to read columns, I want this one to be special.
I want these 400 words or so to culminate all the things I have said and wish I had said. I want to get back to the "good" part of the "good news" that is the gospel.
It's unfortunate that so many people have such a skewed sense of the American church, and it's even more unfortunate that it's Christians' own faults. We have misrepresented Christ for way too long, and now we get upset when people turn away at the mention of His name. For those people who have given church or Christianity a try and have gotten a theoretical black eye in the process, I want to personally apologize.
I feel confident saying that the majority of ministers really do have the best intentions. They think that telling you what you're doing wrong, pointing out why you're unworthy of God's love and imposing the impossible perfection you should aspire to be, is the Word of God. But it's not.
Do you want to know what the Bible really says about you? It says that you are loved – purely and simply. And in fact, there's absolutely nothing you can do to earn it. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Regardless of, in the words of a classic 90s boy band, "who you are, where you're from and what you did," God will never, ever, fail to love you. He's not mad at you. He's not sitting on a white, puffy cloud waiting and hoping to hit you over the head with a cosmic baseball bat when you screw up. Isn't that great?
The word "gospel," means "good news." That's what I want to communicate to all of you today. You don't want to take my word for it? Great! Look it up yourself.
But before you do, let me just prove to you the amazing love of God using a concept I barely managed to capture in my one-and-only math class at Marshall University. The transitive property basically says if a=b and b=c, then a=c. So, since God is love, according to 1 John 4:8, and because 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes love as patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, no keeper of wrongs, not delighting in evil, rejoicing in truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hopeful and always persevering, well that means that God is all of those things too.
I hope if nothing else, you know that you are never too far gone to run to God. He will accept you, just as you are, whenever you are ready.
Contact Morgan Unger at unger6@marshall.edu.
is a member of the 
13 comments Log in to Comment
Wow. You showed a lot of courage in writing this. Great piece!!John Franko
Pittsburgh
You must be logged in to comment on an article. Not already a member? Register now