Friday, September 18, 2009

Moses Doesn't Love Me


You may have seen this guy standing in a public place "preaching" at the top of his lungs at passing college students. You may have seen him at the University of Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas, Oklahoma State University, or some other public place making a mockery of Jesus Christ and a fool of himself.

His name is Gary Bowman, but students often know him as Moses at the U of A or Preacher Bob at some other campuses. He seems to try to evangelize students and faculty, but let me deconstruct his intentions for you.

His primary purpose seems to be to incite anger and draw fodder for lawsuits. In fact, in 2003, the University of Arkansas had to pay him over $30,000, and there have been quite a number of different lawsuits over the years against a variety of organizations.

Secondly, his evangelism is really nothing more than the kind of thing you might hear from Westboro Baptist Church or some other inflammatory group. You see, when you talk to someone about Jesus or share your faith with them, you meet them on their level, you empathize with them and show that you care for and have love for them. On the other hand, what Mr. Bowman does is talk past you, over you, around you, and through you. He doesn't care about you. Just walk up to him and try to talk to him in a reasoned calm and compassionate way. He'll most likely continue preaching at the top of his lungs while you are still standing next to him.

He doesn't just ask you to follow Jesus, you have to follow Jesus in his way, and his "Jesus" isn't the same one the rest of us know. To be okay with Gary, you need to be a "tongue talker" a Pentecostal Holiness person, and you better not even occasionally drink or smoke. None of these things, of course, is biblical.

And definitely don't try to engage him in the same way he tries to engage you. You can find a YouTube video which clearly shows Mr. Bowman calling the cops on a student with a bullhorn. He knows his rights, he knows the system, and he will use every opportunity to use it against you while using it for his own purposes.

So what to do? Ignore him. Leave the nuts to argue with the nut. He wouldn't come back if he didn't get a rise out of people. He's not doing God's will, he's gratifying his own sick need for attention. Jesus wouldn't call you a whore.

Fact.
WiredForStereo

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I walked up to Moses today and talked to him for about 30 minutes. He is very nice and insightful now don't get me wrong I'm not claiming that I believe what he is saying but he knows the bible very well and would give anybody a run for their money on bible knowledge. I'm not certain if he is a fraud or not, and I don't agree with some of the statements he has made but we all take in the bible differently. He is intelligent and if you attempted to walk up to him and have a conversation with him he would talk to you like a human. He claims that he is just trying to love people and if telling them that they are going to hell because of sins they are committing saves that person, then he is loving people by saving them. Also, in the bible it does say you shouldn't drink, [Ephesians 5:18] because when you are drunk you can not make Godly decisions. The wine used in the bible is nonalcoholic. If you are a believer then you of all people should understand judgment, and if you think Moses is judging other people then aren't you yourself judging Moses? I am not a follower of Moses, I'm just writing a report on him and might be the only one to see him as an actual person.

Solomon Parker said...

You can take away what you want from Moses, but if you think the wine in the Bible was non-alcoholic, you are sadly naive.

Tell me, how exactly is it that you can keep fresh squeezed grape juice more than a few hours with no refrigeration or pasteurization without it fermenting? Yeast is present on the grape peal, when the juice is squeezed, the fermentation begins immediately.

The only non alcoholic wine is that which has been de-alcoholized, even today. The wine you believe in from the Bible is a myth even by today's standards. Please look up Thomas Welch for info on where today's grape juice came from. Beyond 150 years ago, there was no such thing as grape juice more than a day old. It was all wine, and it was all alcoholic.