Do you agree with Dave? I may agree with Dave’s message, but not his means of communicating it. Actually, the very fact that I agree with his message compels me to disagree with the “I agree with Dave” campaign. My personal convictions of this Truth are not something that can be expressed through a T-shirt or religion, but only through relationship. A Christian cannot be identified by outside adornment, but by their heart. And heart can only be revealed through real and genuine relationship.

Up to this point, almost all criticism of the Dave campaign has come from outside of it. Listen, Christians, I am one of you. But we are still in it. We need to be in relationship with it. I am one of you, but I am also a human being, sinful and in desperate need of grace. We are all the same in this: Believer and atheist alike, in need of Christ.

Who do you agree with? Dave, a religious group, a campus organization? Or with Christ? Look at Christ. He was not seen at the temple handing out pamphlets and fliers, He did not advertise an organization. He was Himself, in relationship with others and that was enough. It should be enough for us too.

The shirts call for conformity, and although we must be unified around the truths of Christianity, it is really our differences and unique individuality that creates that unity. Our differences cause us to need each other and so unify us. God is too big to be expressed by one person, one member, one denomination or group. Christianity does not have to look a certain way; not everyone who donned a shirt is Christian, and everyone who chose to express their faith in a different manner are not excluded from it.

The danger is that we only see the tool, the campaign, the institution. We lose sight of the goal. Are you drawing people to Dave or an organization, religion, or to Christ? Campus ministry groups should be the means to an end, not the end in themselves. They can take on a life of their own, that may be contrary to Christ Himself, becoming deceptive and exclusive, as the Dave campaign demonstrated. Examine your motives. I agree with Christ.

Jodie Vinson

Sophomore

English