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Village of the damned

Friday saw the UA mall spotted with free-thinking, environmentally-minded student activists, and messengers of the wrath of God. The mix made for some humorous, but deep, social revelations. Michael Warnecki, leader and father of the band of Jesus kids, has tainted the religion and taught his children dogma that only has worth when accepted on personal terms while his strain of Christianity and beliefs are gaining strength among extremists, losing converts, and creating enemies.

In light of the last week of religious holidays - Easter, Good Friday, etc. - something must be said to the undecided and those followers sickened by Warnecki's rantings. Do not let such misguided convictions ruin the religion. Learn the tenets on your own terms and then decide, but do not let Warnecki's fanaticism scare you.

Two Mormon students were not scared to make their own inquiries to understand. Elder Bailey and Elder Van Der Wekken approached Mr. Warnecki to ask him some questions about the love of God, upon which Warnecki turned tail and ran with his unmerry band. Apparently, according to Warnecki, "little demons told them" to say what they were saying. Well, with logical reasoning like that, it's a wonder anyone would disagree with him.

Getting Warnecki to discuss his beliefs was like talking to the guy at the mental ward who thinks he's a glass of orange juice, afraid to lay down because then he might pour out. One of his daughters, Ruth, was cordial enough to explain their philosophy through gritted teeth. In reaction to being dubbed a "fire and brimstone" preacher, she alluded to a burning building. She forwarded the idea that to stop me from entering a burning building she would jump on me, wrestling me to the ground, noting that shaking my hands and being my friend would be ineffective.

Granted, befriending me will do little to keep me from entering a fire, but preaching hatred will only lose me as a possible convert or weaken already current faith. Warnecki's two youngest children were approximately 7 years old and stared a peer directly in the eyes and said, "You're going to Hell." The conception of Hell, or a greater being even, is far too great for someone that young to comprehend. Those kids are being force fed dogma that they have no true feeling for. Ruth was probably 15 and a well-versed young lady, but I felt no conviction.

Several students noticed the pressure the children were feeling and decided to say something to counter the force feeding. Derek Fitzgerald, Kevin Russell, and Michael Badowski told one of the girls that she was a beautiful person, sensing the negativity in their message. The three men felt that some sense of positivity was needed. In response the girl only replied that she is nothing and going to Hell. Fitzgerald and Russell indicated that Warnecki shouted that "Sin is natural and we all sin." That sin is what's sending everyone directly to Hell according to the troupe's stock verse, Romans 3:10, "None are righteous."

Here is the fallacy in Warnecki's repulsive dogma: if we're all doomed to an afterlife of damnation, despite the Bible's explanation of Jesus Christ's death being given for our sins, why preach at all? The hatred and negativity serves no purpose but causing you to die earlier due to bleeding ulcers. Life on earth is too short to be that pessimistic. The greatest travesty of Michael Warnecki's preaching is not the number of people he alienates, but rather what he's done to his children.

America is home to hatred so underground, so suppressed, so nauseating, that most of us can do little to truly live free and happy. Warnecki is making a point of his life to maintain that hatred. He let me in on his history, having been a party animal on a college football team one year, and losing all his friends after being dubbed a "Jesus Freak" the next. That was a choice he made in dire times. Warnecki went from a moral zero to a moral fanatic, interpreting the Bible as he saw fit. Now his children are facing bleak futures, traveling from one free speech area to another, spitting out dogma laced with hate they never chose to support. Religion is supposed to be a choice, not a Gerber force feeding.