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TechnoratiA high school valedictorian in Jacksonville, Fla., recently created a stir among attendants at her graduation when she shared about her faith in God and Jesus Christ throughout most of her 20-minute speech.
Shannon Spaulding received mixed reactions for the advice she offered fellow graduates of Samuel W. Wolfson High School during her commencement speech last Friday evening, which included accepting Christ into their lives.
While many expressed how her message was inappropriate for the setting, a majority of the audience seemed to agree with her message, applauding loudly throughout the speech.
“The best thing I can offer you tonight, my former classmates and fellow graduates, is to tell you how you can plan and know for sure that you will end up safe and victorious at the end of your earthly life,” explained Spaulding to the crowd at Veterans Memorial Arena, where the graduation ceremony was held. “I want to tell you that Jesus Christ can give you eternal life in Heaven.”
The student’s commencement message contained an exhortation to all to take Christ into their lives. The speech mixed in a number of scriptures, most which were followed by applause.
Spaulding explained how easy it is to have one’s sins taken away, and that a life with Jesus can give freedom.
“Though I am far from perfect and one single breach of moral law drives each of us far from God’s perfect standard of perfection,” continued the Christian valedictorian, “Jesus Christ has loved me, taken a punishment for my sins, and cared about every detail of my life.
“As I stand here before you tonight, it’s with the sincerest heart and purest of intentions that I tell you that Jesus Christ, creator of the universe, that each one of you, loves you too.”
A number of people were caught off guard by the religious speech and several people following the graduation expressed their dissatisfaction with the incident, commenting that it had made them feel uncomfortable, especially over the student’s talk about sin and hell. Some felt that Spaulding should not have used the venue to preach, and that it was inappropriate for a celebration setting.
"It was not the right forum,” said Samantha, a sister to one of the graduates, according to the News4Jax. “We were all sent there to have a joyous occasion and not a religious revival."
Joseph Wise, the superintendent of the school, echoed that sentiment in a statement sent out after the ceremony. In it, he expressed how he regretted the way that Spaulding had used her speech time in that it was “offensive and insensitive to some.”
A large number in the audience, however, were happy to hear the valedictorian and felt that it was her choice to speak her mind after years of hard work in high school. She had earned that privilege, and it was a positive message, they say.
Asked later about the event, Spaulding explained that she still stands behind what she said, despite that others might have felt uncomfortable.
"I was not trying to force anything on anybody,” the Florida teen told Jax4News. “I just wanted to tell them something I knew was important to me and wanted to have them a chance to hear."
Spaulding ended her talk by encouraging her fellow classmates in their futures.
“If your soul becomes weary, take comfort in Matt 11:28 which says, ‘Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’” she stated as her presentation drew near its end. “And if your steps become uncertain, search out the truth, for John 8:32 says, ‘And he shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’”
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