Jesus Camp

[equanimity]

Just watched this documentary on Netflix about a bible camp.  Was released in 2006.  It was kind of interesting but mostly boring.  Guess its purpose was to shine a light on the indoctrination a lot of young kids go through thanks to the evangelical parents, and it tied in the political influence the Christian right commands.  There was one part where they brought out a cardboard cutout of President George Bush and a bunch of the kids put their hands on it and prayed.  I enjoyed the fact that Ted Haggard played a part in the film.  Meth, gay sex, and Jesus

What really struck me (and this could be editing) was that there wasn't really much talk about true Christian beliefs in the sermons these kids were given.  Like it was all flash and no actual content.  Christianity at its core is a beautiful expression of humanity, but from what little we saw of this bible camp they had it boiled down to a few political talking points that they repeated over and over.  They'd talk about abortion, global warming, evolution and homosexuality, but completely glossed over the wonderful teachings of peace and understanding.  At one point the main lady in charge of the camp said, "Kids these days are different from kids generations before; they're visual and they don't read books, which is why to reach them we have to give all these flashy presentations."

It seemed a little sad to me.  Teaching political divisiveness at such a young age and passing it off as Jesus' word.  Guess the film was intended to get at me that way though.  The reality can't be so bad, right?  They must teach about turning cheeks and throwing stones still.

I give the film 3 out of 5 stars.  The ominous music set to kids praying was hilarious.

[millionsofdeadcats]

I went to church camp almost every year growing up.  Nothing like that happened ever to me, I always had a pretty good time.  It was just like regular camp except every evening there would be a service for an hour and a half.  They would have a guy speak, anyone who has gone to church knows the type; the church 'board' or 'elders' or whatever they call it finds a guy that they think will appeal to young people, and he is usually a fucking douche bag.  Most of them have soul patches and spiky hair and try to wear trendy clothes but they fail.

The speaker would give a sermon or something that was supposed to appeal to young people, or they would have 'skits' but most of them were about resisting peer pressure and not drinking and driving.  Not a lot of emphasis on sex or social issues.  99% of the kids there were fucking dorks who probably are still virgins anyway.  This would last 10 or 15 minutes, and then the rest of the time would be music.  This was also sort of embarrassing, they would have some of the stupidest cover bands imaginable, and they would change the words to popular songs to make them christian themed.  I can't even think of any examples and I don't fucking want to. 

Anyway, that is how church camp was for me.  Just like regular camp, but with an hour and a half of church board members using younger church members to 'get on the kids level' and 'appeal to the youth' or something.

[Ninja]

Just watched this documentary on Netflix about a bible camp.  Was released in 2006.  It was kind of interesting but mostly boring.  Guess its purpose was to shine a light on the indoctrination a lot of young kids go through thanks to the evangelical parents, and it tied in the political influence the Christian right commands.  There was one part where they brought out a cardboard cutout of President George Bush and a bunch of the kids put their hands on it and prayed.  I enjoyed the fact that Ted Haggard played a part in the film.  Meth, gay sex, and Jesus

What really struck me (and this could be editing) was that there wasn't really much talk about true Christian beliefs in the sermons these kids were given.  Like it was all flash and no actual content.  Christianity at its core is a beautiful expression of humanity, but from what little we saw of this bible camp they had it boiled down to a few political talking points that they repeated over and over.  They'd talk about abortion, global warming, evolution and homosexuality, but completely glossed over the wonderful teachings of peace and understanding.  At one point the main lady in charge of the camp said, "Kids these days are different from kids generations before; they're visual and they don't read books, which is why to reach them we have to give all these flashy presentations."

It seemed a little sad to me.  Teaching political divisiveness at such a young age and passing it off as Jesus' word.  Guess the film was intended to get at me that way though.  The reality can't be so bad, right?  They must teach about turning cheeks and throwing stones still.

I give the film 3 out of 5 stars.  The ominous music set to kids praying was hilarious.

Most Christians are brainwashed Satan worshippers.

[millionsofdeadcats]

Most Christians are brainwashed Satan worshippers.

IDK if you are trolling or not but this isn't as stupid as it sounds, if one looks at things through a 'gnostic' viewpoint.

[equanimity]

I went to church camp almost every year growing up.  Nothing like that happened ever to me, I always had a pretty good time.  It was just like regular camp except every evening there would be a service for an hour and a half.  They would have a guy speak, anyone who has gone to church knows the type; the church 'board' or 'elders' or whatever they call it finds a guy that they think will appeal to young people, and he is usually a fucking douche bag.  Most of them have soul patches and spiky hair and try to wear trendy clothes but they fail.

The speaker would give a sermon or something that was supposed to appeal to young people, or they would have 'skits' but most of them were about resisting peer pressure and not drinking and driving.  Not a lot of emphasis on sex or social issues.  99% of the kids there were fucking dorks who probably are still virgins anyway.  This would last 10 or 15 minutes, and then the rest of the time would be music.  This was also sort of embarrassing, they would have some of the stupidest cover bands imaginable, and they would change the words to popular songs to make them christian themed.  I can't even think of any examples and I don't fucking want to. 

Anyway, that is how church camp was for me.  Just like regular camp, but with an hour and a half of church board members using younger church members to 'get on the kids level' and 'appeal to the youth' or something.

Yeah this is kind of what I figured.  I think the people involved with this documentary searched for the most extreme and crazy church organization they could find and ran with it.

Just watched this documentary on Netflix about a bible camp.  Was released in 2006.  It was kind of interesting but mostly boring.  Guess its purpose was to shine a light on the indoctrination a lot of young kids go through thanks to the evangelical parents, and it tied in the political influence the Christian right commands.  There was one part where they brought out a cardboard cutout of President George Bush and a bunch of the kids put their hands on it and prayed.  I enjoyed the fact that Ted Haggard played a part in the film.  Meth, gay sex, and Jesus

What really struck me (and this could be editing) was that there wasn't really much talk about true Christian beliefs in the sermons these kids were given.  Like it was all flash and no actual content.  Christianity at its core is a beautiful expression of humanity, but from what little we saw of this bible camp they had it boiled down to a few political talking points that they repeated over and over.  They'd talk about abortion, global warming, evolution and homosexuality, but completely glossed over the wonderful teachings of peace and understanding.  At one point the main lady in charge of the camp said, "Kids these days are different from kids generations before; they're visual and they don't read books, which is why to reach them we have to give all these flashy presentations."

It seemed a little sad to me.  Teaching political divisiveness at such a young age and passing it off as Jesus' word.  Guess the film was intended to get at me that way though.  The reality can't be so bad, right?  They must teach about turning cheeks and throwing stones still.

I give the film 3 out of 5 stars.  The ominous music set to kids praying was hilarious.

Most Christians are brainwashed Satan worshippers.

That's not really fair.  I kinda like Christianity, when it's done right.

[Ninja]

Most Christians are brainwashed Satan worshippers.

IDK if you are trolling or not but this isn't as stupid as it sounds, if one looks at things through a 'gnostic' viewpoint.

Yah.  I wasn't trolling.

[millionsofdeadcats]

That's not really fair.  I kinda like Christianity, when it's done right.

Some 'gnostic' sects believe that what we think of as 'god' is really an imposter called a 'demiurge' who is like, blind and evil and trapped inside a cloud or some shit.

The serpent from Genesis was really not satan, and he was trying to help humanity by telling adam and eve about the tree of knowledge.  There was also a tree of life I think.

 I don't remember the story off the top of my head but, what ninja said?  It's a thing.

[Arnox]

Well, there have definitely been bad documentatries in the past, that's for sure.

I find the one on 4Chan by Fox News to be the most hilarious one I've seen so far actually.

[equanimity]

That's not really fair.  I kinda like Christianity, when it's done right.

Some 'gnostic' sects believe that what we think of as 'god' is really an imposter called a 'demiurge' who is like, blind and evil and trapped inside a cloud or some shit.

The serpent from Genesis was really not satan, and he was trying to help humanity by telling adam and eve about the tree of knowledge.  There was also a tree of life I think.

 I don't remember the story off the top of my head but, what ninja said?  It's a thing.

Pretty fuckin' nifty.  I had a philosopher instructor that told us that translating the religious experience of god into language and trying to share it could be considered blasphemy, because we inadvertently corrupt the whole thing along the way.  He was some kinda Buddhist though, so it made sense that he would see god as a personal and indescribable experience.

[Ninja]

Well, there have definitely been bad documentatries in the past, that's for sure.

I find the one on 4Chan by Fox News to be the most hilarious one I've seen so far actually.

LOL, that hilarious.  I thought Anonymous was CIA?

[equanimity]

Well, there have definitely been bad documentatries in the past, that's for sure.

I find the one on 4Chan by Fox News to be the most hilarious one I've seen so far actually.

Ahaha wow.  That was funny.

But no, the documentary wasn't that bad.  Emotionally charged and repetitive, but fascinating nonetheless.

[millionsofdeadcats]

Pretty fuckin' nifty.  I had a philosopher instructor that told us that translating the religious experience of god into language and trying to share it could be considered blasphemy, because we inadvertently corrupt the whole thing along the way.  He was some kinda Buddhist though, so it made sense that he would see god as a personal and indescribable experience.

I had a zoklet thread about a similar subject.  I sort of hit a wall philosophically, though, so I haven't made any progress since.

https://www.zoklet.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=303514

[Ninja]

That's not really fair.  I kinda like Christianity, when it's done right.

Some 'gnostic' sects believe that what we think of as 'god' is really an imposter called a 'demiurge' who is like, blind and evil and trapped inside a cloud or some shit.

The serpent from Genesis was really not satan, and he was trying to help humanity by telling adam and eve about the tree of knowledge.  There was also a tree of life I think.

 I don't remember the story off the top of my head but, what ninja said?  It's a thing.

I was actually talking more about the fact that most Christian churches are actually corporations of the State and worship the almighty State as their God.  And, as we all know, the State does some pretty Evil shit.

[millionsofdeadcats]

I was actually talking more about the fact that most Christian churches are actually corporations of the State and worship the almighty State as their God.  And, as we all know, the State does some pretty Evil shit.

Well, there was a christian sect that believed that at least the old testament god is an imposter and that the serpent was the good guy or something like that.

[equanimity]

I sort of hit a wall philosophically

Sounds painful.

But yeah, pretty much what you were getting at in that thread.  Except (from my understanding after glancing at the first post) you seem to be saying that genuine experiences with god are not possible.

My feeling on the matter is that we're all aspects of god, living out our existences for the very sake of experience.  Kinda like uh... it doesn't matter so much if we corrupt religion or god, because the very fact that corruption can happen is evidence of it being a piece of the greater whole that comprises god.  That line separating corruption and purity doesn't actually exist.  If that makes sense.

It's all a little macro, though, and hard to place oneself in.  Lately I've been trying to focus more on the micro and making religion work in my life.

dunno if any of that made sense.