Fear and Jesus Camp
The past two messages at my Charlotte church have been about fear and why we, as believers in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection, have nothing to fear. I didn't really think they had much to do with me, I was wrong. Then I watched a documentary, Jesus Camp, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (2006) and was brought back to my childhood. I was reminded of the fear I used to live in and am still being set free from.
The documentary is centered around an Evangelical Christian children's camp in North Dakota (or Missouri) that teaches kids how to develop their spiritual gifts and become radical for Christ. At first I thought it was to sort of poke fun of and question Evangelical Pentecostal Fundamentalist/Reformed Christians (phew, that's a long title), like Bill Maher's Religulous; but that's not the case. It, I believe, presented an honest, small view of a sect of evangelical pentecostal Christianity.
The film followed about three or four children at home, school (home-schooled), at the camp, and in D.C., and interviewed them about what they believe. I had a lot of mixed feelings about the things preached to these beloved children. It wasn't all lies, but it wasn't all truth either.
I encourage you to watch it, but to be prepared for a lot of wrong, a lot of misinformation from the subjects. Really, this blog is a reflection on my feelings and not so much a critique of the documentary. It was a good, fair documentary, but the things in it are not fully good or fair.
I remember, when I became a Christian (at 13 years), compulsively apologizing to God for my sins; I used to stop and try to recall all the sins I had committed. I feared hell and returning to the miserable, possessed state that I had been saved from; I had not yet understood that once saved always saved. (Assurance of Salvation is something important to tell a new believer, by the way.) I was in constant fear of being condemned to hell for every "little" or "big" sin I committed and was scared that if I suddenly died without confessing every single sin I would go to hell. I did not yet understand that His forgiveness covers all my sin and this His death on the cross was/is big enough to rescue me forever.
One precious, little girl in the documentary told us what kind of Christians God likes. She said He likes Christians that are energetic and move around when they are at church. Essentially, what she was saying is that He likes Pentecostals. She said He doesn't like Christians that just sit there and sing, non-Pentecostals. (Sorry, I don't know a word for non-Pentecostals.) I didn't realize until a couple years back that I believed that very same thing. I thought that believers who sung loud, raised their hands, clapped, danced, spoke in tongues, and showed other blatant signs of their love for the Lord were the people who truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and were, by a landslide, more spiritual than those who didn't express their love in that manner. But now, wouldn't you know it, I go to a Reformed Presbyterian church in Greensboro, a 'non-Pentecostal' church. At first I didn't think they 'got it', I felt they were shallow because their worship is quieter and they sing a lot of hymns (which I am now in love with!), but now I am a part of the community and I realize that they love the Lord so much and they do 'get it', they're just more reserved. They're merely not hoopin' and hollarin' about it. Growing up in the Pentecostal tradition I was inadvertently taught that the less you 'shouted' (that's a black-Pentecostal church term meaning singing and dancing wildly before the Lord and it usually means there's some syncopated eighth notes played by the band to assist in said shouting) the less spiritual you were. Well no one wants to be the less spiritual one, so there might be 'shouting' matches to display who was more spiritual or who could 'catch and hold onto' the Spirit longer (please understand that there are so many things wrong with that belief). I'm sure you can imagine the absurdity of the looks of this. If you ever somehow get caught in the middle of a shouting match, MOVE! You could lose an eye or just generally get hurt. Anyway, Praise God that I'm set free from: fearing that my lack of flailing around means that I'm not spiritual enough and judging others' spiritual state by their outward expression of love for the Lord.
My Charlotte Pastor talked some about all those panicky, chain emails sent out; you know the ones: 'warn all your friends, they're gonna outlaw Christianity!' or 'write your legislators so they don't take God out of schools!' or 'home school your kids because they're indoctrinating them by teaching about other religions!'...stuff like that. In Jesus Camp some panicky stuff made an appearance. They were talking about how teaching evolution in schools is wrong and how they should teach creationism and/or intelligent design (those aren't the same thing, right?) because that is the only thing that makes sense. They were freaking out about Harry Potter, who the government was bringing into power (Republican vs. Democrat crap), the evils of secular (not Christian) music, what the Muslims in other countries are teaching their children (''they're putting grenades in their kids' hands''), etc etc. I must admit that when I was a younger believer I used to try to get in all the hype/conspiracies. I wanted to show that I was a diehard Christian and that nothing could bring me down and separate me from my God, not even Harry Potter. While I'm not discouraging taking a stance on certain topics that you deam important, I am discouraging sending panicky emails to all your friends. Or at least do not send them to me. Truthfully, these hot topics, whatever they may be, aren't really that hot and are treated in that manner because of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of death, fear of marginalization. You name it. But as believers in the God who has all Glory, Honor, and Power, what do we really have to fear? Not death, not politics, not witchcraft, not other religions, nothing. Praise God for that. God's big enough to take care of all the 'threats' against Him, so take a chill pill.
For a little over four years I went to a pretty conservative, big church in Charlotte. This was during high school and a little during college and was in the midst of (W.) Bush's first and second term. In case you didn't know, he's a Republican...and so was the church. I heard a lot of people say that they voted or were going to vote for George W. because he has said he was a Christian. Now, I was too young to vote for either of those terms, but I developed the idea that if you were a Christian, you had to vote for a certain candidate to prove your faith. How dumb is that?! In 2006, George W. was halfway through his second term and Jesus Camp came out. At the camp, they pulled out a life-size cutout of George W. so they could lay hands and pray for him. Now, I'm all about some praying for the president, I mean he does have a big job, but that's a bit too creepy for me. One of the children followed, attended the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Pastor Ted Haggard. Now this was, obviously, before the scandal centered around him. Anyway, he was the spiritual advisor for George W. when he was in office. There's nothing wrong with this, but I imagine many of the church congregation simply voted for George W. because their pastor was in such direct contact with him, similar to how my former church voted for Bush because he said he was a Christian. When I actually could vote in a presidential election, 2008, I felt torn and confused, amongst other things, because I didn't know who I should vote for. I was told I should vote for Biden because I'm a Christian and would be thought of as a bad Christian if I didn't, but I should vote for Obama because I'm black and would be paying a disservice to my race if I voted otherwise. Seriously? But I was truly crippled by the fear that I would make the decision that would be unhealthy for who I am. In hindsight, I shouldn't have been so anxious about all that, but it seemed like a huge deal...mostly because were acting like it was huge deal. Panic and agendas are dumb, so don't drag me into them.
There's so much more that comes to mind, but the point is: fear is dumb when you're the child of the King of Kings. If God is for me then who can be against me?
The documentary is centered around an Evangelical Christian children's camp in North Dakota (or Missouri) that teaches kids how to develop their spiritual gifts and become radical for Christ. At first I thought it was to sort of poke fun of and question Evangelical Pentecostal Fundamentalist/Reformed Christians (phew, that's a long title), like Bill Maher's Religulous; but that's not the case. It, I believe, presented an honest, small view of a sect of evangelical pentecostal Christianity.
The film followed about three or four children at home, school (home-schooled), at the camp, and in D.C., and interviewed them about what they believe. I had a lot of mixed feelings about the things preached to these beloved children. It wasn't all lies, but it wasn't all truth either.
I encourage you to watch it, but to be prepared for a lot of wrong, a lot of misinformation from the subjects. Really, this blog is a reflection on my feelings and not so much a critique of the documentary. It was a good, fair documentary, but the things in it are not fully good or fair.
I remember, when I became a Christian (at 13 years), compulsively apologizing to God for my sins; I used to stop and try to recall all the sins I had committed. I feared hell and returning to the miserable, possessed state that I had been saved from; I had not yet understood that once saved always saved. (Assurance of Salvation is something important to tell a new believer, by the way.) I was in constant fear of being condemned to hell for every "little" or "big" sin I committed and was scared that if I suddenly died without confessing every single sin I would go to hell. I did not yet understand that His forgiveness covers all my sin and this His death on the cross was/is big enough to rescue me forever.
One precious, little girl in the documentary told us what kind of Christians God likes. She said He likes Christians that are energetic and move around when they are at church. Essentially, what she was saying is that He likes Pentecostals. She said He doesn't like Christians that just sit there and sing, non-Pentecostals. (Sorry, I don't know a word for non-Pentecostals.) I didn't realize until a couple years back that I believed that very same thing. I thought that believers who sung loud, raised their hands, clapped, danced, spoke in tongues, and showed other blatant signs of their love for the Lord were the people who truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and were, by a landslide, more spiritual than those who didn't express their love in that manner. But now, wouldn't you know it, I go to a Reformed Presbyterian church in Greensboro, a 'non-Pentecostal' church. At first I didn't think they 'got it', I felt they were shallow because their worship is quieter and they sing a lot of hymns (which I am now in love with!), but now I am a part of the community and I realize that they love the Lord so much and they do 'get it', they're just more reserved. They're merely not hoopin' and hollarin' about it. Growing up in the Pentecostal tradition I was inadvertently taught that the less you 'shouted' (that's a black-Pentecostal church term meaning singing and dancing wildly before the Lord and it usually means there's some syncopated eighth notes played by the band to assist in said shouting) the less spiritual you were. Well no one wants to be the less spiritual one, so there might be 'shouting' matches to display who was more spiritual or who could 'catch and hold onto' the Spirit longer (please understand that there are so many things wrong with that belief). I'm sure you can imagine the absurdity of the looks of this. If you ever somehow get caught in the middle of a shouting match, MOVE! You could lose an eye or just generally get hurt. Anyway, Praise God that I'm set free from: fearing that my lack of flailing around means that I'm not spiritual enough and judging others' spiritual state by their outward expression of love for the Lord.
My Charlotte Pastor talked some about all those panicky, chain emails sent out; you know the ones: 'warn all your friends, they're gonna outlaw Christianity!' or 'write your legislators so they don't take God out of schools!' or 'home school your kids because they're indoctrinating them by teaching about other religions!'...stuff like that. In Jesus Camp some panicky stuff made an appearance. They were talking about how teaching evolution in schools is wrong and how they should teach creationism and/or intelligent design (those aren't the same thing, right?) because that is the only thing that makes sense. They were freaking out about Harry Potter, who the government was bringing into power (Republican vs. Democrat crap), the evils of secular (not Christian) music, what the Muslims in other countries are teaching their children (''they're putting grenades in their kids' hands''), etc etc. I must admit that when I was a younger believer I used to try to get in all the hype/conspiracies. I wanted to show that I was a diehard Christian and that nothing could bring me down and separate me from my God, not even Harry Potter. While I'm not discouraging taking a stance on certain topics that you deam important, I am discouraging sending panicky emails to all your friends. Or at least do not send them to me. Truthfully, these hot topics, whatever they may be, aren't really that hot and are treated in that manner because of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of death, fear of marginalization. You name it. But as believers in the God who has all Glory, Honor, and Power, what do we really have to fear? Not death, not politics, not witchcraft, not other religions, nothing. Praise God for that. God's big enough to take care of all the 'threats' against Him, so take a chill pill.
For a little over four years I went to a pretty conservative, big church in Charlotte. This was during high school and a little during college and was in the midst of (W.) Bush's first and second term. In case you didn't know, he's a Republican...and so was the church. I heard a lot of people say that they voted or were going to vote for George W. because he has said he was a Christian. Now, I was too young to vote for either of those terms, but I developed the idea that if you were a Christian, you had to vote for a certain candidate to prove your faith. How dumb is that?! In 2006, George W. was halfway through his second term and Jesus Camp came out. At the camp, they pulled out a life-size cutout of George W. so they could lay hands and pray for him. Now, I'm all about some praying for the president, I mean he does have a big job, but that's a bit too creepy for me. One of the children followed, attended the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Pastor Ted Haggard. Now this was, obviously, before the scandal centered around him. Anyway, he was the spiritual advisor for George W. when he was in office. There's nothing wrong with this, but I imagine many of the church congregation simply voted for George W. because their pastor was in such direct contact with him, similar to how my former church voted for Bush because he said he was a Christian. When I actually could vote in a presidential election, 2008, I felt torn and confused, amongst other things, because I didn't know who I should vote for. I was told I should vote for Biden because I'm a Christian and would be thought of as a bad Christian if I didn't, but I should vote for Obama because I'm black and would be paying a disservice to my race if I voted otherwise. Seriously? But I was truly crippled by the fear that I would make the decision that would be unhealthy for who I am. In hindsight, I shouldn't have been so anxious about all that, but it seemed like a huge deal...mostly because were acting like it was huge deal. Panic and agendas are dumb, so don't drag me into them.
There's so much more that comes to mind, but the point is: fear is dumb when you're the child of the King of Kings. If God is for me then who can be against me?
I also saw this documentary and thought it was totally non-representative of all the Christian variations. I did like the fact that although it just focused on this "sect" (as you would put it), it was rather unbiased. I don't think it tried to show how these Christians were wrong, they just had different views on things. If you are into Christian documentaries, I recommend "Lord, save me from your followers". It's about the "culture wars" really good and on Netflix instant watch :)
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