it’s all about you

SOCRATES mastered the art of dying; Christ overcame death as “the last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26). There is a real difference between the two things; the one is within the scope of human possibilities, the other means resurrection. It is not from ars moriendi, the art of dying, but from the resurrection of Christ that a new and purifying wind can blow through our present world. … If a few people really believed that and acted on it in their daily lives, a great deal would be changed. To live in the light of the Resurrection—that is what Easter means. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

“One cannot at the same time both be sincere and seem so.. [  ] playing the role of of the sincere person sincerely, however, rightly raises suspicions”

(William Ian Miller in: Faking it, p.208)

In the 2007 addition of the well known Dutch songbook of worshipsongs called ‘Opwekking’ (revival), song number 666 is not found. It was considered to be ‘too sensitive’ to add a song with this number since it is associated with the number of the beast in the book of revelation. See the article in the Dutch Christian newspaper.

http://www.nd.nl/Document.aspx?document=nd_artikel&id=89811

 

 

“there are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Jesus and those who don’t”

Jesus Camp

Evangelicals, according to the dominant stereotype, will propagandyze, proselytize and they have a political agenda.  The documentary Jesus Camp has all the ingredients to confirm this opinion: they are pro Bush, pro life/anti abortion, teach their children creationism in stead of evolution, they’re anti gay and battle in the culture war for political power and influence all the way to and in the white house.

A new strategy in this battle is to include children, by training them at a young age to be warriors for God. They are the ‘key generation’, according to the childrens pastor Becky Fisher who is portrayed in the film. At a Christian summer camp, the kids learn to pray for the nation, to repent for the sins of the nation but most of all, they learn how to be engaged in the battle between God and Satan to overcome evil in the world. During the camp we see the kids with green and black painted faces, symbolically enacting a war dance: with agressive movements they jump up and down and sway their stick yelling ‘this means war!’. It sure makes you wander what effect this will have on the minds of these children. Issues like child abuse and kids right came to my mind when I left the theater. But at the same time, I was left with a number of questions. What do the parents think of this camp afterwards. Do they all agree with the campprogram as is shown? And what about the kids? They are not all ‘brainwashed’ is seems since one boy tells that when he is with his dad, he does get to watch Harry Potter although it is preached against. They somehow have to negotiate between the different worlds they live in and it would be very interesting if some of these contradictions would have been adressed. Not only those of the childen but also of the parents and Becky Fisher herself.

Another question that I was left with was how representative this picture is for Pentecostals and their children’s ministry? This definitely does not look like mainstream Pentecostalism to me. And what about the radioman? It was not clear from what position he commented on the ‘culture war’ of evangelicals taking over the nation. It only added to the unnuanced picture of evangelicals as portrayed.

Still, Jesus Camp is very interesting documentary to watch as an example of an excessive form of Pentecostalism. Since the subject touches upon children and indoctrination, one cannot watch it without remaining indifferent.

 

 

 

A documentary of a Pentecostal/charismatic summercamp for children will be shown at the IDFA 

nov 25 th 22.00h. 

nov 27 th 21.30 h.

nov 30th 15.45 h.

website Jesus Camp