Jesus Camp

So, my wife and I watched the Oscar-nominated documentary, Jesus Camp, this week. Essentially, it's the story of an Evangelical, Pentecostal Children's Pastor and her work with kids. By extension, issues of political, social and spiritual natures are also discussed as part of the film.

From my standpoint, the film is presented in a mildly antagonistic point of view. I'm not saying that it aims to discredit the Bible necessarily, but that the "movement" that is examined is portrayed as being inappropriate and misguided.

Both b. and I found the film to be extremely interesting and disturbing. I'll try to boil it down to 5 issues that are particularly troublesome:

1. Speaking in tongues
2. Warriors
3. "This Generation"
4. Political aspirations
5. Control

Speaking in tongues...I know the Bible talks about it as a spiritual gift. I believe that the true intention of this gift was to communicate and to be valuable to others. When people start to make crazy sounds while they get lathered up in what they call "the Holy Ghost", it just seems more crazy than it does worshipful. God correct my view if it's wrong.

Warriors...there was just a lot of talk about going to war with the world, about winning back America for Christ, about winning back Government for Christ, about fighting against Satan in a conscious way all of the time. There is little place for love in the mentality of a warrior, and although I agree that we must resist temptation and be mindful of Satan's attack, a constant focus on that would leave one defensive, battle-weary and distracted from love.

"This generation"....I got so sick of hearing this phrase. Kids and adults all throughout the film kept saying it, like the kids of 2007 have some exalted place in world history, something they can be very proud of, and thus attain their special status through boldness and activism. I think the idea of this generation having any exalted importance is man's idea and not God's. God doesn't love this generation more than past ones. I don't buy that the kids of today need to re-claim the world. Talk about inappropriate pressure. God is in control, not this generation.

Political aspirations....at times the pastor and some of the childrens' parents spoke of them growing up to become senators and mayors, like that was the ideal. There seemed to be an air of superiority, almost like they deserved to be put in important places. Let's get important. Let's get power. Let's take charge. It's not the Gospel if you read the Sermon on the Mount.

Control...from the getting fired up in tongues, to naming this generation as superior, to the quest for political power, the idea of we have control and we're going to use it and increase it is eerily present. At times there are good things said, evangelism is promoted, fasting is valued, staying faithful to God is encouraged, and worship is frequently mentioned and practiced. But the self is quite large in this film and this is a bit of a problem because we know that John the Baptist recognized that the self must decrease so that Christ might increase. I don't think the Christian walk is about being powerful. I think there is power in our faith, for sure, but I think the Christian walk is about being loving and being thankful. There is a place for boldness, but it's not the Christian's highest virtue. There is a place for bravery and standing up for Christian values, but the message of Scripture does not say to dominate the world. There will come a day when Jesus dominates the world. Until then, I believe there is a place for humility and patience.

an honest MISTAKE...twice

Here I sit, for the next 80 minutes, to contemplate my fate. In essence, what is at stake is my ability to graduate from Graduate School. Why? Because of Theology Survey. What's the problem with Theology Survey? My work is late. Why is my work late? Because I'm an idiot. For the last two months, I have been operating under the notion that my Semlink Theology Survey work was due on March 7th, 2007. 03/07/07. However, this is not correct. Somehow I interpreted 2007-03-03 as being March 7th instead of March 3rd. How could I do that? Why would I be so stupid? I saw the 3 and the 7 and I rushed to judgment. I rushed incorrectly. So now I face the reality that I took my final on March 6th and handed in my paper on March 7th. What will become of me? I suppose what lies ahead is a typical foray into a world (GCTS academia) filled with laws and grace, deadlines and people, rules and discretion. By grace, it's a no-brainer. It's an honest mistake and I did all my work and because of the weekend, I'm actually only two days late. But by law, I'm late. And the Semlink rules say that late work, submitted without an extension, is not permissible. So what will become of me? I sit and wait with anxiety, hope and anticipation for the lesson God will teach me through this.

As if this mistake wasn't troubling enough, let's talk about what I did earlier in the day. For no good reason, when taking my final essay exam, I decided to answer TWO out of the five questions rather than the required THREE. Somehow I confused the TWO hour time period that I had to take the exam with the number of questions I had to answer. After an hour and 35 minutes, I had completed my two essays and handed in my test. About an hour and a half later, I realized when talking to b. that I may have screwed up. In the back of my memory, "the final will consist of five essay questions of which the student will answer three" started to ring audibly in my brain. Did I only answer two??? Was I supposed to answer three and I only answered two??? I raced home. I raced to the syllabus to find my fears confirmed. I raced to the library, where my admission of stupidity was met with some temporary grace as they allowed me to use my remaining minutes to answer a third essay. Keep in mind that this third essay wasn't that good, as I scribbled with sweaty arm-pits, emotional turmoil and self-condemning fear.

To think, that after all that happened, I realized that all my work was late...