JESUS CAMP!

This movie is a must see and an incredible eye opener. I could drone on about how many things were incredibly wrong with the way these crazy’s abuse the kids but all of that is obvious. What I have to say is about the biggest victim of this movie. Beyond the children as a whole there is one in particular. He is a small boy with blinding blond hair in a bowl cut. Unlike the other main, more outspoken kids he only has a small section of dialog, one I might add, that is the most honorable dialog out of the whole movie. A boy sitting in a room full of kids with incredible zeal, a boy who is worried because he doesn’t feel that same zeal. He speaks of doubting the Bible and God at times. This elicits a response of gapping horror from the parents and the head preachers. Why is no one proud of this young boy who has the courage to say these things to a group of peers who feel very strongly the opposite? Why does no one encourage this boy to ask questions? Why is that such a bad thing, to ask questions? Multiple times these children are brought to tears and while many seemed genuine, this young boy’s looked more like frustration. Tears that were for the want to understand. To know the zeal all these other kids feel. Why it can’t be a zeal that encourages questioning is beyond me. When you see this movie, if you have not already, don’t be sad for Levi the Evangelist in training or the two girls who are headed on the same path, because they are content in what they have “chosen”. Instead be sad and concerned for the young blond boy and the others like him who cry out of frustration because they are not allowed to question.

Doubt

If there is one thing that I wish could be publicized more it would be doubt. In my belief there is nothing more valuable to a human soul then doubt. But isn’t doubt what puts seeds of evil in your head and heart leading you away from the church? Quite to the contrary if it is nurtured and cultivated it can lead to gigantic spiritual breakthroughs. Would the United States be in existence if the Founding Fathers didn’t doubt the Royal Family? Would the Church have ever experienced the reformation if those involved hadn’t doubted the church of the time? From my experience the doubts we have are very well founded and should be explored intelligently to increase our belief. If we are told to blindly believe for the sake of believing rather then to experience things for what they are our belief will stay stagnant and what we believe we have can never be one tenth of what it could be. In my life I have had doubts I have pushed limits, but I never try to do so just because. This is important in doubt and one thing that I think is over looked. If you just go out and do crazy things because they feel good or because you wanted to see how it would affect someone else then you are exploring your doubt the wrong way. Doubt should be explored scientifically. With prudence and intelligence, until you become grounded in where your doubt led you.