Kids At Jesus Camp

[JenBKR]

but I would give my life for Jesus my Lord and Savior.

I agree!

[Blue_Frog]

The 'crying to god' part got me remembering. I was in College, and had a friend who kept trying to get me to go to 'youth group' on a friday night. He asked me - very friendly - almost every week, but I was always busy, and not at all religious so just really didn't have the interest. One friday I turned out to be free. So I agreed to go, while keeping an open mind about the whole thing.

Everything seemed fairly normal (based on previous youth groups i had attended with friends as a one-off visit) - people chatting, etc.

Once the person (minister, leader, whatever?) showed up and started preaching, there were kids (this was a group for like 8-25yo) screaming, crying, talking in tongues (seriously), and falling to the floor crying out to god and jesus and such.

I left - i couldn't handle it. I was still friends with the guy for the rest of college, but I never went back to youth group.

This article kind of reminded me of that - the whole atmosphere. To each their own I guess, but it was rather disconcerting watching a 10 year old boy rolling on the floor speaking in tongues and crying.

[areias]

The camp seems to be very extreme. To each is own though, I suppose, as long as the parents know what their kids are getting into.

But these paragraphs in the article made me cringe, it has a very bad choice of words:

"If you look at the world's population, one third of that 6.7 billion people are children under the age of 15," Fischer said. "Where should we be putting our efforts? Where should we be putting our focus? I'll tell you where our enemies are putting it. They're putting it on the kids. They're going into the schools."

Fischer went on to say that Muslims in other countries are taking their kids to camps like "we take our kids" to bible camps. She said Muslims are teaching their kids to use rifles, how to put on bomb belts and to use machine guns.

"It's no wonder with that kind of intense training in discipling (sic) that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam," Fischer said. "I want to see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are over in Pakistan and in Israel and Palestine and all those different places. Because we have, excuse me, but we have the truth."

No no no, I wouldn't say "Muslims". I would say terrorists, extremists, etc. You cannot lump a race together and make that statement. A good majority of the Muslims aren't sending their kids to camps to come kill themselves over here. They WILL defend themselves if necessary, but...that just bothered me.

[lizbud]

There appear to be direct quotes of the lady in charge of the camp in
the article.I don't know how anyone would mis-interpret what the woman
said.It is what it is. Seems way beyond the norm to me. Jesus Christ never
asked children to die for him, it's the other way round.

Getting young children to fall on the ground & cry to show their commitment
to Christ is extreme, to say the least.All the talk about fighting & dieing for
for Christ is dangerous & extreme. Where are the Christian ideals of love,
peace ,understanding & forgiveness?

[animal_rescue]

I don't know.. it looks extreme on the movie. But it reminds me of the same church I went to when I was little and I loved every second of it. Yep it's seems to be exactly like my church. Aside from the "war" stuff. I remember people falling on the ground and crying and talking to God. Course I remember it was usually the older people that did it.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Yikes!!

Thankfully we never were never asked if we would sacrafice our lives at girlscout camp...

[popcornbird]

But these paragraphs in the article made me cringe, it has a very bad choice of words:

I agree with that completely. Those paragraphs were absolutely disgusting. As a Muslim, I know very well that hardly anyone of my faith sends their kids to any camps that teach kids to kill themselves. PUH-LEASE...

As to crying? It all depends on what the crying is about. Tears come out from sincere feelings, passions, beliefs. If it is fake crying and wailing, there's a major problem, but if a believer sheds tears while praying to God, it only shows the extent of their faith.

I am a Muslim, and...when I read the Quran, certain verses make me cry. When I pray during the night, I sometimes find myself in tears. It has nothing to do with extremism. It has to do with the beauty and depth of God's words, in that it just grasps your heart. If you believe, then there are no tears more beautiful than those shed because of your faith and sincerity to God. Those tears are uncontrollable. They just come. When you love someone, sometimes, you shed tears because of that love. I cannot count the times I have shed tears over my husband, just out of my love for him, and for no other reason. Likewise, when a person deeply loves God, when they remember Him, the tears come out. It happens to me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Throwing yourself to the ground and crying loudly doesn't seem very 'real' to me though. Tears that come out of deep faith usually come out when you are alone, praying, feel an individual, strong connection with God, and cry.

What bothers me about this camp is not that they cry for their faith. Its what is written in their article. Seems like a camp that spreads hate against other people.