Jesus Camp

     Jesus Camp is a documentary that came out in 2006.  The video follows the lives of three kids who attend Becki Fisher's camp and revivals.  Throughout the video they express to the viewer their opinions and views of things with in the Christian church.  Some of the things they express I tend to think are positive and i agree with while others I dont; therefore, I would like to compare and contrast some of these views.  Four of the main areas I would like to look into are:

1.  Using kids

2.  God's will

3.  Brainwashing?

4.  Scared to believe

USING KIDS

     This first area of the movie is one that I tend to agree with.  I agree that kids are a great place to start when looking to the future.  Not only are they still workable and usable, they are the ones that will rise up as the next leaders of our houses, churches, and nation.  And it is the responsibility to raise their children in a way that would glorify God and that will bring him glory in the future.

GOD'S WILL

     The movie often would show them praying over things asking God to make them work.  Two specific examples are them praying over the soundboards, lights, and powerpoints telling God to make them work and another is when one of the girls was bowling she prayed that God would make it a strike.  This one point that I disagree with them on.  I think that praying in this way can be a form of not trusting God's will but rather saying you know what it is and youll tell Him instead of the other way around.  I wouldnt have a problem with a prayer stating that God's will happen over this weekend and that he would use each of the technologies to bring him the most glory or for the girl to pray that she can do her best and thank God for whatever the result.  I think that this view on God's will would be very confusing to a child.  They are raised to think that God will do whatever you tell him so what if he doesnt, is he just not powerful enough or was there a mistake in his hearing?  But if you just trust God with His will for you than you know that everything happens just the way he has planned for it to.

BRAINWASHING?

     While brainwashing could be a reasonable argument in this case I would tend to say that in a sense it is, but you have to be careful when you say this because we also tell our kids our beliefs and would want them to believe them right so are we brainwashing and just dont see it as clearly because ours isnt as extreme?   I would say that while yes we tell them what we believe and what we want them to believe we would be open to them hearing other views in the church and also even worldly views knowing that they are not always true.  I see this with the Harry Potter they say that it is a sin that will earn you a golden ticket to hell if you read or let you kids read it.  I think this is an example of them closing out the world so that no other views can enter their minds for them to think about.  So depending on the view and definition of brainwashing you use changes whether I think what they are doing is brainwashing or not.

SCARED TO BELIEVE

      This is my last and final point although I could make hundreds.  I think that at points they are scaring the children into believing, speaking in tongues, and doing other actions.  I think that one example I see of this is when Becki says that she is going to use the type on her powerpoint that looks like blood dripping from the words.  I think the video portrayed this, but maybe they really do a good job of explaining it to the kids rather than just scaring them, but there just wasnt enough time in the movie to show this.

So there are some things I agree with and others I do not but overall it is a very interesting movie to look at and think about in relation to just what all of it means and their purposes for the things they do.