I was flipping through the channels last night and landed on one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the Trinity Broadcast Network. Usually what I see on TBN is laughable, at least to me. I'm constantly amazed at what these lunatics say and how they try to trick and scam people out of their money all in the name of The Lord. It's ridiculous, I know, and sadly a lot of people get suckered by them, but I still enjoy laughing at them because I can totally dismiss their real influence.
But last night I came across a program on TBN that really bothered me. While the adult part of TBN is funny, JCTV - the youth part of TBN - is genuinely scary. The Christian youth that are featured on JCTV shows are so much more zealous and militaristic and much more unsettling than other TBN programs. These are the Christians that scare me, not the shady pimps like Benny Hinn and Paula White.
The show that I saw was from a church in Alabama called The Ramp. The Ramp is the brainchild of Karen Wheaton and is basically a massive youth group gathering. There is preaching, singing, interpretive dance, more preaching, dramas and whatnot. Most of the proceedings are led by The Chosen...
A group of super-duper-Christian youth that dress in army fatigues the majority of the time. Why the fatigues? Simple, they are an army. An army for God that needs to take back America. That's very much an reoccurring theme on The Ramp...
An army of warriors, that's really what they consider themselves. And who makes up this army of warriors? Impressionable, prideful and overly righteous teenagers, of course. That's a given...
Teenagers are perfectly happy getting labeled as something, Holy included. Every teenager wants to feel a part of something important. Every teenager wants to be a soldier for something if it doesn't involved getting killed.
But apparently, they are making warriors out of even the littlest ones...
I'm sure a lot of you saw Jesus Camp. I have yet to see it for various reasons, mainly because it creeps me out. Seeing kids manipulated like this bothers me. I don't think they really know what is going on or why they are doing what they are doing. They are just copying their brothers and sisters, repeating what they have been told. And their brothers and sisters are extra creepy...
All I have to say is "Wha?" The weapon room of heaven? I sure as hell hope that if I go to heaven, which is totally iffy considering I don't particularly believe in heaven, or hell for that matter, that there isn't a weapon room. I suppose their version of heaven is a little bit different than mine.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch - you haven't won anything yet.
Growing up I always thought that my generation and generations to come, as a natural progression of education, enlightenment and freedom, would become more and more liberal. I figured that the old rat bastards would die out and be replaced gradually by us, and things would inevitably improve.
I still have hope. One of the great things about America is that the climate can change very rapidly. The middle just can't make up it's mind, thankfully. But with every new zealot that comes along and forms a church like The Ramp that entices and manipulates children like they do, a little bit of that hope gets chipped away.
Just remember kids, Christians are not victims in this country, no matter what they say. There is nothing rebellious in becoming a right-wing conservative nut.
But last night I came across a program on TBN that really bothered me. While the adult part of TBN is funny, JCTV - the youth part of TBN - is genuinely scary. The Christian youth that are featured on JCTV shows are so much more zealous and militaristic and much more unsettling than other TBN programs. These are the Christians that scare me, not the shady pimps like Benny Hinn and Paula White.
The show that I saw was from a church in Alabama called The Ramp. The Ramp is the brainchild of Karen Wheaton and is basically a massive youth group gathering. There is preaching, singing, interpretive dance, more preaching, dramas and whatnot. Most of the proceedings are led by The Chosen...
A group of super-duper-Christian youth that dress in army fatigues the majority of the time. Why the fatigues? Simple, they are an army. An army for God that needs to take back America. That's very much an reoccurring theme on The Ramp...
An army of warriors, that's really what they consider themselves. And who makes up this army of warriors? Impressionable, prideful and overly righteous teenagers, of course. That's a given...
Teenagers are perfectly happy getting labeled as something, Holy included. Every teenager wants to feel a part of something important. Every teenager wants to be a soldier for something if it doesn't involved getting killed.
But apparently, they are making warriors out of even the littlest ones...
I'm sure a lot of you saw Jesus Camp. I have yet to see it for various reasons, mainly because it creeps me out. Seeing kids manipulated like this bothers me. I don't think they really know what is going on or why they are doing what they are doing. They are just copying their brothers and sisters, repeating what they have been told. And their brothers and sisters are extra creepy...
All I have to say is "Wha?" The weapon room of heaven? I sure as hell hope that if I go to heaven, which is totally iffy considering I don't particularly believe in heaven, or hell for that matter, that there isn't a weapon room. I suppose their version of heaven is a little bit different than mine.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch - you haven't won anything yet.
Growing up I always thought that my generation and generations to come, as a natural progression of education, enlightenment and freedom, would become more and more liberal. I figured that the old rat bastards would die out and be replaced gradually by us, and things would inevitably improve.
I still have hope. One of the great things about America is that the climate can change very rapidly. The middle just can't make up it's mind, thankfully. But with every new zealot that comes along and forms a church like The Ramp that entices and manipulates children like they do, a little bit of that hope gets chipped away.
Just remember kids, Christians are not victims in this country, no matter what they say. There is nothing rebellious in becoming a right-wing conservative nut.
3 comments:
Holy....yes, holy crap.
I had first hand experience here. The up side is the close relationships. The Christian Soldier thing is OOOLLLDDD. They don't see it as odd because it is so-called "spiritual warfare" against "principalities and powers" aka demonic influence. Strange, I know.
The damaging part is the weird peer pressure to be perfectly pious. That means jumping up and down, screaming, maybe suggesting an impromptu "prayer time" at a social event, and hanging w/ people like that to prove your spirituality.
Rest assured, for a lot of kids the holier-than-thou attitude does not settle well and they eventually become normal and even compassionate people. and take the example of the very liberal and compassionate Jesus Christ of the Bible.
I would encourage anyone to see this first hand and try not to vomit.
What drives me crazy is that they can't see the parallels between themselves and other religions that they rail against. Holy war rhetoric isn't just confined to Islamic fundamentalists.
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