Sunday, November 6, 2016

Blog #5

While watching Jesus Camp, you could see some of the similarities with Blankets. Throughout the book you see Craig struggling with finding his own identity. There are several panels in which you see him struggling to find what he wants to do in life and what he believes. We see him going to church camp and meeting those who claim to be 'Christians' but lead a very different life. He has his own way of what he feels 'honors' God, yet others are telling him that what he is doing is going against God. In one of the panels, you see Craig who expresses his want to go to art school. One of the older adults there then states that his brother went to art school, and then he became the worst thing, homosexual. In this panel we see how Craig expresses what he loves and wants to do, and automatically getting shut down, getting told that if he does that, he is dishonoring God. They continue to push him into becoming a minister. Throughout Jesus Camp, you begin to see the same thing. Once the children were at camp, there was a part of the sermon that told the kids that they were hypocrites, going to go to hell and they made God mad. You began to see how this weighed on the children. The children began to cry and go into what may seem like hysteria. They were basically told that what they were doing was not good enough in the eyes of God. The entire movie was basically judging how others praised God and what they did. They talked about what each other did and if it was right in the eyes of God. The children quite possibly felt an immense amount of pressure to be what everyone expected them to be.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Morgan, I would have to agree with you on the point that you made about the children being under so much pressure. Some of those kids were at that age where their identities are starting to form. With the parent basically telling them who they should be, it may have gone against who they wanted to become, which is extremely similar to Craig's situation in Blankets where he wanted to become an artist and was told not to.

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  2. It is annoying when people don't think God will think it's good enough. As I grew up, my parents told me that whatever I did when I was older, God would approve and help me in anyway possible. It's sad that these Christians don't want what's best for Craig, they assume it's best for God. Jesus Camp and Blankets are very eye opening subjects.

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  3. Christianity unfortunately has its extremists. Within the documentary, they are condemning their souls. Truly condemning someone's soul to hell is not our place. The teachings say that you can disagree with people's life styles and say that you can speak to them on a personal level about your beliefs, hopes, and fears for their soul. But, to just flat out say, "You're going to hell," no progress is being made. You are not reaching out to their hearts of hearts. There have been numerous occasions that I have seen "screaming Evangelists" on campus just holding signs and screaming at people, saying you are going to hell. This often would trigger hostilities and people screaming back at them. On the opposite side of the lawn, however, there was a man sitting in the grass with a huge crowd sitting next to him. He was speaking plainly and personally to them, and actually saved people, rather than just shouting at them.

    And with how Craig was put down by his teacher, I don't agree with that. It is said that any and all works can honor and glorify our Lord in heaven. There are different modules out there that can bring faith to people. I know of a gentleman that has a tattoo scripture on his arm. Many people frowned upon him getting a tattoo especially being scripture, but he has been able to have conversations with nonbelievers about his faith. And often times, the conversation would begin with the second person saying that they wouldn't have originally talked to him if they knew he was Christian, but thought he was cool since he had a tattoo. That's why they began talking to him. And once, they realized it was scripture, they didn't think Christians did such a thing... Paint, dance, sculpture, act, draw, sing, write

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