Jesus Camp

     At first I thought this movie was just werid, but then I began to think that it has a lot of positive things in it as well. For example, the director of the camp, Becky Fisher, is very passionate about spreading God's Word. I do not agree with all the ways she does spread the Word though. I think she uses more of a brainwashing process then actually letting the kids think about what they really believe.

     Also what I thought was strange was when Becky and some of the cousnelors were praying over the microphones and electricity saying they hoped that there were no technical dificulties. Yes, it would be great if nothing went wrong, but maybe God wanted them to have a worship service in the dark.

     One thing that Becky said really stood out to me. She said that if you don't do spiritual things, you will get weaker, and you have to pray everyday, and go to church every week. This statement is very true. Altough, we should WANT to pra everyday and go to church every week, it shouldn't be a thing we feel forced to do. If we love God enough, we will want to pray and take every opportunity we have to learn and grow closer to him.

     I'm not sure that all the kids in the movie really understood what was going on. Although, I think that Levi(the kid with the mullet), had an understanding of what he believed. He was also a good speaker. One thing he said before he was about to speak one night at the camp was that it wasn't going to be him speaking, it would be God. This is very true. I'm not sure if he really thought that or if we told that though. One of the girls in the movie said that God only goes to churches that are enthusiastic(like dancing, saying amen alot, etc). I'm not sure this is completely true. I believe that God is in every church. I don't think that if you go to a church where you don't dance in the aisles and say amen after everything that God won't be there. Some people just like to worship in different ways, and God likes all kinds of worship.

     Near the end of the movie when she was interviewed for a radio show, the man asked her why children are such a big deal in spreading the Word, and she responded by saying that kids are easy to use because they retain so much. The man then said that that is true,but we need to not brainwash the kids, but let them make their beliefs their own. She said she was not brainwashing. I believe, however, that she is. She tells these kids all these things, and doesn't really ask them what they believe.

     Although I disagree with her method of preaching, I do think she has a good heart. She is one of the most passionate people I have seen. She really likes to spread God's Word to children, which is a thing people need to do. Also, there is probably more to her church than what we saw in the movie. We have to take that into account too. In the movie it made some things seem scary, but they may not have been as scary as it seems. Oh, some other things that I think she made the kids believe is that we have to pray in tongues. I don't believe we do. God will accept a prayer in any language, it doesn't matter to him, so I don't see why have to pray in tongues. It is kind of cool though, but it's not necessary. Another thing I thought was funny was when she was doing her hair and prayed that her hairspray would hold, and then later that night, she asked everyone if her hair looked good. I thought that was really funny! Altough, it awakened me to the silly things I pray about too. I mean sometimes I pray in a way in which I expect God to do something in the way I want, although that is not always his will. For example,  about 4 years ago my grandma had an aortic disection, and I prayed to God that she would be healed. She eneded up passing away though. This was sad and upsetting to me at the time and I was mad at God because things didn't go as planned for me, but now she's in heaven with God:)

     In conclusion, this movie was strange, but it did have some good points and made me think about things. We realy need to be on fire to spread the Word to people like she is, we just have to be careful how we do it.