I’m sure many people have some great youth group / church camp stories, so I want to know:
What’s the worst thing you did in youth group?
I think for me it was taking part in holding a boy down and shaving all his pubic hair just for the hell of it. I regretted it soon after and had no idea what took possession of me, though now I realize it was simple mob mentality.
Second place goes to doing some things involving a girl, but I can’t decide if it was one of the worst things I did in youth group, or the best.
Either way, it made baby Jesus cry.
(Just kidding, honey!)
Wow I am glad I never went to a church camp. I did go to 4H camps and the worst I can remember are pantie raids that were badly run and usually ended in disaster. I am amazed a bunch of guys would do something like that. The things kids will do when in a group. I think it isn’t that odd for people to do things they normally wouldn’t when in a group of peers.
As the president of the MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) group, I am proud to say that even if I wasn’t calling myself an Atheist yet, I was 95% there. We had a very cool group that paid a lot more attention to the “fellowship” than we did to the “Methodism”. Those are some of the best memories of my teenage years.
I remember going to a youth camp and watching a bunch of my peers go around whipping 10 year olds (we were about 16) untill they bled, and then laughing about it. It kinda made me determined not to go to their church.
I still think the ultimate post about the uses of Bible Summer Camp is Darksyde’s Bible Camp Fables.
I’m almost 18, and have been forced to go to church my entire life, so I still unfortunately take part in a church youth group. One of the ‘worst’ things I’ve done (according to the Bible, that is!) was fooling around with this girl, who I snuck into my house after Wednesday night church for more than two months, before we got busted. Let’s just say my overly-religious family weren’t pleased.
Also, as an Atheist, I question our teacher occasionally. Nothing like bashing his beliefs or anything, but I don’t let him get away with things like “Atheists must believe in hell because they always say go get drunk with their friends and shout out things like ‘hell yeah’, ‘hell no’, etc”, instantly jumping to the conclusion that a life without believing God defaults you to some foul-mouthed drunkard. We actually recently unofficially voted him out of the class (it’s a small church, and the majority of us are non-believers/skeptics), and he took it up with the Pastor, who did nothing but send someone to preach to the class about how lucky we are to have the guy.
I guess I can always move out for College.
Wow, your church youth group is primarily made up of non-believers/skeptics? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say your church must be unique… but hopefully becoming more and more common. Do you think that young people today are generally more open to the idea that Christianity is a bunch of bull? Even the ones going to church?
Good for you for being strong enough to explore your skepticism and not fall into the faith rut so many of us did for so many years. If I had to do it all over again, I would have admitted my atheism back when I was 12 years old, instead of being afraid of going to hell (or whatever it was that scared me into going to church) and trying to force myself into believing for the next 15 years.
debg, it’s more of a 50/50 divide. Our group is primarily 15 or so students; about three of us are atheists, and four or so more are just plain non-religious. Not that anyone really knows that of course. Coming out as an atheist at our age wouldn’t really do much but put a wedge between our families and us.
Yes, I’ll admit that our church is rather unique; long story short, most of the teen class have only been going to church for a year or two. As much as I’d like to believe that the majority of teens today find religion to be unnecessary, I believe the (proportionally) large amount of skeptics/non-believers in our class is due, at least in part, to them not being indoctrinated at a young age like I was. I was “saved” at five years old and baptized, which frankly I find rather disturbing on my parents’ part.
To answer your question about teenage skepticism, most kids my age aren’t overly religious, but simply hang onto their parents’ religion. Most are pretty open minded, too. I know ‘Christian Teens’ that are okay with gay marriage, and some who believe that the Bible is simply a book of fables meant to help you live a good life. I do believe that this open mindedness would lead them to Atheism or Agnosticism if they were to read up on the topic. There are of course your “Jesus Freaks” as they like to be called, but they don’t quite make up the majority… At least where I’m from.
Also, it may have taken you awhile to get there, but better late than never, I suppose!
I’m jealous that you saw through religion at such a young age. I didn’t even start questioning until my 30′s. I coulda saved myself a hellofa (I must believe in hell!!! oh no!!!) lotta guilt, fear, and angst.
I had some of the best sex of my life at church camp.
It was also the first place I got high.
It is amazing how much sinnin’ you can do at a jesus party.
Ditto, it was also the first place I got drunk.
Yep, and as a PK (preacher’s kid) there were always willing participants. Southern Ohio in the summer with hormones run wild – suffice to say there was much sinning and rejoicing going on and once, yikes, on the altar…..
If parents only knew what was really going on in church camps, there would be no more church camps.
The worst thing I did involved a hot guy who had a girlfriend. It was win win for me, because I got hot guy action AND he couldn’t tell anyone about it, thus keeping my rep in tact!
I messed around with a boy in the confessional, got high before mass, drank before 10, compared penis sizes, made the counsellor cry, made a counsellor quit, broke someones finger, think that was about it. But this happened between 10 and 20
They had this thing called “Christian camper of the week” where all the counselors would vote on which camper was most “Christianly” at the end of the week. The week I was nominated was the same week that a literally retarded kid was attending the camp who was also nominated for Camper of the Week. All the other campers were being really nice to the retarded kid because I am sure they assumed that gave them extra Jesus points. What they didn’t realize was the kid was only kindof retarded and when you stepped back from the whole retarded thing the kid was actually acting like some kind of mentally handicapped prima donna. Unfortunately for him the counselors were fully aware of his shitty attitude and they, not the campers, were the only ones allowed to vote for camper of the week. So when the time came we both gave our speeches about how awesome jesus was and when the counselors votes came were counted it turned out that I actually won. Mind you when they called out my name as the winner my mentally handicapped challenger had been so misled to think that he was gonna win by his fellow campers he stood up and started walking up to the stage to receive the award. The other campers had to explain to him that he didn’t win. The image of that kid standing in the crowd with a bunch of other people who were basically hangers-on having to explain to him that he didn’t win and him not really getting it will stay in my mind forever. I calmly accepted my award, said some crap about loving jesus, and then promptly went back to not giving a shit about religion, hell, and jesus 2 weeks later. I just liked the camp because they had go-carts and sail boats. Amen.
I only went to church camp once. Slammed my thumb in the car door waiting on the bus, so i was injured and got extra attention. Besides that, it was Methodist camp. Not very heavy on the religion, I think we said grace, more on the making candles and stuff.
Hilarious how many of us in this thread are Ex-Methodist.
Me three :)
Oooh, so many fun times to choose from. Let’s see… I have distinct memories of pole dancing in the girls’ cabin at Christian summer camp (there was a pole in the middle of the cabin. We were only in middle school, so bras were stuffed with socks, which looked hilarious when people started taking their shirts off.) And then there was the time I had my first kiss with my first girlfriend in the sanctuary of my church, which would have been really funny if anyone had noticed – they were too busy looking for boys and girls doing something sinful like holding hands, I guess?
I also once got to defend LeVayan Satanism in Sunday School, because my teacher had explained it wrong. Turned out he knew it was an atheistic religion, but thought it was okay to say “They hate God and worship Satan and are the epitome of evil!” just to make a point. I think that was when I realized I probably didn’t fit in anymore.
None of those are very impressive, but I enjoyed them greatly…
I never thought I’d regret not having a religious upbringing… Looks like I missed out on some good sinning, though.
Nothing good about sin, sure its pleasurable for the moment, but investing in the lower nature never pays well in the end.
Are you saying that without any first hand knowledge, or do you have a story or two for this thread?
Joe B…lol…yea I got plenty of my own stories I could tell but I dont think anyone is really that interested. I could start with smokin’ hash in the German forests while listening to 70′s rock with a case of Budweiser for $4.25 from the US Army base split amongst 3 teenagers and a girl named Jane…like I said, nobody wants to hear. (*wink, wink*) and oh yea…I forgot the part about skinny dipping in the middle of the night at the local schwimbad (swimming pool).
If you call that sin then for sure you’re missing a lot in life… No wonder you’re gambling on an afterlife.
He says nothing…
Dr. R…sin is more an identity (adam) than it is an act because a man will always behave like the person he THINKS he is, whether he be a natural or spiritual man. This begs the question, who do we THINK we are? Most only know of one option, but truthfully there are two. And this unknown identity is what and who Christ came to offer us.
But you have exactly zero evidence for the second option!!! Seriously! How can you make such a claim? Evidence, PLEASE!
Tell me John C – are animals sinners? For example, my two cats. They are not perfect. They are also not christians. Are they bound for hell? No? Why not? We are all animals. Our dna isn’t that different – more a matter of degree than of kind. Obviously, we have higher consciousness, and are more self-aware. Why that artificial division between us and other mammals? I am going to burn in hell; I am called to be perfect (by being washed in the blood and all that); but…not my cats? Why are we supposed to feel like sinful beings; when we are very much like the rest of nature? When you really look at it, doesn’t it look silly and arbitrary to you?
John C., I’m trying to make sense out of what you wrote but as usual there isn’t any. What do you mean with “sin is more an identity (adam) than it is an act”? Do you mean it doesn’t matter what you acts you do? Whether you’re a ruthless dictator who killed millions of people or a harmless atheist blog commenter, you’re doomed anyway?
Mr.Bigstuff, who do u think u are?
Mr.Bigstuff, you’re never gonna get my love
Dr.R, I’m rudely cutting in on your question to John C. The answer to your question is no and yes (I think??). The dictator, as long as he is a christian, is perfect, washed in the blood of the saviour, and thus able to enter heaven. The harmless blogger is in his natural sinful state, committing the one sin that will not be forgiven (not believing in sky-god and his doomed kid, etc.). John C, did I get that right?
Janet…
Whoever said we are supposed to “feel like sinful beings”? Surely not Christ, its rather just the opposite and not me either. Do I condemn anyone here? No, and neither does He. Its the law (Moses) the adherence to “doing right”, knowing good AND evil that condemns (John 5:45), not Christ (spirit of truth and grace). If Christ brings about a restoration, re-harmonizes as to how things were (before the disruption) then maybe we should comprehend more of how things and us once were? The glory, the beauty, the light, the peace when we are truly human again, meaning Indwelt, InChristed ones. And what if, as opposed to structured, dead, external “religion” Christ truly offers a new Life, His within that relates to Father as we once did, in true paternity of spirit? I always say there is more, and there truly is. That “more” is what we all long for in our deepest Self’s, that apsect in which He would dwell, rule and reign the result being peace and righteousness….again. All the best.
Dr. R…
Here’s what I mean. There are two men, two natures in each of us. Those of us who have received what Christ offers, who have been “regenerated”, “quickened” as scripture says have literally received a new identity and left the “old man” adam who was our inherited, faulty, human ancestry and are now “raised” anew in Christ, the heavenly (meaning spiritual) man. This is what Christ (the second adam) came for, to put to death the old sinful, rebellious man of the lower flesh nature and “raise” us up with Him which is really a restoration as to how things were in the original, paradaisical condition. Christ offers a spiritual restoration, not a religious futility. If we identify with adam then we will naturally manifest the behavior of adam, but if we identify with and in Christ and will allow His nature to be formed in us (Gal 4:19) then we will naturally manifest His nature (peace, love, holiness meaning set apart, different). Dont let these true riches be hidden from your (spiritual) eyes forever, for Life is in them indeed. All the best.
Instead of dwelling on your unsubstantiated beliefs, would you care to answer my questions directly?
John C – I will say that I believe that you are a person of good character. That shows up in the courageous way you respond to, shall we say, a lot of negative feedback on this blog! I also think that you believe that you have something special in your relationship with god. That said, I must respectfully disagree. We are told that we ARE sinful beings. But we’re not supposed to feel like we are? And this whole issue with the garden of eden, before the fall, perfection, etc. Perfection is NOT our natural state. I’ve said this before. There is no perfection in the universe. We have to mature and accept that we have a light side and a dark side. There is always a shadow when the sun is out. This is ying and yang – good and evil if you will. If we were “perfect” we wouldn’t be human. We wouldn’t be mammals. We wouldn’t be a part of this wonderful eco-system. We are just more developed beings – we are not separate from the rest of the earth. there has never been perfection, never will be. Your view is (and I don’t want to sound rude here) a childish dream. We wish for everything to be perfect as children. We want a daddy to be looking out for us, taking care of our needs, and making sure nothing bad happens to us. I see the appeal of religion. It allows us to remain in this perpetual childlike state. But this is not truth, it’s not reality. We can find the transcendance of who we are; of real joy; of real intimacy and connection with others, but it is not necessary to have god in this picture. This is what we are capable of as humans when we don’t allow fear, anger, jealousy etc. to take over. When we deal with issues, and let these things go. When we make good decisions, etc. It has nothing to do with god. God is a sugar pill! If it helps you be a better person, I applaud it. But it’s not truth, even though you really believe that it is. There is no evidence of its truth, and people have looked! And the gospel of perfection is harmful. It’s Paul’s gospel, not Jesus. Paul was quite a damaged individual. Perfectionism is a character flaw (I know, I struggled with it for years). We need to get past that and accept flaw as part of life. Like I said in another post, my cat’s aren’t perfect but we accept them as beautiful and loving creatures anyway. That’s how I see us as humans.
Janet,
Thanks for your thoughtful response, much appreciated. All the very best to you Janet.
Yeah. You could have had a ball if you hadn’t felt guilty about it.
John C was a US Army pads-brat. Soooooo much is explained.
any proof for that claim? I missed out on a lot of fun during some of my fundie years. I wish I could get it back. I’m making up for it now– by living my life as fully as possible. A little mischief every now and then is no big deal.
Here’s the key words “living YOUR life”. The secret is to let Him live His life thru us, I found thats the real life.
No- the secret is realizing that I have the power to make my own decisions about how I want to live, even with life’s limitations. The secret is having a little fun everyday and not letting life’s priorities get in the way of that. The secret is loving other people in my life at the risk that they might hurt me deeply, while realizing that I have the power to end any relationship at any time for any reason (as do the people in my life) and will survive such an end. In other words, the secret is balance.
This secret is achieved by thinking for myself– by adapting and learning throughout life because life is constant change. There is no ultimate answer, there never was, and there never will be (at least not one that can be had by us).
The church’s secret is that churches/religion/the bible doesn’t want any of this for you. The church’s secret is that the inventors of the bible were men who wanted to establish social control that people bought into and valued intrinsically so that they’d become docile like sheep at their own expense. The church’s secret is insidious, divisive, and harmful. The church’s worst secret is the lie that it’s a relationship, when really, it’s just religion.
The truth of Jesus is never a secret until proven in real life.
Amen.
LRA – you seem way too well-adjusted to have grown up in a christian home!!!
One word: therapy!!!
Actually, by her own admission she didnt really “grow up in a Christian home”, but rather with a harsh, unbending, religious “fundie” Dad, correct me here if I’m wrong LRA but isnt that what you despised, rebelled against? At least thats how I understood it. That is not a “Christian” home. A Christian home is one where Christ’s love reigns supreme, where Love (Himself) is the only Law. Few of us are so fortunate to grow up under the shade of that One tree, the tree of Life which is Christ Himself.
I wouldn’t say I rebelled as much as I had righteous indignation toward him. As an adult, I pursued Christianity on my own terms, and still couldn’t get it to work. Too much hypocrisy, too many attempts to control me, too many people unable to answer “hard” questions without becoming angry/frustrated/disappointed with me. I finally had enough and quit going to church altogether. But I kept trying, so I found professors of religious studies to talk to– one I met with weekly for a year, and even he couldn’t answer my “hard” questions. So I started to read about other religions just to find out, low and behold, they also had similar problems. My journey of doubt led me to procure a degree in philosophy so that I’d have the tools to understand what it is that I believe exactly.
Now I am an empiricists, nominalist who hopes for– but does not necessarily believe in– a god.
And yes- my home would have counted as “Christian” because my dad professes to be a christian and is even a deacon/member of the board of directors in a large Dallas bible church.
Remember LRA it’s not True Christianity to John C unless you were/are happy with it.
John C, you seem to have a utopian view of what a “christian home” looks like. My dad was a pastor. Most of my uncles were pastors. My cousin is the president of a christian university in my city. Another uncle is a christian author. All of these families were not really christian? Because they certainly are seriously dysfunctional. They all claimed to have the love of the lord in their hearts, talked very much like you! And yet you know that they are not really “christian”?
” one I met with weekly for a year, and even he couldn’t answer my “hard” questions. ”
Out of curiosity was thier any 1 or 2 questions that your teacher couldnt answer.
Also when the teacher/guru was studying with you did you ever ask the guy/lady why they couldnt answer certain reasonable questions that you came up with.
I guesse Im asking because thier are so many ridicilous things in the bible, such as the advice that god gives about selling ones daughter into slavery that if you were to ask a christian ( to thier face not by blog or email) why would a perfect god do that what Im sure the expression on the face of a christians would be priceless.
Also their is the problem of a loving and perfect god refusing to explain your, mine and other skeptics questions about some of the absurd things inside of the bible when people have prayed as hard as they could for answers from god
there is also the problem of evil; how can an all-powerful and benevolent god let evils such as your grammar into the world?
:P
Real life? That’s more like hell–taking your every thought captive to Jesus?
You can’t even think on your own, and you call that life—Get A life buddy.
You must be new here.
but its pretty interesting when new people come to the same conclusions about you
Hahahahahaha!
Sums up the one-dimensional “JC” and hence conclusions formed!
Slurms, ftw.
“but its pretty interesting when new people come to the same conclusions about you”
Bingo.
Boomer’s like Johnny on the spot when the opportunity arises to slam JC huh? He never misses an opportunity, lol.
How ya been Boomslang? All the best to you sir.
Oh hogwash. “Sinful” actions are really the only fun adults can have in life. Is that so wrong?
Answer: NO.
I tend to feel that what we think of as “sin” usually consists of injuring others (physically, mentally, or otherwise) without need.
The fun stuff isn’t inherently sinful unless it fulfills the above condition.
Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, Sloth.
All of those are natural human emotions and behaviors. They must be bad!
Terry Pratchett defines sin as treating other people as things. I’ve found it to be a fairly good working definition.
If I remember rightly, that’s how he defined evil as opposed to sin. In “Carpe Jugulum”, I think, courtesy of Granny Weatherwax.
Props to the Pratchett Fans!!
I Aten’t Dead!
“And that’s what you holy men discuss is it?”
“Not usually. There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment on the nature of sin, for example.”
“And what do they think? Against it, are they?”
“It is not as simple as that. It’s not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of gray.”
“Nope.”
“Pardon?”
There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.”
“It’s a lot more complicated than that–”
“No it ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.”
“Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes-”
“But they Starts with thinking about people as things.”
Wha…??
“sinful” things are the ONLY fun you can have?
I find marital sex to be a lot of fun, and that’s pretty universally deemed non-sinful.
Also, baking cookies is fun. and hiking, mountain climbing, playing “Tag”, blowing bubbles, playing “Fetch” with my dogs (and Cats), Scrabble, bowling, etc….
Not to say there arent a lot of “sinful” things that are also great fun, but ONLY? Naah…
OK, ok, I give in. Much as it goes against my wicked “atheist” title, I’m pretty straight! I don’t drink excessively, I’m kind to people and animals, I only swear when it’s really, really required (stub my toe, get into it with a fundie, you know), I don’t party, I don’t cheat on my boyfriend (even though it’s a long-distance relationship). I love playing with my cats, smelling lilacs, and going to cool coffee shops with friends. Man, I need to change my life. Where are all the rebel antics that I’m allowed to do since I don’t believe in god???
See sub-thread below, Re: Babies, Eating Of.
What about investing in a chicken farm? :)
Pleasure needs to be balanced with responsibility. Every mature person knows that. But we also need to know when pleasure is destructive and get to the root of why we would want to sabotage ourselves. The issue isn’t about “sinning”. It’s respecting and loving ourselves, as well as other people and the world around us. And if we f*ck up, we need to find out why, make amends if necessary, and move on. We do not have to be perfect. Nothing and nobody is perfect. It’s against nature to be perfect. Perfection is a very destructive standard, and I no longer care about it. I just want to be the best that I’m able to be, and if I decide to have fun, it is guilt-free.
:)
LRA – I’m thinking you and I saw the same therapist…
“Christians Aren’t Perfect; They’re Forgiven!” -Bumper Sticker my wife used to have.
Honestly you just summed up Mainstream Christian Morality, sans the imaginary friend whose blood you are supposed to bathe in [ew!]
1. Do your best, realizing that you are “fallen” and imperfect.
2. When you find yourself “sinning”, repent
3.Turn your failures over to God, and accept his forgiveness. “Let Go, and Let God”
4. Go forth and sin no more.
The atheist version is Try not to F*** up, but realize you probably will. When you F*** up, change your course, and stop it! Then don’t waste time and energy beating yourself up over it, but move on.
The only real difference is we don’t “Accept” forgiveness that an external God gives, we have to forgive ourselves. I am pretty sure it’s the same process with different names, more clergy, and fewer swear words.
…and maybe a little more heavy metal music. Otherwise, it sounds about right. (Except for the fact that almost all christians I know live in constant fear and guilt, so something ain’t workin’)
Yeah but those friends… all together now…. Aren’t REAL Christians, or they would be happy, right?
Yeah, there is no sin quite as enjoyable as guilty sin.
This thread makes me regret the time that two girls from my youth group offered to crucify my penis, and I turned them down. They even had a miniature crown of thorns and everything.
Haha, you’re toooo crazy Daniel.
Honestly, I didn’t get around to doing too many ‘bad’ things until after high school. I was so deep into Christianity, that I think the worst thing I did was drink some beer and wine with youth group friends when their parents were out of town. I saw a lot of things going on around me, but I was too scared of hell at that time to partake. The PK’s were always hooked up with the best ‘bad’ things though, as I recall. While I remember my friends at that time fondly, I could have had a lot more fun if I hadn’t been so uptight. :-)
Lessee:
As an altar boy I, along with the other kids, would swig the communion wine “backstage” in the sacristy.
Once I was serving a midweek mass while a youth group party was taking place in the church basement. Both myself and my co-server were grouchy about missing out on the treats and such. Goaded by my companion, I left the altar, ostensibly to fetch out the water for the washing of the priest’s hands, darted down to the youth group room, stuffed a small tray of butterscotch brownies up the ample sleeves of my robe, raced upstairs and strolled back out onto the altar.
One night after serving mass, my buddy (the same guy who talked me into swiping the brownies) and I broke into the school hall (the school and the church were attached) and into the fridge that held beer for adult functions. I think I dumped mine–it tasted horrid. I remember wondering what the fuss was about.
When I was 15, my mother made me go to a retreat weekend with the local Catholic youth group–a group I’d never been part of and never wanted to be. We were shipped by bus to a wilderness “resort.” It was sort of like a youth hostel.
I’d never fit in very well in any peer group, and I think I was probably more religious than most of the other kids there. They seemed to have fully integrated the dissonance of living sinful lives and dropping the crap off at church every Sunday, which I really hadn’t.
Two of the girls took a particular interest in the newbie. They began doing things and suggesting things that flash-fried my fifteen-year-old repressed-Catholic-boy libido completely. Finally one night they persuaded me to drop my pants …
Now everyone knows there’s really only one ending to this sort of thing. Or maybe not, but I didn’t get the happy one. The girls fled shrieking and told everyone but the group’s adult leaders. I spent the remaining day (mostly a long drive home in the back of the bus) hating them all and wishing I could die.
Worst of all, my mum sensed something was wrong, and a couple of months later more-or-less pushed me out of the car at one of the group’s meetings as, I believe, some sort of experiment. I had nowhere else to go, so I went in and spent a miserable hour-and-a-half trying to look like I was someone else, for all the good it did me.
I consider the experience salutary though, as I believe it helped me learn to handle embarrassment (I mean, how much worse does embarrassment get?), and put my feet on the path to atheism. I wasn’t able to refute the arguments I’d grown up with. I didn’t have my mother’s depth of faith or my dad’s Jesuit argumentation strategies. But I knew hypocrisy when I saw it–both that of others and my own. It got me wondering about the whole set-up, my identity, and how to reconcile what I was experiencing with my beliefs.
These stories make me want to go to church youth group camps so I can get in on the action.
Okay so I attended World Youth Day in 2005 in Germany. At the time I was just 16 and the thought of being the legal drinking age is what led me to agree to go, and also for the “peace of mind” of my very religious mother. The 12 days I was in Europe consisted of drinking copious amounts of cheap booze, buying hash from gypsies, smoking cigarettes from vending machines and having crazy European sex. I was always the girl that got the other kids in trouble at church camp/youth group by bringing tarot cards, talking about my sexuality or questioning their faith. I actually had a camp priest take me aside at one point and lecture me until I cried(in order to escape) about my evil ways and how I should open my heart to Jesus. What’s scary is the fact that my church is moderate catholic and very far from fundmentalist.
“crazy European sex”? lol very cool…. care to elaborate on how the European’s do it? ;)
I have to assume that we do it pretty much the same as you Americans, only with more foreskins!
hehe.
It Really Is All About The Foreskin!
And the piercings. Though that could just be me.
I kept asking the youth group leader, Sunday school teachers, and any other religious leader I could find exactly what “Fornication” was. I was hopeful that the physical experimentation I was participating in with my boyfriend was only a minor infraction, and Fornication involved penetration. No one could really answer the question for me. In the end I just let my fear of pregnancy guide me.
I never did anything mean I regret, but some fellow youth group members at Saint James Methodist in Little Rock, AR (yeah, I’m calling out!) were a bunch of snobs and elitists. I was the new kid, and they never let me forget it the entire time I went to that church. When we had a chili supper, they gave me the task of chopping a bag of onions. I still remember how badly that hurt – and not just my eyes.
Shout out to Camp Quest.
Actually they did send me to a 2 day bible camp and some kinde of singealong or so when I was 10 or 11 or so.
I never understood what the hell I did there, they were talking about Jezus and God and some bible stories. Cutting out some paper people and have some action figures simulating some biblical scene, but I always found it stupid and never understood why I had to do such stupid things. So I had no other choice than to pretend that I believed all that.
But up untill 5 years ago with tjose stories about those creationists, I really had no idea that there existed people out there that actually believed that the old bible was true and Earth was only 6000 years old. .
The “earth” is ancient, definitely not 6000 yrs old. God exists outside of time, but we are in the flesh for now and have difficulty thinking in other, non linear terms. I see time (temporal realm) as a straight line and eternity (spirit realm) as an unending, circular sort of pattern.
Well, the circular pattern is an ancient one that the Greeks believed (surprise, surprise!). JC, you really are NOT a christian, you really are a platonist!!!
lol, good try girl…but no ma’am. :) I could cite numerous disparities, but I will spare you that exercise in futility.
Actually, I’d welcome the citation. I could learn something. So please indulge me!
And JC just in case you ever doubt my sincerity– I used to be a praise and worship leader (aka doo wap girl) at Prestonwood…
so go ahead and lay it on me!
A familiar hand language.
Anyone every read “Jesusland” by Julia Scheeres? She went to the bible camp from hell. Its called Escuela Caribe in the Domician Republic. Its where fundies can isolate their children from civilization.
They did this documentary on a place called Jesus Camp, it was totally f**ed. They prayed and honestly thought that god was directly talking to Bush.
Yeah– I saw parts of that film… can you say DISTURBING???
I got the DVD out on purpose. It was an education. Fracking terrifying in some parts.
My friends told me that “Jesus Camp” was terrifying. I didn’t believe them and watched it with them. Holy fuckballs, that movie scared the crap out of me.
That movie = my exact childhood.
How did you come through that childhood? I thought my childhood was crazy (superfundie mother in the church of christ)…
When I was 17, my youth group purchased an old school bus and drove three days to Florida, US. There was a christian revival meeting in a big tent in the woods. We camped there. That part was cool. But a friend and I returned to camp one evening, and our youth leader was on top of one of the girls. He was trying to exorcise her! It was scary. Turned out this girl had been sexually abused (her sister was my best friend), and she had a lot of mental health issues because of it. Because the religious people around her thought it was the devil in her, she never got the help she needed. She ended up committing suicide. I wish I would have known better, but i was brainwashed too. Incredible how people believed in that crap, only 30 years ago. It’s so superstitious and terribly destructive.
they still believe it now, unfortunately…
I took the religious teachings seriously! Worst mistake of my youth.
Ooh. Good one.
I never went on an actual Christian youth camp, being an outspoken atheist from the day, but I did go on a rowing camp when I was at an anglican school. I had my nipple frozen to a scab with the spray from a can of deodorant on a dare, and we rolled several individuals down a hill when they tried to nap between training sessions by pulling the drawstrings on their sleeping bags and carrying them out to the hill…
Ouch. Dammit, Jesus should have been looking after you better.
Hmmm… Racking my brain, but I have always been pretty much, literally and figuratively, a bit of a choir-boy. Even now that I have left religion behind, I still weird-out my young hard-partying friends by how damn straight-and-narrow I come across.
Other than “looking on a woman with lust”, I escaped youth group/youth camp with a pretty clean record, sinwise. And I don’t feel I missed out on any fun, either.
What?!?!!!!?!!11?! A straight and narrow atheist?!!1!?1? Don’t you indulge in just a *little* puppy kicking or baby eating from time to time? C’mon!
He must be lying. Without the Bible, how can there be any morals in the world?
/sarcasm
Oh, come on. You didn’t eat at least one baby? Didn’t destroy at least one of the Western civilizations? ;-)
Sorry, I didn’t realize we were including baby-eating as a BAD thing. I mean, every atheist does that, right? No puppy-kicking though, that’s just uncalled for.
But, of course, I never ate babies in Youth Group or Church Camp, because I hadn’t yet taken the Atheist Pledge and learned the super-secret handshake and all that.
The cabin next to ours was full of a bunch of kids from the inner city, and they were majority Mexican. We started a war with them, and we ditched a bunch of services to throw snowballs and racial slurs through their windows.
After that, we sent a kid into the chaperones’ cabin to take a shit and leave it.
Nothing beyond the general shaving cream filled water balloon raids of other cabins.
I’m glad I never went to camp with Daniel. That would have been horrifying.
As a counselor, I didn’t mind horsing around. You ge 15 adolescents with one adult, it’s bound to get crazy, but you gotta draw the line with anything that could be some type of hazing.
“I’m glad I never went to camp with Daniel. That would have been horrifying.”
I second that.
I *did* experience a lot of Evil activity as a teen, just mostly from the receiving end, as its target. Kids can be ruthless.
Wow, I wish I had been in on this…I did nothing like this at any of my camps. The worst thing I did was vomit everywhere once or twice.
Start with an anecdote: The first time I was lucky enough to receive a bit of felatio (every man remembers his first) I was feeling worried that it was sinful. I was roughly 15 and in my girlfriend’s house across the street from church killing time before a youth group meeting – a sort of bible study.
As she moved south I started praying in my head – and as she went for it I simultaneously was asking god to bless us. Praying and explaining how we loved each other and that we wanted to marry each other and that I hoped god blessed us because we were just showing love to each other, not doing anything bad. Then, of course, I finished praying and could not believe this amazing experience I was having for the first time.
Since I was a young boy I’ve just so happened to be gentle / repulsed by violence or deliberate emotional harming so I don’t have many memories of hazing or terrorizing others. But I have always had close relationships with females and been quite interested in them. Predictably, most of my youth group “sinning” memories are sexual in nature.
“Sinning” is in quotes because even when I was young I didn’t quite buy a lot of the shame placed on intimate contact. Many of my girlfriends did buy into that and would feel bad afterward, but interestingly enough, they were still the sexual aggressor. It must have been a strange rollercoaster of emotion for them.
Anyway, I recall showing up late to youth group meetings (or whatever function) with the particular girl and having our scents all over each other. I would avoid sitting or walking too close to pastors or counselor because I was worried they could smell that familiar smell that I thought must be obvious.
I’ll avoid many of the stories in my head and get to a good one that involves sinning across faiths, damned by quite a few gods.
Late in High School (and into college) I dated a Mormon young lady for about 2 years. While they are incredibly strict about such behaviors (no kissing, especially passionate kissing) after a number of months, I was getting more action from my Mormon girlfriend than those from less strict faiths that I cared for in the past. She attended a churchish/youth service/scripture study every single day. Sundays are incredibly sacred for LDS people and they spend about 3 hours at church that day. My family would go to our Lutheran church early in the morning, I would drive home (my parents taught sunday school) and on my girlfriends way to her Mormon Sunday Church Marathon she would stop at my house for about an hour while my parents were still gone and we would exorcise demons in our own way.
I am truly amazed by the behaviors of many devout believers of any kind. While she never had seen an R rated movie, never touched alcohol, didn’t consume caffeine, never swore, and was way into all things Mormon, she flashed me when her parents weren’t looking, screamed and moaned sexual commands, and could reach orgasm easier and in more ways than anyone else I have ever encountered.
All this in or next to her modest church dress and minutes before attending 3 hours of deeply pious worship services.
God bless repressed sexuality and rebellion; so exciting.
great story. the devote girls were always the aggressors with me as well. Unfortunately I was too prude/stupid/controlled by guilt to take advantage. If I could only go back in time….
At a youth group party, some of the girls started ‘hand dancing’, that is making hand and arm motions in time to music. The adult advisors were horrified. It was bad enough that some of us danced at all, but at a church sponsored function!
Eventually the church split with some of us staying with the main stream national organization, and a large contingent forming a new church affiliated with a fundamentalist org.
John C wrote
That’s the very definition of a meat puppet.