Christian recruitment of young people

There were other churches involved in abuse also. In Canuckistan, both the Anglican (Episcopalian) church, and the United Church, our national church, have acknowledged their perfidy, apologised, paid compensation. United Church apologised twice. Small potatoes, but important. The United Church is not fundamentalist. All are invited to partake in Communion. One of our recent Moderators ( head of church) was gay.
 

I'm not a fan of Church or Religion but I don't regret my decision to choose Christ and salvation. Had no one come knocking on my door to explain it to me I may never have made the choice on my own. It's hard to tell. But I'm glad I did. My mother was not a believer. She thinks once we're dead we're dead. I believe there is more beyond the grave. I guess we'll see. I'd rather take my chances on God than be foolish enough to not accept Christ before I die. I don't want eternity in hell with Satan.
 

Nothing new here! In the 1930s, the Nazis Party in Germany had wonderful youth camps where young men were taught how to march, sing and think the "correct" Nazis way of looking at the world. They mostly grew up to be good Nazis and hate those Jews.

Same approach is used today by church camps although, perhaps my comparison is a bit harsh but I'm trying to make a point about the future of young people. Get them while their young and then you got them forever!
 
JaniceM said:
That's true.. too many people tend to think if 'some' in a group are bad then 'all' are bad.
Click to expand...
As I posted earlier,

https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/christian-recruitment-of-young-people.73423/#post-2183212

Some of those with an agenda of bashing Christianity may use the specific negative actions of limited denominations or individuals to generalize dislike in biased ways against all Christianity.

...That Catholic priest molested kids. They're all perverts.
...He (local politician) went to our church in a suit every Sunday and we now find embezzled town funds for years. Catholics church goers are all hypocrites!

At societal levels like diarrhea, severely manipulative biased criticism has been going on for centuries between those with differing religious beliefs, both between totally different religions as well as between sub groups with different beliefs. And of course the more gullible members of their audiences pick it all up as dogma.
 
Last edited:
I am not religious in the traditional sense and regard myself as more of a humanist who looks at religions and ponders how well the people who practice it thrive. I have always been a curious about various religions and have attended a lot of different services: Mormon, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Christian Scientist, Buddhist (several types), Hindu, Moslem, and several others.

I did enjoy one of the Buddhist services where all they did was sit around and chant together. It was mesmerizing, and every 10 or 15 minutes they would stop and just chat. Then they would start chanting again.

A portion of what builds our opinions about anything comes from individual mental snapshots we make on our own. This is one of mine that happened when I was ten years old. It took place in Central Texas at an open-air tabernacle in a fundamentalist church service. In the parking lot, I had spotted a "Horned Toad" which I stuffed into the front pocket of my jeans. That lizard was far more interesting to me than the "fire and brim stone" sermon I was being forced to listen to.


Horned Toad.jpgHorned Toad.jpg

That preacher had people coming up to the front of the congregation and confessing their sins.

It was not too long before he got around to me.
Now at the age of 10 I did not have any real sins, so the conversation went like this:
Son, I want you to confess your sins.
Me: I don’t think I have any.
Well: have you ever stolen anything?
Me: No
You mean that you have never stolen anything in your entire life.
Me: No, was I supposed to?
Well son, have you ever lusted after your neighbor's wife?
Me: What?
Him: You know, wanted to kiss her or something?
Me: No, have you ever seen her?
Him Well have you ever told a lie?
Me: No, not that I know of, but sometimes we see things a little different don’t you think.

I suppose that having a Horned Toad stuffed in the front pocket of my jeans might count as a sin, but I didn’t bring it up as I was sent back to my seat.

Even at ten, I recognized pure nonsense when I saw it.
 
David777 said:
Your odd personal experience is not a basis for how the rest of Christian religions ought be morally or ethically judged. Some may agree with you but given the large numbers of still practicing Christians across the planet, many will not including this person. Also Christianity ought not be generally judged by beliefs or actions of specific denominations or of specific members of those groups. Of course some Christian haters have done so for centuries blaming all Christianity for the actions of a few whenever they have an opportunity to. In this Internet era that has risen to new levels as angry manipulators for all manner of controversies toss their diarrhea against walls to see what sticks without the slightest interest in meaningful civil conversations.
Click to expand...
Umm … so, what is one to think when bad actors use Christianity as an excuse or cover for their real agenda? IE Christian pastors advocating for the death penalty for gay people?
 
Mr. Ed said:
This has never bothered me until now but recently a pastor friend of mine along with Bible camp combined efforts to indoctrinate young people into Christianity. I do not recall being happy as a Christian, matter of fact as a ChristIan I was miserable. I don’t know if Christianity was the source of my discontent but it began with my dad who represented Christianity as a pastor.

Given what I know about Christianity convincing young people to join is wrong and misleading. Christianity and religion have convinced society that these things are good and wholesome endeavors to possess, however, for the ones in power, the ones who pull the strings are truly in charge of the world and their followers.
Click to expand...
Where you said he 'represented Christianity as a pastor,' did he have a specific religion?
The reason I ask is from my experiences people referring to themselves as Christian instead of specific denominations is a relatively new thing.
 
Gaer said:
True spirituality is a one on one with the Absolute. Traditional organized religions
have been manipulating through the centuries into many fallicies. Many things
they teach are not true. I see this as harmful.
So, do they do more harm than good?
To keep God in the mind, to sing praises to God; these are good things.
To teach children to try to do good; this is nice.
To teach respect for heavenly entities, this is good.
What else?
I can't think of anything.

Yet, Does it do harm to be exposed to many different ideas and philosophies
or does this just add to their knowledge?
Click to expand...
In my opinion- yes. It can confuse kids so they don't know fact from fiction.
 
heron said:
In my opinion, complaining about Christian-bashing is meaningless when no effort is made to challenge bad actors using Christianity as an excuse for hateful behavior.
Click to expand...
Not a meaningful statement. Simply publicly disagreeing with those that spew those kinds of biased public comments one often reads, in no way ethically or morally requires engaging with them with further debate much less becoming an advocate for causes one does not have enough knowledge about to talk at length publicly. That is why I'm not involved in the recent abortion thread. I may not like abortion at a visceral level and state such but simply do not know much about the issue and care little to make worthwhile statements about or explain why I feel so. Likewise with many political controversies, I uninterested, prefer to not be involved, not wasting my time and effort engaging over things I will never have any effects on. With Christian bashing, I have little to no interest or understanding of the issues those who are doing so are motivated from while being very obviously aware the way they go about such is manipulative and biased with obvious agendas.
 
Last edited:
My p
David777 said:
Not a meaningful statement. Simply publicly disagreeing with those that spew those kinds of biased public comments one often reads, in no way ethically or morally requires engaging with them with further debate much less becoming an advocate for causes one does not have enough knowledge about to talk at length publicly. That is why I'm not involved in the recent abortion thread. I may not like abortion at a visceral level and state such but simply do not know much about the issue and care little to make worthwhile statements about or explain why I feel so. Likewise with many political controversies, I uninterested, prefer to not be involved, not wasting my time and effort engaging over things I will never have any effects on. With Christian bashing, I have little to no interest or understanding of the issues those who are doing so are motivated from while being very obviously aware the way they go about such is manipulative and biased with obvious agendas.
Click to expand...
And what agenda would that be?
 
I find it interesting that the possibility of raising a better generation of people by attempting to better their lives is compared to sending them to Nazi youth camps. Seems like an awfully hardhearted thing to say.
 
Per my page 1 post #15:

https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/christian-recruitment-of-young-people.73423/#post-2183212

... Also [all] Christianity ought not be generally judged by beliefs or actions of specific denominations or of specific members of those groups. Of course some Christian haters have done so for centuries blaming all Christianity for the actions of a few whenever they have an opportunity to. In this Internet era that has risen to new levels as angry manipulators for all manner of controversies toss their diarrhea against walls to see what sticks without the slightest interest in meaningful civil conversations.
 
David777 said:
Per my page 1 post #15:

https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/christian-recruitment-of-young-people.73423/#post-2183212

... Also [all] Christianity ought not be generally judged by beliefs or actions of specific denominations or of specific members of those groups. Of course some Christian haters have done so for centuries blaming all Christianity for the actions of a few whenever they have an opportunity to. In this Internet era that has risen to new levels as angry manipulators for all manner of controversies toss their diarrhea against walls to see what sticks without the slightest interest in meaningful civil conversations.
Click to expand...
Still waiting to hear what the agenda motivating these haters might be.
 
So … back to the original question regarding Christian recruiting of young people. I have a couple of questions. Is the recruitment done with or without parental involvement? Is it happening where the kids are a captive audience and, if so, are other religious traditions being given equal time and respect?

I understand that, for many Christians, reaching out to non-believers to share “the Good News” is central part of their religious practice. I have concerns when that reaching out becomes coercive, dishonest or exclusive.
 
Pecos said:
I am not religious in the traditional sense and regard myself as more of a humanist who looks at religions and ponders how well the people who practice it thrive. I have always been a curious about various religions and have attended a lot of different services: Mormon, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Christian Scientist, Buddhist (several types), Hindu, Moslem, and several others.

I did enjoy one of the Buddhist services where all they did was sit around and chant together. It was mesmerizing, and every 10 or 15 minutes they would stop and just chat. Then they would start chanting again.

A portion of what builds our opinions about anything comes from individual mental snapshots we make on our own. This is one of mine that happened when I was ten years old. It took place in Central Texas at an open-air tabernacle in a fundamentalist church service. In the parking lot, I had spotted a "Horned Toad" which I stuffed into the front pocket of my jeans. That lizard was far more interesting to me than the "fire and brim stone" sermon I was being forced to listen to.


View attachment 232548View attachment 232548

That preacher had people coming up to the front of the congregation and confessing their sins.

It was not too long before he got around to me.
Now at the age of 10 I did not have any real sins, so the conversation went like this:
Son, I want you to confess your sins.
Me: I don’t think I have any.
Well: have you ever stolen anything?
Me: No
You mean that you have never stolen anything in your entire life.
Me: No, was I supposed to?
Well son, have you ever lusted after your neighbor's wife?
Me: What?
Him: You know, wanted to kiss her or something?
Me: No, have you ever seen her?
Him Well have you ever told a lie?
Me: No, not that I know of, but sometimes we see things a little different don’t you think.

I suppose that having a Horned Toad stuffed in the front pocket of my jeans might count as a sin, but I didn’t bring it up as I was sent back to my seat.

Even at ten, I recognized pure nonsense when I saw it.
Click to expand...
This is wonderful!!!!
 
JaniceM said:
Where you said he 'represented Christianity as a pastor,' did he have a specific religion?
The reason I ask is from my experiences people referring to themselves as Christian instead of specific denominations is a relatively new thing.
Click to expand...
Southern Baptist
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top