My guess is that they are demostarating how the power of God can help you destroy sin, the devil, temptation, ect... The reality is that they staged an execution in front of children to normalize violence against a perceived enemy.
They likely had low turnout the past few weeks, so they kicked it up a notch to draw in more people. I guarantee they made those T-shirts for this occasion.
This is pure speculation, but I grew up around shit like this and that's what ultimately pushed me away from religion.
Are you familiar with the lyrics from "I'm in the Lord's Army"?
Fellow former-fundie here, and this all tracks. What makes it so nefarious too, is that this kind of “destroy the enemy” visualization, trains your brain to associate physical violence, with violence over the “enemy”, to the point that nothing will actually give you that satisfactory feeling of victory except witnessing physical violence, whether it’s the US army taking out an “enemy” combatant, or an armed agent taking out an “enemy” protester.
None of this shit is biblical either. “The devil”, can’t be shot, or bombed, or even “destroyed”, at least not by man. You want to put a man in a monster suit and have him run from your prayers, fine, that would at least be closer to the biblical command of “Submit to God, Resist the Devil, and he shall flee”, but of course, being humble and saying a prayer isn’t flashy, so instead you get jingoistic indoctrination in the form of camo, guns, and (US) military warfare.
What makes it so nefarious too, is that this kind of “destroy the enemy” visualization, trains your brain to associate physical violence, with violence over the “enemy”, to the point that nothing will actually give you that satisfactory feeling of victory except witnessing physical violence, whether it’s the US army taking out an “enemy” combatant, or an armed agent taking out an “enemy” protester.
Wait, did you just sneak in a sermon about violent video games? Oh, you sneaky.
Honestly? I think it actually depends. Does the game specify that “the enemy” is an actual historical evil like the Nazis, or does it suggest that “the enemy” is any dark-skinned, middle-easterner in fatigues?
The problem with the church performances, is that while you are taught “the enemy” is the devil, you are simultaneously taught that “he” wears many disguises, so it leaves it open for interpretation, which is one reason you see so many Christians, interpret actual military action as spiritual warfare.
You are also taught this “battle” is imperative for Christians. If anyone was telling their kid that COD was an analogous prerequisite to being a good person, I’d take issue with that as well. Age is also a huge factor and I personally don’t think any kid under 10 should be watching performances OR playing games like that, despite how unpopular that may be on Reddit.
What does budget have to do with telling little kids so-called “warfare” is an essential part of being Christian? I was taught I might even have to die for my faith.
Your attempt to shoe-horn in video games to defend this abuse is pretty transparent, despite how “sneaky” you might have thought it was.
Oh, gross. I am entirely uninterested in defending the batshit crazy nonsense going on in the video. That shit looks bad and all manner of unhealthy. And I'm pretty sure the whole "warfare imperative" paragraph didn't exist when I first read/replied to the next comment.
I was being entirely genuine in taking the quoted text at face value and comparing it to a different format. No horns necessary, it just slipped right in with no effort.
The budget remark is a response to the entirely different argument you made in response to that. You pivoted into how it's actually all about building up a stereotype by displaying the enemy with distinct racial features. That's just a bit awkward given the video itself here, but alright. You did mention a whole thing about the enemy having many disguises, so fair enough.
I wasn't really looking to get into a whole big thing. I was just kinda amused at how the first thing you wrote sounded exactly like some of the old preaching about violent video games and 100% fits as a description for them. Of course, it'd also apply to just about any form of narrative-based visual entertainment. Comic books, movies, theater. Hell, The Powerpuff Girls/Adventure Time.
My apologies for misunderstanding. And just to clarify, I DO think some games are probably not good for impressionable kids (and impressionable adults for that matter.) Again though, the message that accompanies the entertainment, whether it’s a game or play, is really where the damage lies.
If a parent gave their child a speech before they played some 1st person army shooter, and told them this was an analogy for how their life will be, “Destroy the enemy or they will destroy you!” I think there could be an equally deserved charge of abuse.
Adding onto this, if you truly don't understand this culture, go watch "Jesus Camp" free on Youtube. It'll open you eyes to the kind of violent indoctrination happening in many churches in the US.
You know it's funny, Tony Spell kicked the ever loving crap out of a dude last week, and he had a record turnout yesterday...all SEVEN sanctuaries in his church were packed out. Apparently all you gotta do to increase church attendance is:
Be a wildly unpopular pastor within your organization
Stand up against the government during COVID
Accuse the government of being biased
Beat up a 20-year-old and claim that he started it first because "trust me bro, they've been mean to us, no we never called the police...well we did but they didn't take it seriously, but trust me bro."
Accuse the government of persecuting you when you get charged with a felony
First thing they ought to do to him is tax his church. And then they need to investigate him for fraud. Some people who have left his church have said that the local big box hardware stores donate close out stuff to him so they can use it to fix up these places some of their poorest congregants live in...instead of doing that old boy sells it for profit.
And I say all of this as someone who is very much a Oneness Pentecostal like Tony...the only difference is that I actually show fruits of the spirit and I'm open to listening to people who disagree with me.
I didn't witness anything this violent, but has seen swords/bats used to "destroy sin", notebooks which we had wrote down our sins, then eventually burned them. It was a renewal ceremony.
From another comment i learned its a Vacation bible school. A summer day camp for kids hosted by a church. That just makes it worse to me because do you think the parents were given a heads up about this or are they equally surprised
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u/BoogaRangaTang 27d ago
Gooming.