Not only was I curious about Richard Florida’s Who’s Your City the other day when I was watching Good Morning America (or The Early Show. I don’t know. I get ‘em all confused.), I also marked it in my planner to watch a CBS 48 Hours special entitled, “The Lord’s Boot Camp”. Two women were on there promoting the documentary/reality television-type show, and I thought, ‘Hm…no Saturday night plans (oh the joys of being single again)…I might as well watch this in between homework sessions.’ So I watched it. And I wrote. To be fair, I did see some good in it. I thought the foot washing scenes and the overall aid in Africa was wonderful, and I was inspired to strive to be more servant-minded and give of myself (my time, my money, my knowledge) locally. On the other hand, of course I squirmed a little.
Taylor, a thirteen-year-old, was one of the three female narrators whom the cameras followed. At one part of the show her mission team had to practice evangelizing to people at a nearby senior center. Taylor was doing the whole “Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins? Do you want to go to Heaven? Do you want to be saved?” bit with an elderly woman in a wheelchair. “Yes, yes, yes,” the woman continued to answer as tears rolled down her cheeks. Taylor prayed with her, and the scene closed with Taylor saying, “I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go get a form.” My brother Weston knows about these forms really well. haha.
I could probably write for a while about various quotes or ideas that I recorded from the show:
- The mission of one team to save 300 souls and the corresponding “Got another one” mentality.
- One girl’s disgust with Christian aspects of the boot camp experience, with the exception of the dancing and singing during the evening worship rallies.
- Taylor’s enthusiastic, “I need to be out there saving people. Because everyone is going to die. And some are gonna go to Heaven, and some are gonna go to Hell.”
- “They’re throwing their lives away in their hands, and they have a chance to save it. All they have to do is say yes.”
People think it’s crazy that although I’m a Christian, I believe that self-proclaimed Christians aren’t the only ones who will be eternally saved. Similarly, my belief that nothing that we, as humans, can or will do is enough to merit eternal salvation seems like such a heretical concept in the eyes of some fellow Christians.
It’s natural for individuals to want power over their destinies, but at the same time I don’t like to see my Father robbed of His glory in this.
