368 thoughts on “Reader Submitted Photos: Kentucky Young Fundies”

  1. no pockets or zippers in my coluttes were the hell do i put my pocket new testament with the romans road highlighted and my chapstick…..I will not give the nurse my birth-controll either i dont want preacher to get me preggers just yet …haymen

    1. You can’t bring your New Testament. They don’t allow books, remember? Relax, it’s not like they’re actually going to be reading from it anyways.

  2. I have not ever and will not EVER go to a camp like this, nor would I allow my child within half a mile of the entrance. (BTW, no books??? How do I bring my Bible if they don’t allow books? Oh wait–they’re not using it!!!!) However, I do have to defend the stuff about the medications. Any camp I’ve ever been to, Christian or otherwise, day camp or sleep away, has that rule. It’s a safety thing. At overnight camps the nurse on staff is responsible for making sure the kids get their medicine on time and in the right dose, and the rest of the time it is locked up so it is not lost or used by the wrong kid. Since the cabins generally are not locked, counselors can’t keep their medicines there either. Inhalers have to be carried by the patient at all times, so having to turn those in is kind of a moot point. This is the only rule in this entire brochure that actually makes any kind of sense. Oh, wait, the one about the phones kind of does, too, since kids that are constantly on the phone are usually holding up other activities. Other than that, I’m in the gravel-chewin’ group listed above.

    1. The GARBC camps I went to usually specified to bring your Bible; I wonder if this camp brochure has a list somewhere of what you SHOULD bring not just what you shouldn’t. I’m assuming the camp would encourage kids to bring Bibles (it’s not a book; it’s The Book!), but then again, one picture on the brochures shows one man with a Bible while the women and girls look on over his shoulder!

    2. Reading books might encourage independent thinking. We can’t have that and we especially can’t have people reading the Bible for themselves to see what it really says.

      1. “Doubt leads to Questioning.
        Questioning leads to Thinking.
        Thinking leads to Heresy.
        Heresy begets Retribution.
        Blessed is the mind too small for Doubt.”
        — Warhammer 40K

    3. Since it’s just a week-long thing I don’t see why a kid would want to bring books anyway, especially if there are enough activities to keep them busy. It is summer camp after all.

      They’re probably just afraid some kid will bring a godless Harry Potter book and their brains will explode….

      1. Yeah, that’s why I was willing to give up a book for a week – I knew I’d be busy with activities and talking with new friends (hopefully) and wouldn’t want to be antisocially curled up in a corner with a book when I could do that at home!

        But truth be told, I’m the type who’d like to play and swim all day and then crawl into my bunk with a good book to read for a while before bed.

  3. Fundie Camp: Teaching IFB kiddies everywhere to be the weaker brother.
    – How to rule through “weakness.”
    – Using the proper inflection when declaring, “Well, I find that offensive!”
    – How to apply the proper amout of guilt to make sure your standards are assumed to be more holy.
    – Proper use of taking scripture out of context in order to prove your standards are superior.
    – How to properly package god so he fits your convienent pocket sized single serving box.

      1. Maybe they want all of their mini fundy ranchers/campers to die by drowning. At least their nakedness will be covered when that happens. ๐Ÿ˜€

        1. If those kids ever got over their inhibitions they could have a good chance at swimming scholarships. You gotta be pretty good to carry that extra weight around a pool!

        2. BTW, Beach season is right around the corner. I’m gonna head to walmart tonight to look for a good pair of sweat pants & some dark t shirts!

        3. We lived near the ocean for a while, and my husband, the youth pastor at a moderate IFB church was going to require t-shirts on everyone, guys and girls, in the water. (Not knee-length tees; just regular ones.) Then we started hearing stories about the powerful undertow, and, realizing how difficult it is to move in a wet t-shirt, we decided that we’d rather have “immodest” kids than drowned ones. From then on, if the kids were in the water, they wore swimsuits only.

        4. Tagline for the motivational poster:

          MODESTY: what the Good Lord should catch you dead in

      2. In my brainwashed days, I once was guilted into buying a “culotte swimsuit”. It only cost me 98.00 plus shipping. When I jumped into the water I actually “inflated”…now I just post pictures of my recent travels to Roatan, Honduras in my unIFB approved swimsuit…sweet revenge…its a rough life.

        3. ๐Ÿ˜ฏ A culotte swimsuit? I’ve been around fundamentalism my entire life, but have never heard of such silliness.

        5. No Jeff. I just wanted to make sure that it isn’t IFB approved. Then I would try to convict IAHB of her sin. That’s all. It is you that are “perving” up the thread ๐Ÿ˜† :mrgreen: ๐Ÿ˜†

        7. Someone needs to make a demotivational poster of a bunch of modestly dressed skeletons at the bottom of the ocean. IDK what the text joke would be exactly, but seems like it would write itself once you get the picture.

        10. Damn! I just found that link and was getting ready to post it! Glad someone got it on there at least ๐Ÿ˜€

        12. It reminds me of this dialogue:
          Lucy: I need to shop for a bathing suit.
          Ricky: But you already have a bathing suit, Lucy.
          Lucy: Yes, but my old one has a hole in the knee.

          That notion was already ridiculous in the 1950s. Except to Fundies. They wouldn’t even see what the joke was.

        13. but but, wouldn’t the shirt float up and the coulottes float up meriting a general “Not suitable for a saftey devise” warning? Let alone the reverse effect of modesty. What nonsense.

        14. Sorry for the double post, it seems as if George has taken control for the time being.

          Tagline for the motivational poster:

          MODESTY: what the Good Lord should catch you dead in

  7. They don’t allow books? That’s why they have Billy Sunday preaching.

    You don’t need a Bible when you teach this nonsense.

  8. No cassette players? I would applaud anyone who could find one, let alone a tape to go with it.

    1. I was just playing some cassettes for my three year old in the car, and I just unearthed an old tape player while cleaning the house. Waiting for applause! ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. I’m going to buck the trend on the medication rule and say that after spending two summers as a camp counselor and now working in a hospital, that one actually makes perfect sense to me.

    The kids coming to this camp are of all ages. I’m not sure if I would trust a nine year old to take the correct medication in the correct dosages and then not lose them or leave them where another camper can decide to take a handful of them.

    The people at the camp are acting in loco parentis which means that it is their responsibility to look out for the kids’ well-being and health. It’s simply safer to hand all the meds into the nurse and then have her give them out to the various campers at the appropriate time. I had 14 eight-year-old campers each week. Of that group a few were on allergy medication and a few were on medications for ADHD and the like. The nurse had a schedule and would come to whatever activity we were at to make sure that the camper took his meds correctly. It was a decent system and it worked.

    Inhalers were the exception as well they should be. I don’t remember anybody carrying an Epi-pen but I would assume it would follow the same rule.

    Of all the issues that I see here, that’s not one that I think is a major deal. I’d be surprised if secular camps didn’t have similar policies at least for their younger campers.

    1. It’d be one thing if people knew the camp nurse was really a licensed nurse (or other medical professional), and that there would be exceptions for things like Epi-Pens and inhalers which must be nearby at all times. I understand _that_ kind of thinking. But now I’m extremely grateful my health problems didn’t come up until adulthood because the camp I had to go to didn’t have anyone that responsible and sane on site. Knowing my old bunch, the medicine rule would have been “no exceptions”. That, and I suspect that at least one staff member would have harmed me deliberately if he had the chance. After all, I did turn loose an angry parent on him, and he was the type who wanted revenge. (Yes, I do think my former church was that dangerous.)

      1. Yes, our nurse was an actual RN.

        I agree that some common sense is called for and the guidelines are only as good as the way they are implemented. Idiots will be idiots.

        2. Most states you can use an LPN, some states still require RN’s to pour & administer any script med. Most just have to be an RN if it’s a Narc-II.

          If you don’t have a nurse do it, I don’t think there’s any point in collecting meds though.

          Also insures responsibility & timeliness as a nurse has his or her license at risk (even if it’s a volunteer med administering).

        3. “common sense” and “fundy” are opposites…they should never be used in the same sentence…paragraph…day… :mrgreen:

    2. I was a counselor at a large fundy camp almost ten years ago. All meds were given to the RN so that the kids would take their medicines at the proper times. I had one 10-year-old who had asthma and was allergic to bees, so I had her inhaler and Epi-pen with me in a water-proof bag at all times.

      On a side note, I had to wake up the nurse in the middle of the night when one of my 8-year-old campers who (unknownst to me) had never had caffeine before drank an entire Mountain Dew before bed. She woke up a few hours later shaking so badly that she couldn’t talk. I had to carry her up a hundred-million steps to the nurse’s station. Very thankful for medical care that night!

        1. Oh…the dreaded stairs. ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

          I remember them constantly joking about installing escalators. THAT would have been nice. :mrgreen:

      2. I guess it would have made too much sense to install a $10 emergency phone down near the cabins.

      3. I was a camp counselor when two of my girls somehow managed to get bug spray inside their mouth, but did not actually ingest. That was a little scary.

    3. Of course secular camps would have these same drug rules- they have them in public school. Heck, if you take an ibuprofen, that you brought, you’ll be suspended/expelled.

      1. No joke. A friend of mine’s daughter was accused of being a drug dealer when she shared an ibuprofen with another student who had cramps. That was the school’s interpretation of “zero tolerance.”

        2. I hate mindless devotion to rules without the sense of humanity that is needed to interpret and apply those rules to specific situations.

    4. I’m with you on that, was kind of ignoring it, but I don’t understand why that’s a concern. Having a nurse give the meds, makes sure you get your meds in the right dose at the right time, and it’s documented for camp liability & if there is a medical issue you have a record of what meds were taken when. Is totally the right thing to do, which surprises me they are doing it.

    5. The camp I went to when I was a kid, (not religious), did the drug thing. My mom gave me vitamin c, and me not being a stupid kid could tell the difference between vitamins and medication. But when they saw me try to take one the counselors freaked out and tried to take it from me, at which point i argued with them, but eventually gave up ’cause who cares, its just vitamin c.

      The counselors argument BTW was that they had heard vitamin c in large dosses can kill you. Those were some pretty informed teenagers.

      Maybe kids these days should be less stupid and be able to handle some responsibility. Of course that’s not their fault.

    1. As someone from Way Out East Texas I know. That means it is so far out, it is just a dirt path that gets used by hunters sometimes that only the locals know about.

  11. Forgive me for asking, but weren’t culottes originally a garment worn by French peasant MEN?

    1. Yes! That only goes to show that times change! And since times change, maybe it’s OK for girls to not always have to wear skirts! It’s not 1950 after all (and even then, girls COULD wear pants for certain activities!)

      1. I’m like 1/100th French and I would not be caught dead in Culottes…unless after I died, my wife bought some then and put them on me for a good hearty laugh.

    4. I’m actually taking a class on the French Revolution, and culottes were the knee-length trousers worn by the French aristocracy. The radical artisans during the Revolution were referred to as the “Sans-Culottes” because they wore full length pants. Because of course only the an extreme rebel would ever dare to wear pants!

    5. Women in other cultures have worn trousers for the last 4,000 years or so. And in European history, trousers did not come into fashion for men until the 16th century. Prior to that, European men wore hose. The hose were fastened to a doublet at the top with ties called รขโ‚ฌล“pointsรขโ‚ฌย, much like modern women used to have to attach panty hose to a garter belt. The doublet had a long, skirt-like hem that came down to the knees. By Shakespeareรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs day, the doublet had gotten shorter and shorter, and so for modesty, men wore a codpiece. When the codpiece was introduced, the hose/codpiece set was called breeches.

      But the churidar and salwar kameez are historic women’s trousers.

      Remember, to be a fundy, you have to assume that the entire world culture is the American midwest in the 1940’s. The distinction that trousers are only for men and skirted garments are only for women does not exist in world culture.

  12. As a former GARBC kid, where can I sign up! I laughed at the rules. I never went to church camp – but my brother did. You had a wear a bathrobe to and from the pool. Once I was sking and saw a group of IFB youth there. The girls were wearing coulots over their ski pants. I wanted to yell from the lift – Christ is about freedom!

    Some of the rules are ones that I use as a United Methodist Youth Coordinator. No cell phone, no electronic devices – not that they are evil – just want the youth to see the world around them.

    Regarding medications, I’m also an RN – I figure if a youth is old enought to go on a trip they are old enought to be responsible for their meds (unless a parent asks me to administer it). I wouldn’t want to give the office my Adderal, I would be afraid they would get rid of it and say I don’t trust God enough.

    The whole brochurs screams of BORING – but when you grow up in this mindset – you don’t know any better. Regarding the “Billy Sunday”, I do remmeber going on a retreat with other youth and having the preacher say that Hell was worse then sticking your hand in the deep fryer in the kitchen – who wants to spend eternity in a deep fryer. My brother was one of the kids who went forward. Years later he felt like he accepted Christ for the wrong reason. How many other people feel that way? My cousin had to get rebaptized because the same thing happened to her. Her first “come to Jesus” moment wasn’t real. Glad to be part of a chuch that realizes that the Sacrament of Baptism isn’t about what we do, but what God does.

    I think I’ll use these rules for my summer mission trips! LOL

    1. “the Sacrament of Baptism isnรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt about what we do, but what God does. ”

      seriously–what does that mean?

  13. I’ve worked at a Boy Scout camp on and off for five years. We do the same with the medications. Its BSA policy. The only exceptions are inhalers and eppie pens but the camper still need to check in with the medic on duty so he or she is aware of it.

  14. The amount of sand in the upper part of the hour glass indicates the amount of time left in your interminable week of camp.

  15. Staying true to their roots, they’ve listed “Food” as one of the features along with Games, Preaching, and Bible Drills. At first I was glad that they are assuring the teens that they will feed them while there.

    Then I realized that the graphic accompanying the “Food” could cause a weaker brother to stumble by thinking impure thoughts.

  16. I’m sure those camp rules had some actual, you know, rules somewhere. But thanks to the repeated emphasis of the fundies’ favourite word, all I really read was “NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.” Makes sense really.

  17. The interesting thing that I’ve noticed about my memories of camp (the Wilds) is that while I was there, I really had a great time. I enjoyed the games, I enjoyed the hike (yes, the fourth falls hike- I loved it) I really had a great time. But the images of what God is, the abusive sermons that caused me to berate and belittle and literally hate myself and my personality are battles that continuously war on each day into my adult life. This type of church camp is so very immoral because of the deliberate isolation- The very intentional brainwashing of young and impressionable minds. It stirs such anger in me to remember what I was subjected to during these weeks of camp and realize the spiritual and emotional abuse that it really was.

  18. The phrase comes from Esther 4:14: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your fatherรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?รขโ‚ฌย In other words, God may have a special purpose for you right where you are.

      1. I still am a little baffled how a place with such ridiculous modesty imposition standards could consider Esther to be a reasonable story to teach.

        1. That assumes two things: One, that they would be teaching Scripture at all; two, that they would teach exactly what it says. ๐Ÿ™„

    1. It’s a picture representing all the other places you’d rather be than at that camp.

  21. I went to a Baptist (non-fundy) youth camp at the beach every summer for many years. I don’t recall there being any dress code published at all. They left it up to people to use their common sense. I guess if someone had worn something absolutely vulgar someone might have asked them to change, but I don’t recall that ever happening. And IN SPITE of the lack of a dress code, we had incredible worship and learning experiences. If there had been a dress code that assumed I didn’t have enough sense to dress myself, I would have just stayed home! How can you have fun when you’re always stressed about whether or not your outfit is going to make somebody lust?!

  22. Even PCC knows to put all the funs stuff on the brochures and save the rules for after you get hooked in to sending them money to enroll.

  25. I thought the camps I went to were bad, but this one takes the cake. Apparently it is now a sin for girls to know guys have knees.

  26. This is all new and ridiculous to me. So I’m gonna assume some stuff. Bible Drills… They scream at you where this passage came from, or what does this verse say, and the like?

    If they don’t scream, it’s not a drill. It’s a quiz, which they apparantly have too. I’m not sure what the difference is, but it must be huge, because those look like two of the main things you’ll be doing, and they can’t possibly be the same thing, can they?

    1. I don’t know if this is the same thing, but growing up we had Sword Drills. The leader would say, “Draw swords.” You would hold up your Bible, usually at the level of your shoulder, preferably by the binding. The leader would say a reference (i.e., Malachi 2:4); the participants would repeat the reference. Then the leader would say, “Charge!” We would look up the verse as fast as we could; first to stand and begin reading the verse would be the winner of that round. Not sure if that’s the same as the Bible Drill being referenced here though.

      1. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I grew up with “sword drills”. I’m guessing it’s the same thing, but you never know. There wasn’t really any shouting…except maybe the over-exuberant kid reading the passage. It was a way to get us familiar with the Bible and be able to locate books, chapters, verses, by memory. Although we used to joke about those kids with Bibles that had tabs for each book, because that was “cheating”, LOL.

  27. The hourglass reminds me of the Wizard of Oz and being stuck with the witch.

    Just sayin’.

  28. I checked out the camp website and saw the camps that they offered.They have one week of camp for “bus kids”. Guess they are afraid they will be an bad influence on the regular church kids.

    I also noticed that they have competions. They have crafts for guys and girls. The girls are sewing and fabric kind of stuff (guess you need to find out if she has good wife qualities) and the guys is wood working. As a male RN, I hate those steriotypes. They also have a guys only preaching competion – they even give you the topic – “salvation”. Go figure, I wonder how many cliques they can use?

    There is even segregated speaking times for guys and girls. Noticed they don’t have any female speakers. That probably where the girls learn about being the downfall of guys.

  30. I always loved how convicted camp-goers in my (former) IFB church were when they came back. They came back on fire for Christ and it manifested in ways like giving up worldly music, feel “led” to go to a Christian college and becoming a MOG or MOG-wife, or (for girls) giving up their sinful jeans.

    Strangely enough, no one ever mentioned loving people more, desiring stronger faith, or being more charitable.

    But if within the camp week, if they took a stand on the KJV, well Haymen!

    1. You know, now that you mention it, I remember us doing that each time we got back from camp. The following Sunday, we would get up in front of the church and give testimony about our week at camp and what “decision” we had come to. Lots of boys being called to preach, and girls…well, probably just living a more “Christ-like life” or something… Of course a week later, we were all back to being typical kids and forgetting what it was we were supposed to be doing.

    2. @The Doc – “no one ever mentioned loving people more, desiring stronger faith, or being more charitable.” YES!!!! THAT’S why my soul is so grieved by this sort of thing. They think they’re presenting the Gospel, but they’re not. They’re focused on the wrong things and teaching that false focus to young people.

    3. I remember taking our youth group kids to a camp and tossing my Relient K CD’s after I got back. I have since repurchased most of them as well as a nice collection of CDs along those lines. ๐Ÿ˜›

    1. That was the second thing I noticed, after the fact that there were so many limitations on the kind of culottes you could wear. Apparently, only women need this kind of restraint, and their bodies are the most sinful to see.

      I hate it when I’m at the store and I see a woman wearing a dress, headcovering, etc. and the man in a tshirt and jeans. It’s soooo imbalanced.

  32. I checked out their website. The have a list of all their camps. They have one just for “bus kids”, guess they are afraid that they will influence the church kids.

    They also have “competitions”. They have crafts (for guys and girls). The guys have things such as woodworking and the girls have sewing. As a male RN, stereotypes tick me off. Guess they want the girls to sew, so that the guys can find out who has good wife qualities. Need to know who can make their own clothes.

    They have a preaching too (guys only) and the topic is “Salvation”. Wonder how many tacky “if you got hit by a bus” illustrations they have.

  35. Who swims in pants? I notice the youth event in April has the 2 important “Ps”…preaching and pizza. Why is it that fundies think that all youth need are some “crazy” games, then stuff them full of pizza and they’re ready for some “preachin’!” We may even get some of that pepperoni stuff. We’re so crazy!

  37. I think this camp puts themselves out there as what they are and does not hide what they believe. They stand for preaching Christ while living a life of separation and Biblical principles and are not ashamed to be upfront about it. Many used to believe these same principles but have changed. This camp has not. If you dont like it, you dont have to come; but dont degrade a ministry for standing for truth, right, morals and modesty. Not when there are so many that exist for fame, fortune and worldy philosophy. Here Christ is preached, souls are saved, lives are changed and it is all done in a spiritual environment. Dont hate… Be glad someone still has the guts to stand for the things that some of you use to stand for !!!

    1. Aw, no CAPS?

      If I knew what “truth, right, morals and modesty” you were talkin’ about, I’d probably let out a hearty HAY-MEN. But since I don’t, I’ll just laugh and propose a toast instead.

      Gentlemen, gentlemen! Raise your koolaid-laced glasses with me … and promptly toss them over your shoulders.

    2. “Here Christ is preached..”

      How come that is NOT mentioned anywhere on this flyer?

      For those of you who are scoring at home (or even those who are all alone ๐Ÿ˜† ):

      NO is listed 24 times
      God is listed 3 time (2 of which reference the Word of God)
      Jesus Christ is listed 0 times

    3. “Not when there are so many that exist for fame, fortune and worldy philosophy”

      Wait, what? Wish I had known about these fame & fortune camps when I was a kid…I could really use the money, LOL. Really though, are you saying that other Christian camps are only there to become famous, or make money? If so, I would LOVE to see some examples. Most of the ones I know of are barely able to keep the doors open…

    4. Well yes, we do know where they stand – but the Jesus they preach is one of fear, manipulation, and hate. I follow a Jesus who said to love God, love your neighbor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the orphans and widows.

      Our church camps preach Jesus; have lives changed; have some rules to follow; but not like this place.

    6. In response to Fundy: I would like to know how, for example, wearing a normal bathing suit in which to swim or letting girls/boys get together for some healthy interaction would hurt the message of the Gospel? Where is “thou shalt not read a book other than the Bible” in the Red Letters? One can teach morals, values and Biblical principles without making a stifling rule for EVERYTHING. Once one becomes an adult and outgrows the rules, what remains? A shallow faith, I say!

    7. “Dont hateรขโ‚ฌยฆ Be glad someone still has the guts to stand for the things that some of you use to stand for !!!”

      And we’re supposed to thank God for that…why??? We came out of all that stuff because we realized it was WRONG. Why the heck would we thank God that people are still stuck in that bondage?

  38. I wonder about the happy smiling campers. I am reminded of a story my friend told me of his experience at Grove City. He had extra work to do between semesters and remained on campus in the interim. The school brought in outside models during the break between terms to pose for the college brochure. He guesses that the actual student body wasn’t blonde enough, blue eyed enough or happy enough to give an adequate representation of the Grove City experience. ๐Ÿ˜ณ

  39. I was hoping to see some input from CampMeetingGirl. I would think she would have some enlightening insight. I miss her comments.

    1. She’s likely at the event advertised above! I’m sure we’ll get all manner of godly insight when she gets back…

  40. I hear a lot of wounded voices. However, if your wound doesn’t prepare your heart for love, it was in vain. I read some words about teaching love instead of rules, but I what I saw was sarcasm and anger. I seriously doubt that tone would ever cause the writers of this brochure, the organizers of this camp, to reconsider purpose or mode. Instead, I would guess they will be encouraged to stand in the face of persecution.

    I never was a fundamentalist (nor a Presbyterian), but I do know about church hurts. May God grant each of them to inspire in me more compassion. I think of Betsy ten Boom who responded to Corrie’s question, “Did they hurt you?” with “Yes, the poor men.” I sometimes feel I could write a book about helping a loved one leave a cult, and point #1 would be Please do not isolate them. Please don’t make them feel like you see them as ignorant and stupid. I promise you that someone will assure them that is merely persecution. And I also promise you persecution is what it feels like. As they are strengthened to face persecution, their position is more deeply entrenched.

    On the other hand, one can only give out what one has. A heart full of anger and bitterness would have to reach very deep to find love–or forgiveness, even to a Fundamentalist.

    2. For the most part around here we attack the IFB system and structure, we attack the leaders who perpetuate and magnify the cult of Fundamentalism and we attack the tropes and practices of the same.
      Angry?
      You bet.
      Bitter?
      Yeah, I’ll give you that some of us are.
      Hurt? More than a few of us.
      Life is like that and we are not spiritual super-saints (contrary to much of what the IFB preaches).

      Now, about compassion… we have that too, especially for those who are still standing in the line for this week’s ration of kool-aide. … Not so much for the power brokers that keep their flocks in bondage to legalism and rule with the Iron hand of guilt.

      As far as the Fundie system goes I believe you will find the majority here are fed up with the lies, manipulation and hypocrisy found in the IFB overall. To have compassion for what the IFB has become is like having compassion on a deadly snake that is about to strike your child. Why? When you know something is wrong, when you know it is abusive and you know it causes damage why have compassion on it?

      It is one thing to forgive the injustice, the hurt, the abuse that we have suffered at the altar of Fundamentalism… it is quite another to issue a carte blanche absolution for those issues, especially when we see that the same patterns are being played out and others are being duped by the same system.

      That is why we speak out. So that our voices may be heard, not filtered through some warm fuzzy, tingly, feel good, all is forgiven, nothing to see here folks, whitewash paint job… but truth… warts, pain, anger and all. Our hopes and prayers are that others will read what we have to say and begin to think it through for themselves. That the blinders will come off and they will see in one of our posts a parallel in their own life and God will use that to start them on their own journey out of the cult of Fundamentalism.

  41. If The Wilds in NC was any indicator of what to expect, I’d say you’ll get that “pizza” the last night at dinner, supplies will be limited (very, better bang out those Bible verses FAST so you can be one of the first to get to the mess hall), and it will be made out of Bisquick, Ragu and American cheese slices. Otherwise, enjoy your flavorless grits, tater tots and stale white bread toast with margarine.

  42. @Maybe Gray, when did you last attend the Wilds? I was a camper from 1995-2002 and counseled in 2003, and their food was always good and there was a lot of it! Good hamburgers, pancakes and sausage, pizza (including Papa Johns!), a nice coffee shop, etc. I have many theological complaints with the place, but they do a decent job running the camp other than that, I think.

  43. Wow, SFL has made it into my dreams. Two nights ago, after reading this post, I had a dream that I attended the camp mentioned in the advert. Although I tried to obey all the rules, I kept on ‘accidentally’ forgetting to keep them and was on the receiving end of a hiding from the leaders on more than one occasion.

    I a) didn’t tuck my shirt in, b) whispered during the service and c) kept a messy room. The horror! The disdain I endured!

    On the plus side, I got a thrill out of the fact that I was on a floor with only 3 bedrooms sharing one bathroom – most of the other floors had 7 bedrooms to one bathroom. Must have been a reaction to the fact that when I was a kid, I always seemed to end up with a high bedroom:bathroom ratio at the camps that I attended XD

  44. I’m just glad that, according to the brochure, there is a clear focus on Jesus and His Grace at this particular summer camp…OH WAIT…

  45. Well, here’s some swim shirts and long pants that make some sense. http://www.solartex.com/servlet/the-Adults–dsh–Sun-Protection/Categories

    I live in the Southwestern desert, where the instance of skin cancer is high. I do not go swimming without a UV protective short sleeved shirt on! I also like the one piece short sleeved, short pant outfit.

    Of course, since the camp pictured is worried about modesty, not skin cancer, and not safety, shirts and tights made for swimming would probably be deemed too tight… ๐Ÿ™„

  46. Did you hear that? That camp info just made my head explode! So glad I escaped! Funny thing is, I went to a camp just like this in Tennessee when I was 15. Bad memories.

  49. I grew up 3 minutes walk from your church (2914 Clays Mill Road). I would like to know why your stained-glass windows depict Jesus and all His disciples with shoulder-length hair, yet you seem to thin it’s a sin to have hair over the ears? Pharisee hypocrites.

    PS I am a Christian. You know ABOUT Jesus (or think you do), but do you KNOW him personally?

  50. Y’all are so dumb. Of course they let them bring their Bibles. You’re so full of hate that you need something to pick on. Get a life how ’bout? And no, I ain’t a fundie. I don’t agree with everything they say and do. But I know a lot of them and they’re really not bad people. They’re just doing what they feel is right. Just like we do what we feel is right.

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