Movies

Persecution Complexes Wrapped in Faux Movie Trailers Promoting Youth Conferences

176 Comments

One can only imagine the awkward moment where they thought about using an African-American man to play the role of President only to realize that there weren’t any such men in their church.

176 thoughts on “Persecution Complexes Wrapped in Faux Movie Trailers Promoting Youth Conferences”

  3. One hundred forty-five dollars for this, and they don’t even provide housing?

    Those Fundamental Free Will Folks must eat really well!

        1. Yeah, I wonder who did the research at the local theater to gather the dramatized look that comes from rated PG-13 and R movies?

    2. I’ve been to something similar. They are offering white water rafting or a day trip to Carowinds amusement park. So that has to be factored in there too.

      1. No shorts! I hated that….Middle of the summer in the Carolinas and they want men to wear pants. That’s ridiculous.

        1. It’s hard doing NIV tactical recon and destruction maneuvers in shorts.

      2. No shorts in the Carolinas in the summer?? That’s just wrong. They should atleast take the kids to see the Marshall Tucker Band, arguably the best singing group to come out of the Carolinas.

  4. Just a note, people who hate Christ, as portrayed in this poorly lit trailer, don’t refer to him by name of Christ.

    1. I would put forward that the people (again poorly portrayed in this clip) who hate Christ really:

      1) Don’t believe in God
      2) Don’t worship the same way the extreme IFBs do
      3) Don’t like certain Christians

      1. Scorp, I assume you mean that any of those characteristics would qualify you as a Christ-hater in their view, not that all of them would be necessary.

        1. That is correct BG. Anything you do that does not follow the party line and BAM! Qualified! You are a Christ hater.

        2. You’ve just made me appreciate the grace of God. Thankful that who most of these people are, has nothing to do with who God is.

        3. If you don’t toe the line, they claim that you are trying to stop the work of God, or have been deceived by the world, but I haven’t had them claim that they were Christ-haters (perhaps I don’t know the extremists groups as well as others).

        4. Politicians who don’t believe in God (or who believe differently to fundamentalists) are definitely demonised as being Christ-haters. So are the media.

        5. Tiarali wrote

          “Politicians who don’t believe in God (or who believe differently to fundamentalists) are definitely demonised as being Christ-haters. So are the media.”

          One of the cores of Fundammetalism

        6. Sorry, I hit a wrong button.

          One of the cores beliefs in Fundystan is that only Fundamentalism holds the TRUTH. If you don’t believe in ALL their precepts, and follow ALL their RULES, you do NOT really believe in God at all. Therefore you are a fair target for anything they say about you.

  5. Well they tried to reference popular culture. Tried to.

    The fact that they honestly believe such nonsense? Clear sign of a cult. Run away.

    1. These people have done a better job of keeping up with pop culture than FBC Hammond did back during the days of Hyles. Back when Hyles ran youth conference it was just bad vaudeville 1920’s comedy that went over everyone’s head.

  6. OK…What? Has the US finally become a former Soviet country and failed to inform me?

    I don’t remember President Obama even coming close to this in any of his speeches….In fact he said the following two months ago.

    “In these sacred days, those of us as Christians remember the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made for each of us –- how, in all His humility and His grace, He took on the sins of the world and extended the gift of salvation. And we recommit ourselves to following His example –- to loving the Lord our God with all our hearts and all our souls and with all our minds, and to loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

    While I think tolerance for Christianity is diminishing, it has a LONG way to go before we even get this far.

    What is this trailer trying to prove? That everyone is out to get them, so they must be more militant….smh 🙄

    1. “Tolerance for Christianity is diminishing”

      and things like this video aren’t helping their stance any. Let’s say it together, nice and slow:

      “Christians and their beliefs are not oppressed in America.”

    2. I wish there were some way to force people who say Christians in America are persecuted to listen to people who were really persecuted in other countries. I mean things like being imprisoned, tortured, having family members killed in front of them, having all their property taken away, being driven into exile … When I was an immigration paralegal, I met many such people. They had scars, stumps, and fractured bones to prove it.

      Being told you’ll have to stand over 100 feet away from a funeral while you scream at mourners and wave “God hated fags” signs is not persecution. Having a judge rule that a public school can’t force students to pray a prescribed prayer is not persecution. Ensuring freedom of religion for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, liberal Christians, and people of any other religion or no religion is not persecution of conservative Christians. Before you talk about persecution, at least find out what persecution is.

      1. This. The persecution cry among conservative Christians is exhausting. Whenever they are not given total free reign to have their version of Christianity elevated above all other faiths (MerryChristmas instead of Happy Holidays, Christian prayers in public school, Christian values in legislation) that’s persecution. But THEN, they have their conspiracy theories about Muslims trying to do theEXACT same thing,and that’s Sharia Law

      2. The wild misinterpretation of laws about religion and education drives me crazy. My father and sister are both teachers and my mother’s worked in schools for years, and we’ve had plenty of discussions on the topic. The simple reality is that it’s not illegal in any way to talk about God in schools. Teachers aren’t supposed to preach during class, that’s true, but there is *nothing* prohibiting them from talking about religion with a student privately or answering direct questions.

        Some schools might have different policies that end up being more strict than this, but the fact remains that it’s not illegal to be openly Christian in schools. People claiming such are fools.

      3. My former fundie church says I’m being used of the devil to persecute them as we seem to have started a revolution by leaving the fundie church and the wrath of God did not come down upon us and smote our family.

        We have actually been doing quite well since then, and people have seen that and are starting to question things.

        Questioning the MOG = persecution in their eyes.

      4. And of course, if you get fined for “having a bible study in your own home” that is persecution… (The fact that it is 20+ people meeting in an non-quite-legally-errected building in your back yard for the purpose is conveniently irrelevant…)

        1. I personally know a pastor who wanted to start a church, so he built one on his own property.

          He got permits & everything…for a large garage. Because “the government”* wouldn’t allow him to build a church with as little hassle as the garage.

          I mean, really, why use deception to build a church??? Whatever happened to being above reproach? /facepalm/

          *zoning & code enforcers

        2. We had a thread here previously about a pastor who claimed he was being persecuted because the city wanted his church school to submit to fire safety inspections by the fire marshall. Better to burn a Baptist than die a compromiser, I guess.

      5. The sad truth is quite a number of them ARE aware of what kind of persecution exists in other countries. My dad in particular is very supportive of Voice of the Martyrs and similar ministries, has visited with and knows missionaries to various countries, and he’s not unaware of what those people are actually going through. He’s not a rare exception, either – there’s a certain strain of fundamentalism that is very active in their support of missionaries, VOM and the persecuted church. But somehow, the cognitive dissonance of still believing that the American church is also being oppressed and what have you does not make their heads explode.

    3. “tolerance for Christianity is diminishing”

      I think tolerance for Christians and Christianity is still strong. ChristianISM, however…and this film clip is a prime example….make a lot of people feel marginalized, frustrated, and angry. I think the liberal Christians keep their mouth firmly closed, because who are they to judge, while folks like these from the clip keep their mouths fully open and yammering.

      1. “It is better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.” 😉
        Benjamin Franklin, I think.

      2. Agreed, agreed. To the degree that tolerance for Christianity is diminishing, at least in America, I think it is entirely due to the obnoxiousness of this kind of religiosity and the backlash against it.

  8. Funny thing is, if this were ever to happen, the MOGs who project an aura of never being afraid of anything would be the first ones to wet the bed. They talk a good a game about standing up for Christ, but, if the going got tough, you just know they would be first ones to go into hiding and leave the flock to fend for themselves. You would never want to be a foxhole with a(n) MOG…he’d give you up in a heartbeat.

    3. Was this one long justification of a gross widespread invasion of privacy???

    4. What the living crap WAS that?!

      And I sure hope the guy said, “It’s happening now, FITCH”, because it didn’t sound like that!

      2. What really gets me about this one is that if the kids are properly separated, they won’t have any clue what this “preview” is even referencing–Person of Interest. So…that seems like a big, fat waste of a kind-of terrible rip-off.

        1. Not only did they ripp off POI they also used some audio of the character Mr. Finch’s voice without crediting it or indicating they used it. 👿

      3. He said Finch as in Harold Finch from the TV show Person of Interest (starring Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel). The ripped off some scenes from the pilot episode and used audio from the show without crediting it.

    5. AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG!

      They blatantly ripped of Person of Interest! Even the names Mr. Reese(Jim Cavesiel) and Finch(Michael Emerson).They blatantly rip off the premise. They even unashamedly used audio from the show without crediting it!

      1. Whatever you do, don’t report them to YouTube for breaking the law. That would be religious persecution.

      2. Interesting enough Cavaziel was criticized by Howard Stern for being “fake” with his beliefs and was involved with a TBN scandal but that’s another story.

        Next year SFWBC should go into the archives and rip off Miami Vice.

        1. What did Stern say specifically? I couldn’t find anything about it online.

          Caviezel seems sincere enough to me. He claims he’s lost acting work since portraying Christ in “The Passion.” If he is sincere, I don’t think Stern would like him anyway. (Stern doesn’t seem to like Christians.)

          TBN has definitely been involved with scandal and a few lawsuits, but I’ve not read or heard anything about Caviezel being involved with any of it.

  10. Big time projecting going on here.

    Just look at the way fundies run their families, schools and colleges. Anyone one who grew up in a fundie environment would not want fundies running the country. Fundies do not believe in personal or religious freedom

    1. Yes Marcie, but there is nothing like the element of fear (or greed) that will fill the offering plate.

  12. Oh dear.. oh dear…

    I guess every group has it’s core that take merciless pride in desperately digging around for any hint of persecution.

    Mind you, on the youtube clip comments “BroBrad21” (a 21 year old youth leader I presume) says “nice work!”….

  14. Lol I bet they had no shortage of guys volunteering to do that one scene with the airsoft guns. 😆

  15. Makes sense. Now when any of the kids hear about a fundy leader being arrested, they will “know” that he is really being persecuted by Christ-haters, not guilty of criminal abusers, embezzlement, tax-evasion, or whatever the godless media reported about him.

  16. 26th?
    Far out 😎

    And also, this is awful. You’d think that if these folks truly believe the lines they are spouting, they would be better actors.

    1. I count 16th new comment thread. But some of the sub-comments above yours were submitted after yours. Qtoo much work required to know if your comment was actually the 26th posted.

      Incidentally, 27th?

  17. Keep in mind everyone that this is for a youth conference?! Sounds like a fun time, huh?

  18. “Eradicate the species”…of course they’d like to think that’s what the rest of the world is trying to do to them. 🙄

    1. For some reason this video almost reminds me of the ultra conservative Jim Vineyard of OBC. I’d love to see what kind of “Youth Conference Videos” he’d put out!

        1. At least Vineyard’s son isn’t as bad as his dad although his sermons will put you to sleep. Go to the WHBC website.

          Plus Jim Vineyard was the leader of the “Roadway Gang” at HAC.

    1. Please don’t feed the persecution complex trolls.

      In all fairness, if you leave critical comments on a site SFL links to, no matter how considerate and untrolly they are, it 100 percent results in a few fundies writing about what a “coward” Darrell Dow is and 0 percent results in questioning their own paranoia.

  20. What also gets me is that the last dialogue in this video is a direct lift from the latest Hunger Games movie trailer. A movie that everyone of these teens would be condemned for seeing.

    Check it out the whole “being eradicated” business at the 2:00 mark: http://youtu.be/PH-n39PCXp8

    2. Thats actually pretty appropriate. Many fundy churches evidence a rather distopian worldview

  21. I actually went to this college, and to defend against Darrell’s slanderous commentary below the video, I’d like to point out there were two black guys in the four years I was there.

    In all seriousness though, they tried to do a “Family Feud” skit one year, and they had to do a team of three black people and two Hispanic people. Those were literally all the racial minority students at the time. And they did blackface in a skit once, so they always had that option. I wish I were making any of this up.

    2. blackface was a big hit on vaudeville. Jack Hyles used blackface skits at FBC Hammond Youth Conference. He was so out of touch with pop culture and didn’t want kids to watch TV or go to the movies so he thought using 1920’s and 1930’s comedy would be better suited for the kids at Youth Conference.

  22. This looks like a trailer for a really, really godawful “Christian” B movie put out by TBN and the PTL Club.

    The “Main Instigator” strongly resembles Glenn Beck (Who TBN endorses).

    The girl who’s “reporting” is the shining star of the video. Chances are she’s a singer from the church and will be coming to an IFB church near you so be sure and buy her records.

    Where exactly is this church located?

    What this video doesn’t tell us is that it was produced by Jim Vineyard and Ted Nugent (Yay Gun Control!!!!!!!!!)

    1. A sane person’s right to own a gun is one thing.
      Ted Nugent’s and Jim Vineyard’s right to own guns should give anyone pause.

      1. I’ve never heard of Southeastern Baptist College. It looks like they’re not in the same category as HAC, Bob Jones, PCC, Maranantha, OBC, Heartland Baptist, Golden State Baptist, West Coast, and the defunct PBBC.

        Since they’re in the Carolina’s they don’t get the recognition since Bob Jones has the “Mid-Atlantic region” on lockdown.

        So in the ultra conservative bible belt Carolina’s they advocate gun control at SFWBC school and church.

      2. Big Gary,

        Pick on Jim Vineyard all you want, but leave Mr Nugent out of this. I have Cat Scratch Fever playing in my office as I type this…and I just sent one of my associates out to get some Gonzo Meat Biltong.

        With Respect,
        Bro Bluto

        1. Bro Bluto,

          Kind of makes me want to create a video montage of Vineyard’s church set to Nugent’s “Free For All” or “Bound and Gagged”.

          A girl said no to Jim Vineyard and he put her in a “Stanglehold” say amen!

        3. I thought Ted Nugent was just another colorful zany show business character until he started waving guns around in public while threatening to kill Hillary Clinton and President Obama and other public figures. That crossed the line to where it’s not amusing any more.

        4. Big Gary,

          Mr Nugent never threatened to kill any public figures. He said that he may wind up in jail…it is left to the listener to theorize how that would happen. Some (like yourself) think that it an allusion to committing murder…I personally think he was talking about gun ownership being outlawed therefore making a criminal out of him.

          I think the fundy in you (taking the worst possible connotation of someone’s remarks)is leaking out 😉

          SFL: defending a(n) (otherwise reprobate) rock star for the sake of the 2nd Amendment.

          Buy me an adult beverage and we will discuss,
          Bro Bluto

        5. Maybe it depends on what your definition of “is” is, but the death threats (it wasn’t just one comment) strike me as somewhere between strongly implied and explicit. When Nugent held up a semiautomatic assault rifle and announced that he planned to stick it in Obama’s mouth and yell “Suck on this!” that seemed unambiguous and not subject to a multiplicity of interpretations.

          But sure, Bro Bluto, I’ll buy you an adult beverage if you’ll drink it with me.

        7. Bartender! A Remy Stinger (on the rocks, stirred gently) for me and get Big Gary whatever he wants…and keep ’em coming :mrgreen:

    2. Boogie Woogie, which character are you considering the main instigator? The college student-age looking actors I can’t name, but the grown ups are all on staff. The (trailer) president is Danny Baer, and the trailer preacher is college president Jim Marcum.

      And what do you mean by “not in the same category” as other fundy schools? They’re actually Free Will Baptist, not independent, but there were actually quite a few students who believed in eternal security while I was there. There have been schisms at the local churches and controversies within the school about what some see as a movement toward a change to becoming independent Baptist. There’s also a lot of overlap with BJU and PCC. Students transfer to and from those schools, and lots of professors get their master’s at one or the other. And just to clear one thing up, it’s just a school; there’s no church. There is no shortage of preaching — chapel, camp meeting, missions conference, guys who happen to see a woman walk by in men’s shorts instead of culottes — but they’re big on the idea that people should be training to serve in local churches, so you have to go to one of the myriad area FWB churches and fill out a card each week saying you went to all the services and served in some capacity or another.

      But it’s a tiny enough school that they wouldn’t get recognition regardless of whether BJU was in the picture. There were about 150 students, tops, when I was there in the early 2000s.

    3. Kind of makes me want to create a video montage of Vineyard’s church set to Nugent’s “Free For All” or “Bound and Gagged”.

      A girl said no to Jim Vineyard and he put her in a “Stanglehold” say amen!

  23. Eh, it’s a youth conference at a Fundy church. What else do you expect? I’ve been in things like that (still am occasionally at a non-Fundy church).

  24. I’ll bet the guy playing the president thinks he looks presidential. But he just looks like a sad IFB preacher. Wouldn’t surprise me if he were the pastor…

    1. This is school, not a church (That man is on the staff and faculty), and it’s FWB, not IFB. Relevant joke:

      What’s a Free Will Baptist’s favorite hymn?
      “There’s a New Name Written Down in Pencil”

    1. One of the guys has facial hair in the video. Is facial hair aloud at this school.

  26. My Internet connection has decided it does not approve and has put this video into an endless cycle of buffering and hiccuping.

    So … yay?

    1. In 2010 they ripped of 24. In 2012 they ripped of Person of Interest. I can’t tell what they are ripping off here.

      1. LegalistNoMore said:
        What also gets me is that the last dialogue in this video is a direct lift from the latest Hunger Games movie trailer. A movie that everyone of these teens would be condemned for seeing.
        Check it out the whole “being eradicated” business at the 2:00 mark: http://youtu.be/PH-n39PCXp8

      2. I’ve heard it said you can tell when a mainstream pop culture reference has jumped the shark because that’s when the Christianese knockoffs start appearing.

    2. Don’t worry. Whatever you’re imagining is probably more entertaining than the actual video.

    3. I’m thinking of:

      Unusual Film’s “The Printing”

      Any of the Christiano Brother’s productions

      Left Behind

      All these have in common America-gone-commie and New World Order.

      1. Has anyone ever seen Unusual Films “Wine of Morning” or “Red Runs The River”? For some reason, no one will upload them to YouTube.

        1. I think the Wine of Morning was first one of BJjr’s books. I’ve not heard of the other one.
          I’m sure they actively search out and destroy anyone who would dare put something on youtube. Last I heard, youtube is against the law, vimeo is okay though. 🙄

  27. At NVBC Trieber’s crew ripped off Hawaii 5-0 and Miami Vice.

    West Coast Baptist ripped off Starskey and Hutch.

    Heartland Baptist ripped off the Oklahoma City Thunder.

    While Windsor Hills and Jim Vineyard ripped off Ted Nugent’s Guns for Kids camp.

    The worst one for many years was FBC Hammond with their atrocious 1920’s Vaudeville blackface routine as well as “Bible Man” the wrestler who beats up Muslims. Plus FBC had the singing sisters who wanted “to leave with a man like Dr. Hyles”. FBC also had “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” skits long before the show came on the air. After Hyles left, FBC’s Youth Conferences have gotten slightly better and more modern.

    1. The worst one for many years was FBC Hammond with their atrocious 1920′s Vaudeville blackface routine as well as “Bible Man” the wrestler who beats up Muslims. Plus FBC had the singing sisters who wanted “to leave with a man like Dr. Hyles”.

      Were these “singing sisters” part of the chorus singing praises of and to “Boopsie Woopsie”?

      1. The kid getting sticks shoved through his ears still gives me the hebegebees 😯

    2. A test pattern is better than “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?”

        1. Estus W Pirkle wrote the book, “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?“, that the movie was based on. 😯

        2. I thought you were referencing an (opening?) line from CS Lewis’ “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, which went something like; “There once was a boy named Eustace Scrub, and he almost deserved it.” Oh well…

        3. Yes, you are absolutely correct. I did not mean to mislead. Mine was a total rip-off from the opening line of “Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”. 😯 Good catch!

        4. (bows slightly)… Thanks. Btw, I never heard of that book or movie before. I just watched most of it on YouTube. Very disturbing to me for at least 2 reasons:

          1 What kind of relationship with Jesus is it when you “get saved” to a pure Christian life” because you feel guilty about your mother’s death? Can a person be manipulated emotionally into faith?

          2 If I “come to Christ” in response to horror, disgust, or anguish resulting from viewing repeated acts of violence and propaganda, won’t my faith be founded on the “sinking sand” of feelings? (Fear, disgust, and jingoism)?

          You can see the grin in the preacher’s face as the girl becomes inconsolable, while he continues to pour on the guilt; “Yes, your mother (dead now. Because of YOU) always wanted you to be a Christian…..

          Ay Carumba!

        5. Is there anyway someone could write a far more dirty version of this? 😈 The title is just too good to let go.
          Christian Apocalypse Porn, commies and zombies included…

        6. “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? The X-rated biography of Catherine the Great.”

        7. “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? The X-rated biography of Catherine the Great.”

          Well, if the horses in question were these certain mares named Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, or Derpy Hooves….

      2. Oh, yeah. Estus Pirkle and the guy he had doing his movies, i.e. the Ed Wood of Christploitation flicks.

        Estus Pirkle, who was also behind the Christploitation classic films The Burning Hell and The Believer’s Heaven. Both can be found on a YouTube title search.

        My writing partner is still out to get me for sending him YouTube links to Believer’s Heaven. It was the singing midgets. It was the singing midgets in Heaven that did it.

  29. Nice production values; badly acted.

    It does go to show ya, though, that with some actors, nine-tenths of playing a villain is attaining just the right evil squint. :mrgreen:

  30. Wow, I’m guessing the top reason to ban kids from movies these days is so they don’t realize how poor a job you do at parodying the previews?

    1. I know that’s meant to be funny. But I think there is some truth to that statement in general.
      A man who beats a woman wants her to be disconnected to others, he wants her to never discover that others can see that what he’s doing is wrong.

      1. It also makes everyone think that their church/school/faction isn’t one of the bad ones. By watching modified versions of movie trailers it seems more like they’re living normal lives. Not like those weirdos who are so much stricter than us.

        My old church thought it was great because it had more relaxed standards. Too bad about the abuse enabling pastor, really.

  33. Is it politically correct to oppose Christian views in the United States….no indeed!

    And the IRS certainly didn’t target conservative groups either!

    Not crazy about the trailer, but the myopia displayed by most of the posters is……hmm,….stunning!

    1. Is myopia what you get when you forget to put your tinfoil hat on?

      😆 😆

      1. So, people say the video’s statements that christians are going to be seriously hunted down and killed is nonsense.

        greg says it’s totally legit because people get offended when he uses his religion to treat people like dirt.

        Ok cool.

    2. Greg, I think what is viewed as opposition to “Christian values” is actually a push-back against the intolerant, my-way-or-the-highway attitude displayed when expressing those values.

  34. Want to really scare Fundies, get rid of the tax exempt status for churches and donations to religious organizations.

  35. Oh, the irony (hypocrisy?)! Using the medium 😈 of MOVIES (which they condemn and consign to hell anyone who attends them) as a means to promote THEIR deal. Is it just me or is something just not-right about that…?

  36. Alrighty folks. Let’s start taking bets on the likelihood that they got permission from Alexandre Desplat to use the Zero Dark Thirty soundtrack there.

    Btw, some Fundy broke a big rule by drawing from an R-rated movie.

  37. Two things:

    1) The white-haired guy on the left in the video’s YouTube rest screen — do you think he was cast for his resemblance to a sixty-ish Billy Graham?

    2) The Curse of the Black President — in a lot of end-of-the-world disaster movies, they cast a black guy for the President. Black President = We’re All Gonna Die. This was pointed out as a joke after the 2008 elections.

  38. You people (the commenters not the trailer makers) are crazy and obsessed with your hatred of “fundies”. You have done to them exactly what you acuse them of doing to you…..bigot them and slander them. They make these videos every year just to add some excitement to the conference…not to actually teach that this is going to happen in the u.s. I think some of you sick people need to actually MEET these people involved not talk about them like they are some crazy IFB fanatics…..BECAUSE THEY AREN’T! I know almost everyone involved in the making of this short film and they are just regular joes havn fun with media and using an interesting story line. You must admit it sure grabbed your attention. The accusations you people are making are uninformed and literaly INSANE! This is not that big of a deal but if it was up to you sick people, everyone involved in this film would be locked up. No wonder they think they may be persecuted one day they prob get it from all this…..idk…..HATE you people are dumping on them. I don’t blog but I had to say something because you people have taken this thing a little to far.

    1. We don’t have to meet them. Most, or at least quite a few of us were them. We are neither uninformed or insane. We just have the blinders off.

    2. By this same logic, you’re crazy and obsessed with your hatred of people who criticize fundamentalism because you saw something you don’t like and commented online about how you don’t like it. That’s the extent of the “slander” you’ve seen here (Also, “bigot” isn’t a verb.)

      And I’ve met plenty of the people involved in making this video; in fact I took classes with them for four years. I went to this college, which is how I know it isn’t IFB in the first place. I think if you actually knew the people involved like you say you do, you’d know that. If you can’t read the criticism that a culture you relate to has a persecution complex without saying things like “if it was up to you sick people, everyone involved in this film would be locked up,” you’re not doing much to prove your critics wrong. If it’s not persecution for you to leave a hate-filled comment here, it’s not persecution for people who have left fundamentalism to criticize it. We left for a reason, you know.

  39. This is not the crazy IFB who rape kids and cover it up or tell people they can’t where shorts or look at a hunger games movie/trailer like you guys are accusing us of. I did used to be “one of them” I still am one of them. These church and this college are not mad crazy fundamentalists like you say they are. I can name every church involved with this school and they are modern, loving, accepting, Christ-honoring churches. You people have us confused with the IFB or someone else. That IS NOT US! These people are nothing like this blog makes them out to be. The reason I picked the word insane was not because I just wanted a ransome insult like many of the posts on this blog. It was an educated selection because insane caries the idea of being deranged and if u (whoever not just the above post) honestly think that we are “IFB bigot gun-right racest fundies” then u my friend are misinformed or…..deranged.

    1. If you want to be taken seriously, try proof-reading, making corrections, and getting help with the meaning of big words.

      Or, maybe I’ve been the victim of a drive-by poe.

      And the video is still an inaccurate, fear-mongering attempt at manipulating people.

      1. Slow clap, RobM. You’ll have to tell me “wear” you got that wit. Were you “ransome”ly born with it or am I……..deranged?

        3. It takes tremendous dedication to racerizing to make that step up to the racest level. I don’t think I’m capable of reaching it, I’m just glad to know there are some churches out there capable & willing to make it to that level.

  40. Ok hold up wait a second
    1. I’m using my phone to type so gracious cut me a break.
    2. How does insulting my intelligence change the fact that this college is being misrepresented?
    3. “Jessica” I know u attended in the 2000’s but this is 2013….a lot of things have changed my friend. You would know that if u were accurately informed. (And yes I do personally know everyone involved in making the film much better than u do I assure you)
    4. The video is not designed to “manipulate people”……are u crazy it’s FICTION people! Haven’t u ever seen War of the Worlds, it doesn’t mean we are saying this is what’s going to happen. It’s just a crazy story line.
    Conclusion: I have just tried to defend people I love who are being mis-represented and I’m not trying to “condemn you to hell” like the fundy people in the IFB. Also I have realized that someone has seriously hurt you guys very deeply because your hate for fundies is great. I’m sincerely sorry for whatever evils have been committed against you by radical fundamentalist Christians, but please don’t take the hurt out on us we are just trying to reach people with Christ and share his message.

    1. Why would you put my name in quotes like that?

      Actually, he caught me you guys. I’ve been living a lie. My name has been Jennifer this whole time.

    2. So this may be an unpopular opinion, sorry. But I think, for once, y’all are maybe being a little too hard on this M-Bob guy – he doesn’t sound defensive to me, other than in the most strictly literal sense, he sounds genuine and genuinely confused. Even if he’s wrong about the people he says he’s knows, I’d tend to give him, and them, the benefit of the doubt in this case, and I admire the way he’s staying relatively cool and reasonable, dare I say Christlike in his responses, even after everyone snapped back at him and piled on – he’s still trying to give a sincere explanation of what he sees as an honest misunderstanding, and at this point I’m inclined to believe him. I could be wrong too, of course, but I do think y’all could ease up a little when he’s not actually being hostile or judgemental.

      Disclaimer: I have not watched the video, my connection doesn’t handle streaming very well.

      1. Kagi, you don’t need to qualify an opinion with an apology, especially when it seems like all you’re doing is asking people to take a step back and make sure they’re not being (too) mean-spirited. But I will say I do think you’re giving M-Bob a little too much credit to suggest he’s being cool and reasonable. Your seeing the video isn’t really necessary to make a judgment call on how reasonable his or others’ comments are. At this point, most of the comments are about other comments rather than about the video.

        But go back and re-read M-Bob’s comments before making the declaration that his response is at all rational: He (or she) is being pretty melodramatic. Leaving a comment making fun of a video doesn’t even approximate being “crazy and obsessed with your hatred of ‘fundies.'” Where has anyone in the comments section actually committed slander or made accusations that “are uninformed and literaly INSANE!” How is “if it was up to you sick people, everyone involved in this film would be locked up” at all supported in any of the comments other people have left on this page? And the accusations — including the one specifically directed at me — that people are here criticizing fundamentalism because we’re “blinded by some past injury” from church members — is pretty narrow-minded. There are myriad reasons someone might leave the church: Sure, people here might have been hurt specifically by a member or members of a church (I wouldn’t characterize myself as one of them), but I think most of us realize a few church attendees don’t represent the entire body of Christ. M-Bob doesn’t know any of us well enough to assume otherwise.

        Although I do tend to see a correlation between bad grammar/spelling and badly formed opinions in a lot of places, I’ll concede the atrocious grammar doesn’t make M-Bob wrong here. Swearing up and down with ableist language that this college is being misrepresented while doing nothing to clear up any misrepresentation except vague statements like “These church and this college are not mad crazy fundamentalists like you say they are” is a big chunk of what does make him wrong. Neither negative thing Darrell said or implied — that the school is demonstrating a persecution complex (that you would have to see the video to make a judgment call on) or that the school has comparatively few black students or staff/faculty members (As an alumna, I can tell you it’s garden variety fundamentalist racism and sexism there, but it’s there nonetheless. I can’t name a time in my life when I’ve seen fewer black people or heard more justifications for using the n-word) — is inaccurate.

        And I think another thing to consider is what the point of commenting on this page is. Nobody’s going to change anybody’s mind here, and I don’t think any of us are trying to. For this and most pages on this blog, I think the point is to poke fun at a lifestyle we don’t choose to be part of anymore, to relate to other people who have left the church (I know that’s personally the draw the blog has for me), to give church members who sincerely want to improve an idea of the effect some churches’ rigid inability to let anything — including the Bible — change the way they do things … my point is there are a lot of reasons to be here and to comment, but, for me at least, being nice to the guy who acts persecuted when someone says a school he likes has a persecution complex isn’t one of them.

        1. [This might double-post, sorry, it’s giving me an error.]

          That’s fair enough… I think I might have missed some of his comments (I didn’t see the one about people being locked up), and maybe misread others – from what I saw I was just surprised that people here were reacting so strongly when the general tone and content of what he said, that I saw, didn’t seem quite that provoking (though certainly, it was misguided and problematic). Specifically the comment to you about being blinded, I did see that and thought it was completely unjustified, but it was the worst of what I’d seen; I should have paid more attention to it as a flag, I guess. Sorry, I should have gone back to read through the comment thread more carefully before I commented instead of replying from email.

          You’re also right, about the reasons for being here, and there’s no reason you or anyone else has to be patient with commenters like him when you are mainly here for entertainment. 🙂 Personally I’m here because I’m stuck in the middle of fundie land with a family that is still in the church, and I need a little perspective sometimes, something to remind me that yes, it really is that absurd and I’m not the only who thinks so, or the only one who left. I still have trouble sometimes getting free of the deeply ingrained stuff in the mindset, and sometimes I don’t notice how problematic something is until someone points it out, so thank you for your gracious reply.

        2. I’m with “Jennifer” (if indeed this one is his/her actual name — you can’t tell with these types). Just cause someone swears loudly that you’ve got their particular church/pastor/college wrong, doesn’t mean you do. I don’t see a statement of faith or issues on their website unfortunately to verify or correct the claims with. I do know that browsing the recent sermons list there’s a lot of sermon titles with titles that don’t line up with what has been described by m-bob. A sample of ones that IMO strongly indicate a far too authoritarian structure & divise teachings for any institution let alone one that calls itself a unifying Christian institution. A sampling:

          No Murmur Zone
          Pitfalls of Calvinism
          Perils of Calvinism
          Its Either Achan or Me
          The Death of a Man of God
          Complaining
          Laws of the Harvest

        3. Thanks, Kagi, but I wouldn’t say my reply was “gracious” so much as “much longer than I meant for it to be.” I also think it’s really cool that you raised concerns about us sort of piling onto a commenter we don’t agree with. This is pretty much the only blog I comment on because I feel like it’s more of a community instead the cesspool of trolling a lot of comments sections turn into. When you can’t see the person on the other end of the screen, it’s easy to be much meaner than you would be if you’re talking to someone in real life, so I appreciate your asking us to keep ourselves in check. I guess what I’m trying to say is thanks for helping us try to keep it civil.

  43. 1. I was typing on a phone guys, give me a break.
    2. How does insulting my intelligence have anything to do with this college (NOT CHURCH) being misrepresented?
    3. Jessica you said you attended in the 2000’s….well this is 2013 a lot has changed. If you were fully informed and not just blinded by some past injury inflicted on you, you would know that. I promise you I know everyone involved in this film by name, I even helped make it and the intentions were nothing like this blog makes them out to be.
    4. I am truly sorry to see some of the pain the fundy people have caused. I do know what it is liked to be judged and ridiculed by narrow minded bigots who claim to be the arbiters of truth. Yet still I have to realize that the majority of Christians are not like this, and all I am asking is for you guys to not misjudge Southeastern for evils committed by someone else. It is very sad tho that a blog like this exists, i’m sure Christ would be ashamed by the fundy extremists who claim to be his followers…God help them!

    1. I’d still love to know how the group of gay members are doing in your accepting congregation.

  44. Still don’t know how homosexuality has anything to do with this college being misrepresented but out of respect for your inquiry….they are doing great actually! Several of them have been saved lately and have decided to turn from that lifestyle. A few continue to come and remain that way but they are welcomed with loving arms. Idk what church you were raised in but it must have been a terribly wicked church if they don’t allow certain people into the church just because of there appearance.

  45. Just quoting your user name I didn’t know if it was your real name or not…..sorry

  46. Ok guys I apologize if I have offended some of you. I realized that this blog was designed to poke fun of fundies, yet I still posted because I believed that reason was something welcomed here on an open blog where just average people could talk about their pains and try to find some closure. That is what attracted me here. I had the option of doing the “narrow minded” thing and simply ignoring this entire blog and writting it off as a cult of hell-bound sinners—like the fundies do. Yet I decided that the people on this blog were reasonable and have probably just been confused by our past or some other church/movement that is insane and has a “persecution complex”. All I have endeavored to do is to state that Southeastern has moved away from what it once was. The hurt displayed on this very blog is apart of why we have changed who we are and improved our love for people. I’m heavily involved with this college and it is nothing like Jessica is describing it now. I’m horrified to know that the n-word and sexist terms were used while you were there Jessica but I know for sure nothing like that at all goes on now. We have a racial variety at our college and are we required to have a African American on staff to prove we aren’t racist? That sounds like a racist demand anyway. But if it shocks you are not we actually do have racial diversity in the staff. All I’m trying to say here is dont judge the current college with the sins of a past college that no longer exists. And PLEASE don’t associate us with those crazy IFB people who rape kids and brain wash people.

    And in defense of the video…..it is FICTION! Have you seen the movies being made lately? They came up with a crazy weird story line that would intrigue people (which it obviously has) and get them thinking on what would happen if a church had to go underground. And the claims to copyright infringement—–you must not know copyright laws very well because in a film production of our size you are alowed to use a certain percentage of uncredited material.

    Bottom line I think our past mixed with this trailer has caused you guys to misinterpret the meaning of the trailer and misjudge our college.

    And one last thing to Jessica– Insulting my intelligence (again) ….hurts! I know you don’t seem to care but it does and I apologize for not meeting your standards for achademic excellence. (Now I can relate to some people on this blog even better, I have not met the standards imposed on me by some other person who thinks they are wiser and more educated than I am) Also I think it’s a bit far fetched to suggest that I haven’t provided any evidence to clear up this misunderstanding. Because between the homosexual rebuttal and the racist rebuttal and the persecution complex rebuttal I think i have presented more evidence to defend than you have to attack.
    Also I do not think you are stupid (like you think I am) and I do not count you as an enemy to which I should “poke fun of”. I simply thought we could have a reasonable adult argument in the American free speech fashion. Dispite your hatred of me I am sure you are very nice lady. I would like to meet you some day. Maybe we could debate while having coffee sometime. I always respect a good debating opponent. 😉 see ya around guys God bless!

    1. I call bunk (in lieu of a more offensive term) on “All I have endeavored to do is to state that Southeastern has moved away from what it once was.” No one trying to have a reasoned debate repeatedly says people with other views are crazy, calls them “you people” or uses so many caps and exclamation points. I’m also highly skeptical that there isn’t racism and sexism. Does Ron Davis still say “AWAC: All women are crazy” or “every old barn needs a fresh coat of paint” in sermons? Does the audience still crack up? Then Southeastern still has a problem with sexism. Women — adults who can legally vote — still have to get written permission from their parents before they’re allowed to leave campus alone. Male students have a later curfew than women students. These aren’t rules that I’m remembering and assuming are still in place. I saw them in this year’s handbook. Southeastern has a problem with women. And I think you’ll understand the race problem better if you think of it in terms of the relationship between Christianity and good works. Doing good works doesn’t make a person a Christian, but if a person says he’s a Christian and doesn’t do good works, other people could say he’s not bearing fruit. Having black people on staff wouldn’t automatically mean Southeastern doesn’t have a race problem, but saying there isn’t racism when there are no black faculty and staff members and you can count the students of color on your fingers and toes without taking your shoes off is like saying you’re a Christian and not bearing fruit.

      And nobody who saw the video assumed the people who made it meant for it to be taken literally. We get that it’s fiction. Fiction is grounded in reality. Once again, I call bunk on the claim that it’s not meant to taken as “This is the direction our politically correct society is heading in,” especially when that claim is coming from the guy who said, “If it was up to you sick people, everyone involved in this film would be locked up.”

      And please don’t lump me in with people you repeatedly called sick, crazy, insane, etc., and then talk about how much it hurts to have your intelligence insulted. First of all, I said it was your arguments, not your grammar, that made you wrong, and second of all, lashing out and then talking about how hurt you are by legitimate criticism isn’t going to generate sympathy from anybody.

  47. Ah…..how does listing sermon titles make us an institution that isn’t unifying? Oh dear you caught us! We preach at our CHRISTIAN college, guess that disqualifies us from being Christ honoring. I suppose we should ignore the bible? Jessica is correct….this blog is a place where you cannot change the minds of people who have decided to hate a place and a group of people that they don’t even know. It’s sad really…..no opposing opinions are welcome, no compromise, no open mindedness, no body is welcomed here except people of the same convictions and beliefs……….sounds kinda like the fundamentalists now doesn’t it.

    2. Is M-Bob some kind of anagram for Drama Queen? Since when is disagreement hatred?

      I’m pretty far into the Armenian spectrum of the Free Will vs Pre Destination scale, but to declare Calvinism to be dangerous or something to be battled is pretty preposterous, and completely counter to the case you are trying to make that the place some kind of bastion of a wide range of free thinking accepting believers.

    3. RobM said the sermon titles were “IMO strongly indicate a far too authoritarian structure & divise teachings for any institution let alone one that calls itself a unifying Christian institution.” You’re right, M-Bob. Sermon titles don’t prove much. But there’s not shortage of rules that show how authoritarian the school is:
      — Students aren’t allowed to “encourages a spirit of controversy on the campus”
      — Students can’t dance, play cards or go to the movies.
      — Students may not “release information of any kind to any newspaper, radio station, or television station.”
      — Students can get demerits for having “bad attitudes during sporting events” or “fighting without a valid (Christian) reason.”
      — Women (or if you’re going by the handbook, “girls”) can’t wear toe rings or ankle bracelets and have to get permission ahead of time before dying their hair.
      — Students may not listen to any “musical genre that drives the flesh”
      — Students can’t have any personal movies and have to get permission ahead of time before watching any movie.

      You can swear up and down all you want that Southeastern isn’t run by extremists. Just don’t forget that your fruit is showing.

  48. Your right….they would say we were predestined to be Arminians. Lol we teach our Protestant modified Arminian doctrine like billions of Christians do everyday. How does that make us unaccepting, not Christ-honoring, and “fundy” extremists guilty of a persecution complex?

    1. The sermons I listed aren’t titled anything like “why we are Armenian”. Might want to read that list again. It’s all about declaring the vileness of Calvinism. Which doesn’t fit at all your description of the church/school.

  49. Once again insulting me doesn’t help anything get resolved.
    The sermons you continue to reference were preached by a guest speaker who was very passionate about what he believes. You should look at what some eternal security and Calvinist people have to say about us and the way we believe. But all this is beside the point. When I read this blog it was filled with comments from tons of different people (not just RobM and Jessica) that had some pretty hatefull things to say. Like suggesting that we should have cast an African American as president but we didn’t because we didn’t have any and we are racist and that we are a “cult, run away”. I still am trying to explain that maybe you guys have misjudged a college and some fictional short film they made. Just doing what a person who loves their family and school would do when it comes under scrutiny. Once again sorry if I have offended anyone.

    1. If you’re really sorry, quit saying you’re sorry “if” you’ve offended anyone. It seems clear to me that you have.

      At least you said “maybe” when it comes to possibly misjudging your religious organization. That means that maybe we’re not misjudging. I don’t think we are. It’s always easier to see when you are not in the cloud of Fundy.

      Frankly, if you don’t like us, I don’t know why you’re hanging around. You aren’t going to convince us that you are correct. We are not going to convert to your way of thinking. Hanging out with people whose viewpoints are antithetical to yours and deliberately inciting arguments is hardly edifying. Remember, in the king james bible it says “a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city”. I’m not sure if I’m taking it out of context, but if I am, chalk it up to my not having detoxed long enough.

  50. Semp, I appreciate the straight forward insight. I realize now the purpose of this blog. I’m sorry for posting I shouldn’t have. We are just on different sides of the fence and I respect you guys for that. See y’all around. God bless and again I apologize for offending those individuals that I have.

Comments are closed.