48 Hours: The Lord's Boot Camp genre: Hip-Gnosis & Video-Philes

The following series of videos comprise the 48 Hours special title The Lord's Boot Camp. Much like the previous documentary, Jesus Camp, the piece chronicles a group of teen aged children; including their attendance at a Christian boot camp and the subsequent missions they are assigned to complete.

I'm sure the parents of these children believe they are doing the right thing but the camp is little more than an indoctrination process designed to reinforce the beliefs parents have sought to impose. Unfortunately, what I noticed first and foremost was that many of these children have simply been fed their beliefs as well as the words they express to prove them. Independent thought is clearly not encouraged and likely not allowed in many of these children's homes.

As I watched these children working in their assigned mission locations, I couldn't help but see the inherent manipulation in the program. In Africa, the camp participants have been transported to a country filled with desperate people in need. Their objective is to give those they encounter some measure of attention and care. In exchange, the impoverished children listen to the beliefs and suggestions of their newfound benefactors.

In other words, these vulnerable African children are told that if they believe in Jesus, their lives will improve and their souls will be saved. I suspect the real outcome of these encounters is to set the table for these African children to experience more disappointment and despair as their lives do not improve and they return to their squalid existence.

In Indiana, the camp children are told to conduct surveys with young people at county and state fairs in an effort to bring them to Jesus. The fact that they set a goal for the number of people they will save strikes me as rather absurd...but it's also a key element of the indoctrination. Essentially, it trains these children to accept rejection and to crave compliance. That's a very effective tool when seeking to ingrain these children with the beliefs of their parents and their handlers.

The last thing I recognized was the level of desperation found in some of these young people. In particular, I thought the girl who was in tears while talking about missing her boyfriend seemed intent on finding an outlet to escape her surroundings. Once she returned home, she announced her intentions to marry her boyfriend...a clear means to achieve some level of independence that isn't apt to be found if she remains at home with her parents. She also speaks of subsequently working in Africa which I view as more evidence she subconsciously seeks a means to escape.

The other child of note was Nicole, the troubled teen with a history of drinking and drugs. Once she returned home, she continued doing both and rather than addressing her underlying issues, her mother elects to remove her from public education and enroll her in a Christian home schooling program. I suspect Nicole's problems center on her inability to reconcile the strict beliefs of her mother with the world in which she lives. I also suspect her mom has characterized the divide Nicole sees as nothing more than good versus evil...right versus wrong. That likely leaves Nicole in a constant state of turmoil which only facilitates her efforts to escape through self-medication.

In the end, these children are forced to see a completely gray world as nothing more than black or white. They are also pressured to adopt uncompromising belief systems that are presented as incontrovertible ideology. While these parents and the camp founders may embrace this as a process of completing the Lord's work, I suspect it is more akin to full conscription into a cult.

The Lord's Boot Camp - Part One

The Lord's Boot Camp - Part Two

The Lord's Boot Camp - Part Three

The Lord's Boot Camp - Part Four

The Lord's Boot Camp - Part Five

Tagged as: 48 Hours, Bible, Creationism, Evangelism, Evolution, Faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Camp, Religion

Daniel DiRito | May 6, 2008 | 10:07 AM
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Comments

1 On June 13, 2008 at 8:24 AM, Sarah wrote —

Teen Missions is a great organization!!! The leaders really care about you, and you're making a difference in the world! I doubt I can change the writer of this article's mind, but I suggest going on a trip with them before completely trying to tear them down!

2 On December 4, 2008 at 9:09 AM, antonio cordero wrote —

Teen Missions Int'l is an awesome ministry. They show God's love in truth, not words. Hospitals, schools, ophanages, churches, you name it, have been built, improved or blessed in different ways by TMI. I haven't been able to see the CBS documentary since I live abroad, but I experienced TMI for 18 months as a Missionary to America from 1998 to 1999. It totally chaged my life by learning unselfishness. Choosing to serve others besides yourself is a tough lesson to learn. TMI shows love, and teaches others to do the same. Refusing God's love is living in hell, both here on earth and on the other side. Living without God's love has bad consecuencies.

Warning people about those bad consecuencies is an act of love. It's not preaching fear. It's telling the truth. If you miss a trafic light you may crash and even die. Dont' be afraid, because you just have to be careful and respect transit law and authorities and nothing bad will happen. Nobody should be afraid of hell, because Jesus paid a big price for us no to go there, but if we lied about it and told people no one can go there, then we wouldn't be showing love. If you believe in Jesus as your saviour then Why should you fear? and if you don't, just do, its as easy as believing and accepting His grace.

One big problem with youth is America is the lack of discipline, they feel free to do basicly whatever they want. But you need discipline for everything you do. Studying, working or raising a family. It all takes discipline. Boot camp is a short time experience, TMI work is not always as tough, but when you are responsible for taking 30 kids to a foreign developing nation you need as much discipline as you can get, since you're responsible for their very lives. One single act of disobedience could jeopardize the entire goal of your mission or endanger the whole team. Not wearing your boots properly could cause you to get worms in your feet, not drinking enough water could even kill you in no time, going astray from your team could get you lost, etc. It's not narrow mindedness, it's safety, responsibility and concern for other's needs. American kids need to learn that, which was so common in America decades ago, which made this country a big nation, which people nowadays lack.

This unsolved need is causing bad things to happen, if people understood they are accountable to God for their bad acts, they would probably think twice before doing a crooked business when nobody is looking, since God is always looking. Isn't this lack of accountability the reason for America's economical crisis?
Discipline would have kept America's economy from what has happened, had it been taught to her kids in the last decades. But it hasn't and now we are living an economical hell. I PRAY TMI WILL GO ON, AND GROW, AND BE BLESSED AND PROSPER, AND BLESS AMERICA MORE AND MORE

3 On January 21, 2010 at 10:07 PM, Juvenile Boot Camps wrote —

It seems Lord Boot Camp is scattered around the world helping kids to give a different life ahead through an indoctrination process. This could really make parents happy being close to God and a life changing experience inside the boot camp.

Thought Theater at Blogged

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