Jesus Camp and Occultism

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Prince_James

Plutarch (Mickey's Dog)
Registered Senior Member
Has anyone else, after coming away from this film, had the sensation that one spent an hour and a half watching witchcraft? Everything about ceremonial witchcraft is present: Ecstatic dancing, music, praying, the shattering of effigies, the usage of symbology, the calling down of a force to control one's actions, sponteneous inspiration, the belief in mind over matter, the belief that something is in control, the acceptance of "power words" and "power phrases", et cetera, et cetera...

Truly, it seems that more and more the lines between religion and magic are shown to be an artificial barrier. Ultimately, all religion is a form of sorcery.
 
I think religion as the pentacostal evangelicals practice it is very similar to that original old-time religion Shamanism. I think that's the word you are looking for. Shamanism was characterized as witchcraft by the Christians, but they never really understood it. It represents magical thinking, a spirit world of good and demonic forces. To that extent, I admire it. My view of Christianity was as a forced, fake kind of thing, but these people are sincere believers.

I actually liked the movie more than I thought I would. When taken in context, it isn't any stranger than human behavior throughout the millenia. I was stuck by their ignorance of the founding principles of the nation, but if liberty means anything, it's the liberty to teach your kids as you wish, and influence politics as you deem necessary.

The Ted Haggard stuff was incredible. The evangelical base, especially the kids, seem sincere and even healthy in a way. They feel like they are a part of something. Lord knows in the vast sprawling commercial wastelands of America, there isn't much else to inspire. The main problem I can see is these scummy hypocritical political operatives at the top that exploit them.
 
God is magician. He gave us languages, colors of a skin, knowledge and everything else. What is he than? I believe a good software and robotic programmer. That's why we believe in faith. Faith is something we can not see or touch.
I don't know right time but P. Diddy thanks on Grammy's to a Jesus Christ. He said thank you for making me this way Almighty Lord Jesus Christ, praise the Lord. Many celebrities talk about God. Let's say Christina Aguilera won I don't know what and she thanks to her own God for making everything possible. If you people will like to know about God's programming listen to people who are famous, they could speak publicly.
 
Turtle: Celebrities by and large give thanks to god for publicity purposes IMO. Jennifer Hudson however seemed to be genuine about it...and I wonder how much of her Oscar she attributes to her OWN talent.

Anyways...from the little I saw of Jesus Camp, it seemed to portray an empitomy of indoctrination. I may take a look at the full movie when I'm in the mood for a good horror.
 
Well if your ability to recognize metaphor is limited to only one target characteristic (the identity of a "creator"), then there is no similarity between shamanism and christianity.
 
Spidergoat:

Well shamanism is a type of sorcery, so it most definitely is all connected.
 
Prince_James said:
Spidergoat:

Well shamanism is a type of sorcery, so it most definitely is all connected.
Click to expand...

Shamanism is a type of religion. Sorcery is the attempt by Christians to fit this religion into their own mythology, and it resulted in a perversion of the original form, as well as the massacre of uncounted ancient practitioners.

In the end, Christianity has the same assumptions. There are unseen causes of things in the world, they are personified as spirit(s), and they can be placated with our altruistic actions. Altruistic actions to an invisible entity are called sacrificial, since they don't seem to benefit another person directly.

In fact:
Early Christians ate psychedelic snails to see God
The presence of psychedelic mushroom illustrations in an Italian basilica indicates that some early Christian religious rites involved the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances facilitating mystic ecstasy. Were these ecstatic techniques a common heritage of all early Christian churches or were they practiced only within some heretic groups of Christians?
 
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Spidergoat:

Sorcery is hardly a Christian conception. The practice of magic has pretty much followed society since time immemorial and almost all cultures have been peturbed by it. But nonetheless, it remains the essence of religion.
 
Prince_James said:
Has anyone else, after coming away from this film, had the sensation that one spent an hour and a half watching witchcraft? Everything about ceremonial witchcraft is present: Ecstatic dancing, music, praying, the shattering of effigies, the usage of symbology, the calling down of a force to control one's actions, sponteneous inspiration, the belief in mind over matter, the belief that something is in control, the acceptance of "power words" and "power phrases", et cetera, et cetera...

Truly, it seems that more and more the lines between religion and magic are shown to be an artificial barrier. Ultimately, all religion is a form of sorcery.
Click to expand...

Yup, I watched it. Its the type of Christianity that scares the hell out of the rest of the world.
 
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