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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 10/16/2007 : 06:02:11
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This article comes with a video well worth watching, although I found it disturbing.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3717627&page=1
| Soon after he was saved, Samuel (seven years old) said God spoke to him by helping him come up with things to preach about. "When I asked to preach, right when I think I can preach, God gives me something right there," he said. |
Yeah, kid, that's called confidence plus charisma.
Later in the interview the journalist asks: "Why do you want to preach?" and the kid says, "You'll have to ask my dad that." Yeah, kid, your dad knows why you want to preach.  This kid might have the verbal skills to preach, but he obviously doesn't have any kind of mature understanding of what he's doing.
I wasn't too impressed with anything these kids were saying. Apparently neither they or their congregations realize how cliche that type of preaching is. It wouldn't be hard for an outgoing kid to pick up the messages and mannerisms if they are exposed to it growing up.
Although I certainly don't think this is the best way to raise one's kid, and watching it gives me the heebie jeebies, I wouldn't go so far as to label is abuse as the Episcopalian preacher in the story does. No more abusive than allowing a kid to be an actor or model. If the kids are smart and reflective enough when they reach maturity, they will think about their religion in different ways and come to new understandings of it, whether they stick with it or not.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 10/16/2007 06:02:50
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2007 : 06:37:54 [Permalink]
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Brain-washing and a child's imagination can produce some sad results. The father and grandmother of these kids worked hard and probably achieved rather more than they expected.
I wonder; what will be the results if their indoctrinations don't stick? Puberty after all, is right around the corner.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2007 : 07:26:16 [Permalink]
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filthy:
I wonder; what will be the results if their indoctrinations don't stick? Puberty after all, is right around the corner. |
At least one child preacher, Marjoe Gortner , who started preaching at the age of four, went on to expose what he did as a money making scam.
In the late 1960s, Marjoe suffered a crisis of conscience -- in particular about the threats of damnation he felt compelled to weave into his sermons -- and resolved to make one final tour, this time on film. Under the pretense of making a documentary on the evangelical and non-denominational faiths, Marjoe assembled a documentary film crew to follow him around the Southern United States during 1971; unbeknownst to everyone else involved -- including, at one point, his father -- Marjoe gave "backstage" interviews to the filmmakers in between sermons and revivals, explaining intimate details of how he and other ministers operated. After sermons, the filmmakers were invited back to Marjoe's hotel room to tape him counting the money he collected during the day. The resulting film, Marjoe, won the 1972 Academy Award for best documentary. |
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2007 : 08:16:25 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
filthy:
I wonder; what will be the results if their indoctrinations don't stick? Puberty after all, is right around the corner. |
At least one child preacher, Marjoe Gortner , who started preaching at the age of four, went on to expose what he did as a money making scam.
In the late 1960s, Marjoe suffered a crisis of conscience -- in particular about the threats of damnation he felt compelled to weave into his sermons -- and resolved to make one final tour, this time on film. Under the pretense of making a documentary on the evangelical and non-denominational faiths, Marjoe assembled a documentary film crew to follow him around the Southern United States during 1971; unbeknownst to everyone else involved -- including, at one point, his father -- Marjoe gave "backstage" interviews to the filmmakers in between sermons and revivals, explaining intimate details of how he and other ministers operated. After sermons, the filmmakers were invited back to Marjoe's hotel room to tape him counting the money he collected during the day. The resulting film, Marjoe, won the 1972 Academy Award for best documentary. |
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That film, "Marjoe" was wonderful. I remember it well.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 10/16/2007 08:16:58 |
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Coelacanth
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
50 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 09:18:38 [Permalink]
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| Would it bother you if a child at that age took up tap dancing? Why are you worried about these children? It is a VERY lucrative business they're getting into. |
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 10:33:02 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Coelacanth
Would it bother you if a child at that age took up tap dancing? Why are you worried about these children? It is a VERY lucrative business they're getting into. |
I think a better analogy might be dealing drugs, another very lucrative business.
And yes, it would greatly bother me if a child at that age took up drug dealing.
And welcome to SFN, Coelacanth! |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Coelacanth
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
50 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 02:23:02 [Permalink]
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I was actually just being satirical. I wasn't being serious at all... I made the bad tap dancing analogy on purpose.
But on the subject, children can preach if that's what they really want to do right? and they shouldn't be discouraged?
Because that's supposed to be the case here.
Of course we now know some of them are not the case, but the rest still go innocent until proven guilty.
One can only remain skeptical. |
| Edited by - Coelacanth on 10/22/2007 02:24:59 |
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Child Preachers
