Why are Christian Theme Park Events The Worst? - Confessions of a Theme Park Worker
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- Опубліковано 3 лис 2021
- If you've attended or worked at a theme park during a Christian event such as Night of Joy, Young Christian's Weekend, Southern Gospel Fest or others, you've possibly noticed that there seems to be a lot of issues. Which ones and why? Well...
A behind the scenes look at what a former worker at Disney World, Silver Dollar City, and Busch Gardens Florida experienced in his time working at the parks. From driving large safari trucks around live wild animals while cracking one silly joke after another, to spending 5 years as a #PhotoPass photographer at #WaltDisneyWorld and seeing and experiencing all sorts of things, to being a conductor and #trainrobber on the famous Frisco Silver Dollar Line at #SilverDollarCity. With 10 years of working in the parks, there's lots of stories to tell. Here is some of them...
Not only did I work in theme parks for 10 years, I've visited a whole lot of them as well. Here's some stories of great visits, not so great visits, favorites, reviews, and much more.
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I know the quality is lacking a bit on this one. We had some family hospital visits/ surgery and some other things come up that made time rather short (don't worry, everyone is ok. Minor thing) So I hope you'll forgive that and enjoy this for what it is- hopefully a bridge building and awareness for everyone. :-)
Video was great your message got across and that's all that is needed
Praying for you and your family. 😀👍♥️
I did not catch any singing, so GREAT JOB! :)
I was wondering if there was something odd with the lighting, perhaps a green screen used, etc.
shot it on my phone instead of my camera because I knew I was going to have to hit the road shortly after shooting it adn it's easier to transfer a phone video later than a camera video and a separate sound file. :-)
@@SirWillow makes sense
"I'm a pastor, so I'm intimately acquainted with how horrible other Christians can be." I joke as a fellow Christian and former seminary student... Your assessment of youth groups bringing nonbelievers to Disney World so they seem cool and the nonbelievers will want to hang out with them made my wife and I laugh out loud. In some ways, I'm kind of looking forward to the decline in Christianity's cultural hegemony, insofar as it will purge the "cultural Christians" and leave behind a church filled with people who are really dedicated to living the life.
I can't disagree with you on that last part, and may have occasionally been spotted saying some similar things when thinking outloud... :-P
Such a good video, Its shocking that there are so many that don't live the heart of their religion. It seems to me they believe that a religion is just a check mark they put down, do the weekly visit to church and then your free to forget it for the rest of the week. Living a "Good" life is not an easy thing, Its a lifelong process
Myself I'm probably best put in the category of lapsed catholic, belief is still there but soured on much of the organization's locally that more and more corrupted the spirit I believed in. People are people as you said, whatever your creed, we are so very much alike in what we are, the challenges we fight, the struggles... in some way I find that soothing to the outright anger and hatred among groups when you get down to "People" , Hopefully more will just take a step back and look at that wider joy humanity has deep down...
Enough saccharine stuff though, Great Video
Yup. I used to attend a good sized anime convention, held at a very large convention center/hotel complex. One year, due to a scheduling foul-up, the venue staff scheduled us at the same time as they did the regional meeting of a religious youth organization. The adult leaders of that organization were not too pleased, but as they didn't find out about it until too late to change, they settled for making all kinds of demands of the venue and convention staff to ensure that their boys would not come into contact with us. For the most part, the staff did everything they could - separate entrances, rooms assigned in different parts of the hotel, sessions for the two events held in different areas, etc.
Predictably, SOME of the kids from this group took every opportunity to sneak into the con's portion of the building. This would have been a non-issue for the convention staff if the kids had just behaved themselves. But unfortunately they used the opportunity to act out - vandalizing displays, stealing from the commercial vendors, being abusive toward both con staff and attendees. Some of the con-goers were in costume, and some of those costumes left a lot less to the imagination than these boys were used to. There were widespread reports of sexual harassment and even a couple allegations of sexual assault.
The venue staff, assisted by the local police and (reluctantly) by the adult "leaders" of the group, eventually got things under control. Said "leaders" blamed everything on the venue not meeting it's obligations to separate the two groups. I'd like to hope that these boys have grown up by now and have a little remorse for their actions, but given that they were not publicly held accountable for them at the time, I wouldn't count on it.
Important takeaway here is that MOST of the kids behaved perfectly respectfully. There were a few areas of the venue which were "common areas," like the hotel coffee shop and lobby, and these areas saw intermingling between attendees of the two events with absolutely no issues. Lots of friendly conversations, questions asked and answered. They also happened to be the best overseen areas of the venue.
Kids will, given the opportunity, act up sometimes. ADULTS whose job it is overseeing kids need to expect it and be prepared to deal with it, not just assume that their little darlings are the exception to the rule and look the other way.
Can confirm; I worked Studios GR from 2007-2009. Night of Joy was notorious for guest misbehavior, not excluding frequent promiscuousness in the restrooms. I suspect that for many of the attendees, it was the first time they were able to go out on their own with limited supervision, and that contributed to some, lets say "acting out". Grad Nite was far more relaxed...
edit: Can also confirm leaders are often far worse than participants. One particularly memorable event along those lines was the annual youth cheer competition hosted at Studios. The kids were by and large pretty OK and well behaved, but their parents were the absolute worst Karens/Kens that you could possibly imagine.
I was a youth leader at one point and we were very strict with our teens they had to be with the adults at all times when out at an event. I was appalled when speaking to teens from other groups where their leaders were nowhere in sight and the children were told girls are red boys are blue don’t make purple.
As a kid, our district youth group attended one of the first Young Christians Weekends at SDC and getting on the bus to go get breakfast at McDonalds, our Youth Director told us "If people ask you what church you're from.....you're not behaving properly".
I think it has to do with perception. Perception from kids expressing and testing their freedoms. Basically these teens get a small taste of a Rumspringa! The other perception is that from people who put Christians on a pedestal. I've known many jerks who are Christians. I know many more who are wonderful. When you are expecting a large number of 'good' people you will be disappointed. Just like everyone Christians are people and people are sinners. We have the perception that Christians are better and they should be, but in reality, we all have fallen short and require grace.
I wish I could say I'm surprised... but I'm not. I found that what I was taught in church.. most of the church goers forgot what they learned as soon as they exited the doors. I found that I'm more spiritual not going to church. I try to remember Jesus always knows what is in your heart no matter how you act. It's not hard to be kind and show compassion. Thank you for this video! Especially the overall message. Happy Thanksgiving!!
I remember going to Great America on Christian day (Carmon was the head liner and DC talk was just a smaller group then). We showed up on motorcycles and some brother & sisters were very taken back, there was line cutting from both saved and none save. It was good and bad experience. We had fun and my brother wife work in cash control so we go free entrance to the even. (BTW Rebarty here)
I’m not sure what it is either. I can’t explain it. But much like your Denny’s example, I worked in a restaurant in the late 90s, and every Sunday after church, the church groups would come in, and they acted very entitled.
Honestly, not bad people as long as things are going their way, but the minute in order was wrong or something like that, they became very difficult to deal with.
Some of them might describe like Jekyll and Hyde. As long as everything with the order was right, they were very friendly, they laugh and joke around with you, but the same person a week later if the order was wrong like a completely different person.
nice to see you uploaded another video sir willow what an awsome birthday gift to see you
Hey crash loved your kart racing game
Every Thursday and almost every Tuesday. :-)
Happy birthday
@@mrs6968 aw that’s cool thank u so much who was your favorite character
@@SirWillow thank you sir willow
@@GraveyardGhoul98 I gotta say say crash and that panda all the way also happy birthday to yaz
As for acting bad at religious events, I was part of a teenage Christian singing group and when we were on our concert tours, it was eye-opening on how wild these "good" kids would become. In our hometown, we were, by and large, rather good little angels but on the road, it was a whole different case. Guys sneaking into the hotel rooms of girls. Cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs were plentiful. Sneaking out of the hotels to roam the cities at night with many doing acts of vandalism and purposely seeking out the bad parts of town. I knew of four guys who pooled their money to hire a prostitute to "do" them all. It was crazy.
And back then when I was religious, one of the things that was hard for me to deal with as a potential minister was the fact that the most evil people I knew then were extremely religious. When I asked my mentoring minister (who was also my childhood minister) why this was the case and if it was just because I didn't know enough non-religious people to make this generalization. I was surprised when he told me I was right and he told me it will be one of the hardest things I will have to deal with as a minister. "The evil within" as he called it. He said religion is commonly used by some people as a form of elitism. "I'm better than you." And the more devoted these people become and the more they attend all church functions and essentially live in the church, the worse they become. Another problem is the "us vs them" mentality. "We are the chosen." mentality that these evil people have produces the bad counter-spin of "You are not the chosen." Those of not their faith are treated and viewed as less than human and thus not deserving of the same protections or even just common courtesies and simple decencies. Some of the most brutal atrocities done by mankind have been done in the name of religion with the evil people doing them thinking they're righteous and are even doing "The Lord's work" when doing them. But it doesn't have to be ultimate evil being done either. Ever encounter or see a religious person try to get a discount from a religious sales person or business owner? They never think of what they're asking from the other person's view. "So you're asking me to earn less so you can spend less?"
And, yeah, the stereotype of minister's children is more true than not. The two daughters of my childhood minister reflected both bad sides. The oldest was an elitist and the younger one was a wild one who slept around, did drugs, and worse. Fortunately for both, once they left their childhood homes, they changed and became normal good people. Unfortunately, I know a lot of ministers who weren't as lucky with their kids. Some having to move to a new church because their children destroyed their reputations at the old.
I have enjoyed all your videos. Great stuff to listen too.
I had traditions today and watched a new sirwillow video. today was great!!
I went to the one in Disney with my youth group a long time ago, and I swore I’d never go again. So many people that I saw in the church telling people to be kind were the same people who were huffing about long lines and arguing with the Disney staff because they weren’t allowed to go somewhere. It just really hit me that they weren’t people I wanted to be associated with, so I never went back.
Former king is island employee, and I completely agree which what was said in the video. The worst day I worked was on Spirit song. I had a lady yell at me for 10+ minutes on how our little store should have 4xls in all shirts and that it was fatphobic to not have them, caught a group of kids hotboxing our employee bathroom, and had easily over 300$ worth of merchandise stollen from our store. The only groups that rival the Christian groups are large school groups but even they weren’t as wild as the Christian groups.
Learned a new word today. "hotboxing" I googled it. LOL
@@JackDecker63 me too
I have to say that, as an ex-Christian, I have tried to exhibit the good behaviors that you have described. I am not sure how much faith makes people behave badly, but the guys that I know who are still people of faith are, by and large, are lovely people. That being said, I have seen several people in church who almost use their churchgoing as an excuse to be overbearing and entitled. It's almost as if they feel that their attendance is a get out for their bad behavior. But, as you rightly say, people are people. The sooner we understand that, irrespective of faith (Or none) that there can be no us vs them and just treat everyone with respect, recognize (but not judge) our differences and move forward as a species in as altruistic a manner as possible, then the world would be a far nicer place.
Take care and thank you for your videos. As I say, I am not a man of faith. But I am do have faith in mankind.
I get it. My family used to attend a church that had many community events. Being of modest means, we could not share much in the collection plate. So, we would volunteer to help work the events. Well, when you show up to work and get looked at like, "Why are You here?" You kind of wonder why you attend a church where you don't feel welcome. We found a church where you don't have to be part of the inner group to feel at home. The moment we entered, we were greeted and welcomed with handshakes and a true, "We're glad you came." The hubby said that he thought we'd found our church. That was over 5 years ago. We volunteer events and just enjoy the whole experience. Hope all is going better for you and your family. Stay safe and healthy out there! Thank you for sharing a part of your day with us!
I got this effect when dealing with Future Farmers of America when they had their convention in Kansas City.
Or rather.. teens let off the leash for the first time.
Never was able to explain the Sunday church crowd as a server .. because yeah, the elderly groups never tipped for crap
Great video. 😀👍♥️
Im a Catholic and can't believe you made this video calling out your own kind and I want to thank you because it seems no matter the religion even Catholics alot of folks tend to sit high and mighty above others when it comes to religion even when every faith's golden rule is treat how you want to be treated
you obviously haven't watched my other channel (Burning Bush by George Burnash) or some of my sermons on our church facebook page. I call out our own on a regular basis. And have had some get rather upset at me for doing so.
I'm just waiting for some of them on this one... :-)
@@SirWillow im aware of the channel yet must admit I never did engage much yet now I feel I should.
As far as why certain types of people are drawn to the church, I remember one of the worst insults I saw someone give one of "those people" when they said "Boy, it's a good thing Jesus loves you because you make it really hard for anyone else to." If someone is so miserable in their day to day life that they need to be mean to the staff at a restaurant or theme park, someone saying "all you have to do to be a good person is show up in church for 1 hour a week" can be really appealing.
Mr. Willow, is the kind of pastor that brings people together.
Sir Willow is absolutely SPOT ON with this video. I worked for Six Flags Over Texas from '95-'97, when I went into the AirForce, and the "Christian" events were the ones they had to pay extra for volunteers to work them! I've never been cursed out and called more horrible things in ONE SITTING than when those events were going on. EVER! That and the SEX, VANDALISM and THEFT were just absolutely horrendous and rampant during the ENTIRE THING! There was always around 2 or 3 per off season, and NONE of us liked them. What is SO funny is that they warned me about them and I just thought they were joking... The joke was on ME!
When I was younger, I had a bad impression of religion because some of them that I met said they were of a certain religion but never practiced it. One example: a mother of a woman I dated emailed me begging for money. The girlfriend was now an ex and I could not contact her. So I contacted her sister. The sister didn't say she would look into it or see what is wrong. Instead she yelled at me for contacting her on Facebook. This family claimed to be devoted Christian's but they sure didn't practice it!
Sad
I was homeschooled and my friends were well behaved when we went to field trips 👍🏻 But, now a days the current homeschoolers are not so well behaved 😝 People who say they are Christians need to be genuine because sometimes they are not.
I’m guessing that some there were guests at these Christian events were well behaved and the rest not so much.
Well said that people are people. Being a Christian try to live by a higher standard and find myself often failing. Thank Jesus for his forgiveness. May God bless you and yours.
I have been treated worse by supposed Christians than I have by non believers in my life. It amazes me how some Christians seem to think that they are better than anyone else and can pull Bible verses out of context and use them for their own agendas. I am a Lutheran who went to a Southern Baptist college. I was called a heathen and told that I was going to hell if I didn't believe what they believed (which I thought I did lol). When I started dating my husband (who was Jewish) I had people knocking on my door day and night reading the Bible and praying over me and telling me I was going to hell. We were finally completely ostracized which was so much better except that the college kids weren't the only ones, it was the profs and the staff too. Our grades dropped and the dean of students constantly told us that we couldn't be together on school property and would chase us out of the lounge every day. We had to go out (and who had money in those days to go out). We were sometimes even separated in the cafeteria and told we couldn't eat together. When he graduated I left, I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
stories like this break my heart, but sadly I hear them more often than I wish. I also hear the flip side, with people of various faiths being treated horribly at non-religious schools. It's sad that people do things like that at all, regardless of why.
Its so ironic. This video linked below was posted not long ago, of what appears to be some kids visiting SDC with their church. They were filming with a go pro on every ride and they were even told over the speakers to put it away on the first launch of Time Traveler. They proceeded to film every ride after that and one of them even jumped out of the boat in the tunnel and ran along the side path just before the lift on American Plunge. The description says they got kicked out but not after they were able to have their fun at the expense of park policy and possibly the kids who were actually behaving well in the group. Its really sad.
There's always some. BTW, if you don't mind, remove the link. I'd rather not promote or support behavior like that. But I do hope that hte park takes further action against them.
Thanks for the link removal! Yeah, there's some out there that think that kind of stuff is cool. it's not
@@SirWillow No Problem! I just thought it was ironic I saw both videos within a few days of each other lol
Such a pathetic thing. I know this comment is more appropriate for your other channel, but there are always goats among the sheep, tares among the wheat, etc. aka hypocrisy standing out against the real believers. Thanks for the video.
Asking for honest opinion: do you think that this video will help contribute to the conversation for both sides, or cause issues?
@@SirWillow maybe some of each. I’ve been to a couple of these events I think both at Knott’s and there were two types of attendees those there to hear the bands etc. and enjoy the park, and those there to just run wild. We made sure we were a good witness at these but I think people need to know that there is a mix of people as you described.
I have run into some religious groups and seem to think that feel they can let loose and forget common decency.
Do you have any guidance on how I can responsibly do a theme park trip for my youth group?
I'm currently teaching a 3 year doctrine course and the you're ministry leader and I have talked about celebrating the first graduating class (This would be 9th graders).
What do you think about having the theme park trip be a reward with qualifications as opposed to an outreach?
Absolutely a reward and not an outreach.
My first rules of trips like that: no one goes that I don't know and that hasn't been attending. That alone will save you a good amount of trouble.
Second rule- no teens go off by themselves or as a couple. Everyone has to have an adult with them at all times- groups of 3 or more (1 adult and 2 teens) And those adults also have to be approved by me and the lead pastors and have back ground checks run.
Third- at least one check in during the day. When it was a good group that I could trust I would let them do a virtual check in- phone or video call to let me know where they are or what they are doing. But if there were any in the group I was a bit iffy about, they had to be done in person. If someone didn't check in and didn't have a really good excuse from the trustworthy adult with them, then they were stuck with me the rest of the day and very possibly getting an early ride home.
I made it very clear they didn't want me to have to call someone to pick them up as I would make it miserable for them :-) And doing those basic steps I rarely had a problem. Only once did I have to bench a kid- she got to hang with my wife, and when we called her parents and let them know that she might have to get picked up she straightened up really quick.
I would not do anything like that as an "outreach". It's not outreach as you aren't doing anything that might lead to change other than giving them an opportunity to go play somewhere. That can be done somewhere just as easily with a lot more control and supervision than you would have at a theme park.
I worked at the Magic Kingdom back in 1995. I did not work the night of joy. But some of my co-workers said it was a terrible night to work.
Also Grad Night was bad.
I work retail at a local craft store in a part of Los Angeles that skews a bit more conservative and Catholic. I grew up in the Church and even though I'm no longer part of it, the rest of my family is. At work I can always tell who is going to be the most demanding and difficult to work with based solely on how large of a cross (or how many crosses) the person is wearing. I am dreading going into work tomorrow because I really don't feel like having to deal with someone being passive aggressive when they ask why I'm not playing any Christmas music. Overall I love my job and the people who come into the store, religious and otherwise. But there are just some people who I will not name who use their religion as an excuse to treat myself and others badly simply because I'm pagan or because they feel some kind of moral superiority because of their religious beliefs including the Monsignor at my family's church who's intolerance and refusal to be accepting of the LGBTQ+ community is the reason I cut ties with the Church. I don't hate Christians or Catholics. I just hate hypocrites.
I have a hard time having patience for hypocrites and unloving people. What was it that Jesus called them? And Paul in his epistles? :-)
But sometimes seeing ourselves in the mirror and recognizing our own faults is so difficult, especially when compared to pointing out others. That's that good old "remove a splinter from someone else's eye when you have a plank in your own" thing. :-)
@@SirWillow Exactly! And it's even worse when it's your religious leader who, on Sunday, preaches to love your neighbor as you love yourself and to treat others the way you want to be treated then on Monday brags about intentionally excluding a couple from the church community because he saw them as undesirable. Even now, over a decade after leaving the Church, I still hold the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves to be treated with respect above all else, even if the community around me doesn't. Because those are the teachings that matter. Humanity is better when we lift each other up and help each other reach their full potential.
There is no reason to be loving of sexual immorality, of any form. I cant help to remind all that, as a movement, the LGBTQ++++ is anything but loving of families and children. SirWillow may be empathethic but he could have also referred you to other Paul epistles referring to sexual immorality indicating it is not acceptable. I hope, someday, you manage to rekindle your faith John 14: 6. Lord Jesus Christ son of God Have Mercy on Us All.
@@perucho2194 Dude, read the room. God says to love your neighbors and to treat others the way you want to be treated. Don’t be the type of person who made me leave the Church.
@@KassMcCormack Dear Marilyn, yes, God says that, indeed much more than that, a Christians can't pick and chose. Sounds like you might have left the Church because your faith was weak, a common occurrence, even among strong believers. Ask for mercy, repent of your sins (where applicable - that's between you and Him), He is waiting for you
Went through all the comments. My intention was to learn about Christian theme Parks so I could take my children. Unfortunately, Disney has become an instrument of the liberal left, so I am not inclined to take them there. There is a lot of underlying pain around this video, maybe not surprising. A Christian live is filled with land-mines along our lives, it is perseverance and grace that helps us get through, don't believe me, believe the Scriptures 2 Timothy 4:7.
Even though I have not identify any existing Christian-Theme -Parks (and I realize that was not the purpose of the video), I want to thank you for producing this video, the Lord can use it according to his will
I would love to attend a Christian event at Disney world
I worked at a Chick Fil A back in high school, saw the absolute worst in people with jesus fish on their cars and church shirts treating the employees like dirt and getting away with it.I'm a firm believer in karma,kindness & letting people do what makes them happy.Sadly, not anything that is ok with the fervent church crowds here in the South.
Yikes I honestly can't offer you a reason for that. I would have probably cried in front of my coworkers because of the absolutely wrecked view of Christ and Christians, I already know what it's like to stand in front of them and correct the beliefs of their parents and the anger swelling inside of me as well as try and not let that ruin my own perspective, I can't imagine dealing with it in real life. I'm always on edge when watching a non-believer interacting with my believing friends because I don't want anything to go wrong.
Also I need to find a time machine and travel back to the day your wife told that woman she's a minister and a pastor's wife, and so on and do a mic drop and then return to my own time.
Thanks for the added insight, even if it hurts a bit, we need it.
Does your sonic screwdriver have a nice and behave setting you can use on the teens ?
I used to go to theme parks with Christian groups and they were the absolute worst, even the ones who were nice and normal when at home. It’s crazy.
I have found that a lot of Christian kids are so regimented in their homes that when they get out into events like this they go crazy. when I was a kid my little brother had a friend Whose father was the principal of the Christian school we went to and whenever that little boy went over anyone’s house he had his friends in tears within five minutes because he was so wild away from his parents it was ridiculous
Even as a teenager, I learned very quick to avoid Christian events, especially the ones geared towards teens. A lot of the kids from the organization I was raised in were homeschooled and because of that, they didn't know how to act in public (not saying all homeschooled kids are like that, but we all know the ones I'm talking about.) Not to mention the adults chosen as chaperones just assumed all these church kids were good kids and didn't need to pay attention to them. Or they're the parents that homeschooled and used the trip as a break from their kids while their kids are running around causing havoc.
My family would take road trips to Branson several times a year and my friend who happens to be gay would go with us sometimes. Never once did we have problems, until... One time we were there during a big UPCI conference. We weren't attending, it just happened to be the same weekend. My whole family was Pentecostal at the time but we didn't have any interest in attending the conference so we just pushed it out of our mind and forgot what weekend it was. We were at Branson Landing in a store that sells modest women's clothing. There was an older lady working that happened to belong to the organization. She was an absolute angel and was having a lovely conversation with my friend and my dad while my mom, sister and I shopped. While we were in there, a huge group of women came into the store. We knew they were with the conference (you can spot a Pentecostal woman from a mile away.) The oldest one of the group noticed my friend's pride tattoo on his wrist. She butted in with some VERY mean things to say about him. It got so bad the employee had to ask her and her group to leave. On the way out, several of them started spouting things about the devil and wolves and all that. We were all so embarrassed and genuinely heartbroken. It made us feel even worse when everyone would be nice to my mom, sister and I because we "looked the part," but then they'd notice my friend's tattoo and everybody's attitude would change immediately. It ruined the rest of our trip because we were all so ashamed of how those women acted and seeing church people everywhere, it was in the back of our minds the whole time, "Are we safe? Are you one of the good ones?"
I know not all Christians are like that, but it's very sad to know that there are several. I grew up around it and I've seen and heard somethings that I am appalled by. I consider myself a Christian and even just the thought of mistreating someone because they aren't makes my skin crawl.
Sad story. And all to common.
One misconception to clear if, if I may. :-) UPC and apostolic church are not the only Pentecostals out there. Foursquare, Assembly of God (which is who I'm affiliated with), Church of God, Church of God in Christ and others are also Pentecostals but without the "unique" dress restrictions (especially for the women) and some of the other things that go along with them. It's a common thing out here, and we regularly have people shocked that we're Pentecostal because of the way we dress. :-)
Our ladies wear short sleeves, pants, shorts, makeup, etc. :-)
@@SirWillow I understand there are other branches. So no worries. :)
I was specify talking about the group that the women predominantly wear skirts and have long hair. That's how most of the people from the convention were dressed. Those are the ones I grew up with. I should have specified, it's just how it's been for me my whole life so I don't think about it. Especially now that I'm not sure I identify with a specific denomination. In my experience, the ones dressed the most "modest" can be the worst people to deal with. Especially the older ones. I guess that was the point I was trying to make.
I knew that's who you were referring to. ;-) I was just mentioning that because when I mention around here that I'm a pentecostal I get some very confused looks because they assume that pentecostal means that. I usually get a good chuckle out of ithat's a lot of it
We didn’t have any Christian groups come to SFNE, but there were these Orthodox Jewish summer camps that came and were notorious for bad behavior-it’s an entire video unto itself, and their behavior tended to be influenced by the probability that you were Jewish, according to them. My name and hair texture signaled a false positive on their radar, and I would flat out tell them my fiancee was Jewish (and she is) so the kids usually behaved themselves around me, though the counselors (young adults) tended to cause trouble in other manners-line jumping, sliding down prematurely, and not holding the tube handles-just like all the other adults that came in!
In other words teenage rebellion
When I went anywhere with a church youth group we split into groups with at least one adult
Hmmm. This hasn't been my experience at all during Young Christian's Weekend or Southern Gospel Weeks.
Also, I have never changed anything during the train skit for either of these weekends.
Southern Gospel Fest we routinely dropped the end of the ma bit, like it is permanently now, with out mentioning what happened last time ma didn't' return home and who that guy sitting next to ma is. The end script they use now is pretty much the adaptations we did for Southern Gospel Fest so we wouldn't have to listen to the cranky old people. :-)
We didn't change it for Young Christians Weekend, but that's because the kids didn't normally ride the train. :-)
sir, may I call you Sir? The simple fact of it is as a christian we have been taught that we are better than other people. It also does not help that our churches also teach us that unless the people we deal with are from our church they are lower on the pole. I've been a teen at these events and also a sponsor with several churches in Arkansas and North Carolina.
And it's so frustrating when I hear that, because the truth of the matter is we absolutely are NOT better than anyone else.
at the risk of being preachy, the Bible is clear that ALL fall short, that we are ALL sinners. Or as Jesus put it one time, "no one is good except God."
If anything, a believer should be more humble because they realize the condition they are actually in, and what they have been delivered from. But all to often it seems they have the opposite attitude of the one they should.
there are reasons the Bible condemns pride- names it as one of God's most hated sins in fact, and encourages humility.
and you can call me Sir, George, Hey You... I'm not picky. just don't call me late to dinner. :-)
I was wearing a pride lanyard when one of the Christian events was on and had more than one unpleasant comment. Luckily I can laugh it off but yeah…
I am not a believer, But I also think of myself of nice person. And I will fulfill that without a doubt. I think Karma will fix alot. thanks for being honest about this thought.
I would say you are qualified to speak on this since you've seen it on both sides.
This is true I work in a movie theater and we had a Christian movie last night and sold out 2 shows and you want to talk about the most entitled Karen’s and Kevin’s
I wish a lot more people were nice. Please pray for my brother and his Puppy Azura. Also pray for me supposed to have both feet operatrated on but not sure when.
Praying
As a former Christian I've come to realize some people are inherently well behaved and moral, and some need the threat of eternal damnation to behave. There's also the fact that as a Christian you had a whole bunch of pressure on you to behave a certain way, and then you're set free without supervision and you kinda rebel a bit. There's no excuse for treating workers poorly anywhere, but I'd guess they're just trying to regain some control over their lives. Anyway, the biggest thing to remember is not to take it personally because you never know what they have going on in their lives that lead up to that point. Just do right by you and your deity and let whomever sort the rest out when the time comes if you know what I mean. Keep being awesome my dude :)
" outreach" but not properly thought out? Or am I wrong? Seriously, I don't know.
That's how some of them think of it. But it's not effective, that's for sure.
If Christian nights at theme parks are so infamous to park employees, then why do parks keep hosting them in the first place?
Also I’m not a believer and one of the reasons why is because people don’t practice what they preach.
It doesn’t apply to just Christians. It applies other religions, especially Judism and Islam.
The ultra conservatives in any religion may be a minority but they have the loudest voices. Voices that can never be drowned out.
The parks still have the events because they draw large crowds, make great money, and they are also great publicity for many of the groups to return at other times of the year.
Is this why Paul hurranges his congregations to keep in mind that unbelievers are watching and u represent Jesus? He hammers on that in epistle after epistle...
that's certainly part of it. :-)
Im a Christian but I don't believe in religion. Being a Christian is about having a deep meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ!
Very true. But so many miss that part
I am not going to say why I think this happens but I do have an opinion. I really don't want to offend you as a Christian.
I will let you know that I used to be worse when I was a Christian. Since I converted to Paganism, I have become a better person. The funny thing is I have been called a "good Christian woman" many times after my conversion. LOL
Perhaps because you were far more sincere and serious about the one vs the other?
And trust me, it's hard to offend me on things like that. I've lived both sides of the fence. :-)
There is no resistance in paganisms, maybe just live and let live. To live the Christian faith is filled with struggle, Satan does not discriminate among faithful Christians.
Mob mentality seems to exist no matter who you are.
I abhor religion, I think its the worst thing to happen to humanity. The very worst people I have met in life were all religious. Sexually abuse their kids yep very very active in their church, embezzlement of money yep church lady, cheat on their wife as a college prof yep an elder in the church, beat their kids yep very active, tax fraud yep highly religious.
George doesn’t seem like this but I think the vast vast majority of people attracted to religion fall in 2 groups those completely struggling in life ( money, drugs, mental illness, hoarding etc etc) and desperately cling to it and the other bucket is those that enjoy the power and prey on others. There are good people but overall I think the sooner religion dies in our society the sooner we can move to a more evolved way to structure and support society.
I think my experiences are probably a lot different than yours. I've found most of those guilty of what you're talking about either aren't religious, or they are in name only and people who know them know that. Unfortunately those times that people in prominent positions do those things it attracts a lot more attention to it than those that don't, simply because of where it happens or who it is. it's easy to write off and label people that you don't know (and don't want to know), and I say that as someone that says the same thing to people in church who are afraid of those outside of it as well. :-)
The majority of believers I know are good people doing the best they can to live it out, but they are the ones you don't see and hear from because to often being a nice, good, helpful person doesn't get anywhere near the attention or headlines that being a rotten one does. Hopefully I can help change that perspective a bit- from both sides. :-)
Hatred for religion is telling of other underlying issues, sooner or later we need to face them, get over it - before a christian returns to faith. I would consider the comments by SirWillow
Wow. So many un-Christian things these kids are doing AT A CHRISTIAN EVENT!! it’s so strange to me!
Trust me, it was strange to me as well. And I was one of the leaders bringing kids to them! That's why I started talking to leaders and realizing how many of those kids they brought really weren't church kids. Or that some were church kids waiting to have a chance to cut loose.
@@SirWillow I agree. maybe instead of inviting the folks who aren’t church kids to go to a theme park they should be invited to church instead. It’s much more likely they’ll go to a theme park rather than church
I understand people inside the church drive more people away then come in door. You are sitting in my seat. Your kids are not behaved. You are not wearing the right clothes. It's sad. I bet the people Jesus hung out with probably did not smelled great. And he still loved them. We have had been giving the example. I hope some day in the future to live up to the master.
Because they need saved. ok that s joke more like they need to be born again ,a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Why do liberal Hate GOD so much ? And hate his Commandments?
Conservatives are just as guilty. Easy to point out splinters while ignoring planks:-)
And I also strive to keep this a place free from such discussions but safe for everyone. Thanks