While at Mundo, I had two startling run-ins with the social phenomenon known as "Evangelical Christianity". Encounter #1 involved an intelligent, well-educated adult saying (in reference to Other religions) that religions are man-made, what God wants is a "relationship", and that without Jesus humans will be separated from God FOREVER. Moreover, this individual made it very clear that she will "go to the grave" believing that. In an unrelated instance (let's call this Encounter #2) a cabin of 4th-6th grade girls generously offered to make greeting cards for us to take back to the kids in our neighborhood. These cards were all very nice. What interested me though was one message in particular:
"You are GOD's creation and no matter what, never forget that you have a special place in HEAVEN! And I hope you've accepted Jesus into your life and if you haven't then here's what you can say! ....."
"Dear God I believe that you sent your son to die for me! I love you! Amen!"
Interesting! What we have here is two people about 20 or so years apart in age and similarly far apart in cognitive abilities, intellect, and life experience. Yet, both put forth similarly dogmatic views on the utmost primacy of belief in Jesus Christ for salvation and (presumably) the good life.
I wonder how the segment of Christianity represented by these two individuals would respond to the following dilemma:
Person X is a faithful, kind person who loves God and loves her neighbor. She prays very often and tries to lead a morally upright life. An objective bystander would agree with this assessment. Problem is, X is a Muslim and has been her whole life. Person Y is a born again Christian who goes to church every Sunday, and is even an elder in his church. Problem is, Y is an alcoholic who beats his wife. Which one of these individuals, if either, is good? Which, if either, does God save? ... Just some fodder to chew on for those who have beliefs similar to those of my two new friends from Camp Mundo Vista. I won't attempt to answer these questions here, as that would take a book-length project, but I believe that Karl Rahner took pretty good crack at it in his concept of "anonymous Christians."
So that's the Problem of the Day. Back to the experience of being the token guy at an all girl's camp. First of all, I now know what it feels like to be the elephant in the room: stares, stares, attempts at discrete glances, more stares. Probably a good experience to have, but still awk-awk-awk-ward.
Second, the amount of flirtation that I was on the receiving end of was absurd, both serious and in jest, as well as from both 10 year old campers and 20 year old counselors. Funny, but wierd. Basically, I felt like I was in a place that I neither desired to nor ought to EVER be. Looking up though, I did enjoy having the entire lower floor of the Mundo guest lodge as my Man Cave, which was a nice respite from the close quarters I've gotten use to over the course of the summer. And much more importantly, I had a great time chilling with my colleagues Molly and Holly and my super awesome "supervisor"/Hyaets veteran Anna. We had many good laughs and more importantly, Holly and I dominated in spades.
Now Molly, Holly, and I are back in Charlotte hanging out with JUDITH, the Park Road intern that stays (and parties/shops at Target) with us. We will be spending our weekend visiting parents (those belonging to Holly and myself) and resting up for two more weeks of non-stop ministry and communal living.
Tomorrow I'm going to begin a series of posts on the 12 Marks of New Monasticism, a collection of essays I've found helpful in understanding intentional Christian communities. This series of postings will take us through August 6, the day before I return home. Until tomorrow friends;
Pax et bonum.
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