After hearing Michael Maynard's horror story with his children at Philadelphia Church of God summer camps, and the stories on Exit Support Network, you have to shake your head in disbelief that some so called minister in PCG would make such a statement as follows:
In five weeks, 144 teenagers from around the world will arrive on the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College for our annual youth camp. Our camp is designed to ensure these young people go home mentally charged and focused, their attitudes and spirits refreshed and renewed.
We also plan to send them home utterly exhausted.
For three weeks, these teens will spend their days mountain biking, canoeing and practicing archery, as well as playing basketball, water polo, soccer, softball, volleyball and flag football. They will walk, and sometimes jog, between activities, as well as to breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the evenings they will engage in other taxing activities, including a track and field event and camp dances. And if all that activity isn’t strenuous enough, much of it will occur in daytime temperatures hovering in the mid 90s.
If you’re like me, simply reading that paragraph is enough to make you sweat. As much as I love sports and the outdoors, the thought of spending six to seven hours a day out in the sizzling Oklahoma weather chasing balls, paddling across lakes and biking through ravines isn’t nearly as appealing as it once was. But to the teens who attend camp, God says this three-week display of physical strength and endurance is glorious and honorable!
You can read His admiration in Proverbs 20:29: “The glory of young men is their strength.”
Obviously, good physical health is an important and praiseworthy quality that we all should be striving for. But isn’t it interesting that God identifies explicitly physical strength and energy as a defining and glorious quality of youth? In God’s mind, being a physically fit and healthy teenager—a young man (or woman) with strength and agility, someone who is robust and energetic—is a splendid and honorable accomplishment.
Parents, this is a state of being that God wants all children and teens to experience!
This is why, beyond merely seeking to make camp fun, we have our teens engage in so much physically demanding activity. Together with the high-quality meals and energy-replenishing snacks we feed them, the slew of sports and outdoor activities serve to improve the overall physical health and strength of the teens. It works, too. In virtually every case, teens depart camp
stronger, fitter and
healthier than when they arrived. Beyond the short-term goal of improving their health, though, our goal during the three-week camp is to encourage our teens to embrace
healthy and
active living as a
way of life.
(These words of 'wisdom' are by Brad McDonald)
How could any sane minded parent allow their child to be abused by these fools? But never fear, PCG will inculcate the 'word of god ' into their little minds so that they can become PCG zombies that turn their backs on parents, brothers and sisters and relatives that have left PCG. Endless hours of PCG indoctrination of their weird beliefs. Girls learning how to be proper wives who submit and clean house better than all those lazy laodicean women out there.
Of course, our effort to cultivate strong, healthy teens must be balanced, and must be complemented with similarly strenuous mental and spiritual exercises. This is why, in addition to all the physically demanding activities at our youth camps, teens take Bible classes, and classes on leadership and womanhood. It’s why we teach them public speaking and ballroom dance. It’s the reason we have them perform on stage and encourage them to play music and embrace art. And it’s why, particularly in this technology-ridden age of perpetual distractions, we encourage our teens to develop a love for reading, study and meditation.
This cult just get's sicker by the minute!
