Submitted for your approval:
“Movie Night” during the summer of 1978 at a small American missionary camp in the Dominican Republic. Pre-teens and brand-new best friends Eve and Martha Jean have bonded over their mutual obsession with Star Wars; Martha Jean dreams about marrying Mark Hamill, while Eve has begun writing the sequel. Little do they know that they’re about to watch a film from – the Bible Zone!
The camp counselors crowd the kids into the Recreation Center onto hard metal folding chairs, hit the lights, and set the projector rolling (yup, these are pre-video times, at least in this small Caribbean nation). There in the dark, Eve and Martha Jean watch in confusion, then horror as a live news broadcast, not a movie, flickers to life on the screen to report the beginning of the Rapture, Armageddon, and the end of the world – all happening right now.
“I’m scared,” Martha Jean whispers, clutching Eve’s arm.
“Me, too,” her friend sniffles back.
Huddled there in the dark, they watch the somber anchor people on the screen insist that the world is ending right at this moment. Eve wonders if her family back in her hometown might have been taken in the Rapture at the beginning of the newscast, leaving her to face the End Times all alone. A tiny, often-suppressed voice tells her it’s impossible and can’t really be happening; the adults would have already told them something – wouldn’t they?
Suddenly, the girl sitting next to Martha Jean murmurs something to her, and in turn Martha Jean hisses in Eve’s ear:
“Sally says Amy’s seen this before.”
Eve leans over Martha Jean past Sally to whisper to Amy, “Amy, you’ve seen this before?”
A missionary’s daughter, Amy answers nonchalantly, as if bored (which she probably is):
“Oh, yeah, it’s just a movie; I’ve seen it lots of times. My dad plays it all the time for people.”
Hugely relieved, the girls now view the film through new eyes; what seemed to be happening live now appears suspiciously dated – and who ever heard of a live newscast on film? Eve’s relief gives way to sheepishness; how could she have fallen so easily for such an obvious conversion ploy? By the end of the movie she just wants to forget the entire incident – but forgets to get angry at the people who succeeded for a while in tricking her so cruelly.
It will be years before she remembers, but the seeds have been sown…
The friends spend the rest of camp planning Martha Jean’s wedding to Luke Skywalker and editing Eve’s script for Star Wars: The Sequel. What lessons have they learned? Probably not the ones their counselors intended to teach them:
* Listen to your voice of reason.
* Find and use your common sense.
* Seek and share information.
And remember: sometimes you can’t trust those who have authority over you, especially when you’re in – the Bible Zone.
A heart GifS welcome to prolific commenter and new blogger Eve. Welcome, Eve!
And a great first post. Now you will have to tell us what you were doing at an American missionary camp in the Dominican Republic!
Hooray, Eve! YAAAAAAAY!
Thank you, glad to be here, appreciate the opportunity!
What I was doing there: the camp was run by the American missionary school I went to in Santiago, my parents’ hometown and the second largest city in the DR (aka the Dominican Republic), so a lot of the students at my school went to that camp. We also got to meet mostly American students (but not always missionaries’ kids) from some of the country’s other English-language schools there.
And that’s all I’m saying’ - for now…
Hahaha, vfunny as hell!
I really liked the ending pun too; “And remember: sometimes you can’t trust those who have authority over you, especially when you’re in – the Bible Zone.”
Btw, great site! This is the first site which I found concerning atheïsme, which I really needed. I never knew such a big community existed! But now I do, and it’s great to know there are many people thinking pretty much alike
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Welcome to Eve, another of the excellent new wave of posters. If we keep this us, old-timers like me can just sit on their fat asses and do nothing!
Great post, Eve.
Ever notice how this pastor’s and missionaries’ kids are always so nonchalant about religion?
The leaders of the youth group I was in when I was a teenager used to use the scare tactics “If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?” Then they would go on to tell how those who reject Jeebus will suffer in the eternal flames of hell…and there will be gnashing of teeth and all the things that make great sci-fi. The only thing I liked about the youth group was that I got to ride around in cars and act like a fool. Then we would all end up at a host parent’s house sweetly telling our testimonies for how much we love Jeebus. After that, the some of the girls and guys would sneak off to make out in cars and for the rest of us it was party time. A couple of the kids actually brought flasks of Jim Beam! I am NOT making this up. This was a Baptist church we went to for a couple of years while my mother was trying to “find herself.” We were originally German Lutherans.
Great post, Eve. I remember Rapture stiff like that at summer church camp when I was a kid. Thankfully it was only 30 minutes from home and only lasted for a few days at a time. That siad, still creepy stuff. I’m glad I never drank the kool-aid.
That’s some scary stuff, but not at all surprising. True Believers ™ like to use film as a sledgehammer. When i was about 15 and being indoctrinated by the catholic church, they took a whole group of us from our sunday school class and put us in a hall where they showed an almost Goebbels-esque film on the ‘evils of abortion’ - making sure to tell us that we’d go to hell if we ever considered terminating a pregnancy. I had been edging towards leaving the church for a while - this just proved the tipping point.
By the way, I’m new here, so hi.
Welcome, American in Melbourne!
What’s up, Melbourne?!
Welcome, Double-A I M.
Welcome to Ewoud and An American in Melbourne! Glad to have you join us.
Ron: If we keep this us[sic], old-timers like me can just sit on their fat asses and do nothing!
Oh, so *that’s* why you invited me to be a main-page poster!
star, KR: You’d think by the time I was 13 I would have known better, but I was a lot more gullible in some ways than many of my peers. That said, I’m glad for those missionaries’ and pastors’ kids; whenever I’d feel overwhelmed by some End Times or Hell crap, I’d look at them and be relieved and reassured by their boredom. It told me not to take what was being pushed at me seriously. I mean, if their own kids didn’t think it was a big deal…