Let’s talk some more about Dave’s post that I highlighted here. Take a quick read to refresh your memory.
When it’s all said and done, this way of living is just more works, more flesh, more striving dressed up to look like Christian spirituality. And it results in more pride for the successful and more despair for the failures.
First, let’s talk about the pride. From the first day you get to the Honor Academy you are inundated with the performance ethic. You are special. You are the elite. Do what we tell you to do and you are going to become a leader doing awesome things for God. You are going to be a worldchanger. Most interns that did reasonably well at the behavior modification instilled by the Honor Academy become quite arrogant. After all, you aren’t like “those” people. (Insert lukewarm Christians, sinners, gays, liberals, etc. here) No, you are spiritually elite!
Do I even have to explain how damaging this is?
Let’s flip that coin and talk about the other side: despair. As in Jennifer’s story, this kind of thinking puts the absolute weight of the world on your shoulders. You can never, ever live up to the standards they set. And when you inevitably fail, you are told it’s because you aren’t trying hard enough, you aren’t reading your Bible enough, you aren’t going to church enough, etc. (These are direct quotes from a conversation I had with Dave Hasz about why I was experiencing a dry season.) Feeling the wrath of disapproval from Teen Mania leadership and yourself, you begin to think that God also disapproves of you. And I don’t know of anything more despair inducing than that.
Could there be a more harmful environment than one that convinces you that the God who is crazily, passionately in love with you is actually upset with you and rejecting you because of your performance?
Lord, have mercy.
4 comments:
LOL. This is pretty funny.
I am currently an intern and God has used this place to change my life. Free me from pride and make me realize how nothing I am and how beautiful it is to humble oneself before His throne and be used as a vessel. In fact, pride and the despair that ensues (because of pride and lies) are one of the biggest things I’ve been freed from since being at the Honor Academy. If “pride and despair” is what anyone encounters at the HA, it’s because they are listening to lies of the enemy. Period. If that’s what happened to you here, that is pretty sad. Because I’ve learned nothing if not what true humility really is since being here.
Am I saying the HA is perfect? No. Is Teen Mania Ministries obviously bearing fruit for God’s kingdom? Yes. Who can argue with that? No one. If anyone wants the real scoop on the HA from a current undergrad intern, feel free to add me on Facebook: Kristen Marcano. 🙂
September 20, 2009 6:56 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
I’m glad you feel that way, Kristen. Some people do escape the HA without long term damage. Keep in touch and let me know if you feel the same in a few years. Much of what I talk about isn’t fully experienced until you’ve been out for a while.
Peace.
September 20, 2009 6:58 PM
Anonymous said…
i can agree w/ RA, kristen. 😀 i loved teen mania while i was there, and i strived every single day to embrace everything i was taught. it took at year or two of processing what i’d learned as it coincided with real life (at a healty, vibrant christian college) to realize that it was not a healthy place in a multitude of ways.
September 24, 2009 12:48 AM
Recovering Alumni said…
Kristen,
I find it really ironic that you say you’ve discovered true humility at the HA yet you don’t hesitate to judge the hearts and experiences of people you know nothing about:
“If “pride and despair” is what anyone encounters at the HA, it’s because they are listening to lies of the enemy.”
How old are you? Only the naïve and the young can view the world in black and white terms (I’m speaking from experience here). Wait a few years and see how you feel about making bold pronouncements like that on people you don’t even know.
October 14, 2009 9:49 PM
