The difference in education...

Today was a rather interesting day. I was able to participate and observe what I consider to be the best and worst forms of education in action here at camp (to fill you all in I am at home at Woodleaf till my birthday on Aug. 12 after which I will be moving to Seattle; yes Jace you will see me again).
I will attempt to start with the worst and how it played out, but this will require a bit of background knowledge for those of you unfamiliar with the Young Life ministry. Young Life is a high school outreach ministry aimed at unchruched teens by way of relationships with older Christian leaders, either career adults or college students. Part of the program is the opportunity to come to camp in the summer, either at Woodleaf where I live or at one of the other 22 properties across the US.
So today camp was in full swing... Day six of seven days and there is typically a significant trust bond (though fairly manipulative, though I will get to that in a sec) between the program staff (think comedy and skits) and the speaker (think message/gospel). Apparently, there was a integration of a seminar on "Sex and Dating" into this weeks schedule, something I was not completely familiar with. Other staff has done it with varying degrees of success based upon the set-up either a Q and A panel composed of staff with differing experiences or split gender discussion groups in which campers can voice their own opinions. Not so with today's seminar. Straight-up lecture. UGH! Not only did the speaker do the whole "society has lied to you, abstinence till marriage cause of STD's, pregnancy and emotional damage" schpeal these kids have probably hear thousands of times but went on to give some rules for "how far is to far." I was incredulous! I wanted to run up to the speaker, grab him by the shoulders and yell "DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE ANYTHING?" at him as loud as I could. For all of you out there that think that I am off my rocker for knocking an abstinence position, allow me to explain. While being doctrinally correct that sex is only appropriate inside of marriage, such a talk falls woefully short of addressing why the teens are pursuing sex in the first place. In addition, such an information dump is entirely based on the kids trust in the speaker. If that is degraded by anything or wears off, the entire talk goes out the window. The converse is also true. If a kid is highly resistant to such a talk, it may damage what little credibility the speaker has for the greater message of the Gospel.
Remember I said that the trust was in large part manipulated? This is done a variety of ways but the main way is to have the teens jump off a High Ropes Course pole while on a rope held by the speaker. Voila, instant trust builder. But if that manipulated trust is seen through or challenged and fails... The gospel message and anything from a sex talk goes out the window. The speaker dug himself in even farther by telling the girls "you dress like hookers" and then laying the burden of men's lust on their clothing choices. Now I am all for modesty from the fairer sex, but the responsibility for the content of my and any young mans mind is their own, regardless of what is being worn. Later after we'd split genders, he talked to the guys about masturbation, pornography and girls self-image and proceeded to chastise the guys about objectification of women and that we were causing their eating disorders. Now let me make myself plain. I am all for a cohesive supportive Christian community in which brothers and sisters in Christ are conscious and considerate of each others weaknesses and do their best to build them up. But piling responsibility for another's weakness on already weak shoulders seems counter productive to me.
The best experience I had was with my Dad tonight. I very rarely had a good discussion with him growing up as it was typically necessary to just yield to his authority. Tonight after a rousing discussion of both abstract and concrete topics with Mom, whose always been a good conversationalist, Dad came in and we picked up a bit of a Calvinist vs. Arminian debate. While not academically trained in bible or theology I dare say my dad has one of the best memories for verses and references I know of and we wrestled through it for a bit. We didn't push for closure on the issue but moved on to a discussion of what it meant to have " a ready answer for ones faith" which was a concept Mom had picked up from 2 Timothy, possibly incorrectly. So we checked the passage and tried to determine what an adequate "answer" would be. I didn't like the sense of certainty associated with "answer" and suggested "hypothesis" instead. This lead to a discussion over the nature of knowledge and belief, as well as the marketplace of ideas and why one should hold their opinions loosely. It was amazing... Not only was it challenging for me to think through the ideas that I have picked up from Torrey lectures and such and express them on my own, but being able to hear Dad's opinion and thoughts on the subject were GREAT! I think that I learned so much from that... Not only that but I can articulate it myself which illustrates the disparity between the lecture earlier and the discussion I had tonight. The talks sole basis and justification is the trust between the leader and the camper versus the justification of coming to the realization of my own theories and beliefs and being able to clearly elucidate them to myself and others.

That's enough for one night!