7th grade was a pretty tumultous and exciting year for me. It was the first year of middle school and also the first year of youth group at my church. I absolutely LOVED going to youth group. My whole group of friends went to the same youth group because we all want to the same church and for us, it was just another excuse to hang out (as if we needed MORE of those). We had great leaders that liked to have as much fun as we did, and we played such great games. Plus, we thought the 8th graders were pretty awesome.
I'll always remember the Sunday night in which youth group became so much more than a social event. After playing a few games, the youth leaders ushered us into the sanctuary to explain what we would be doing that evening. They asked for 2 volunteers and they gave those students a set of slips of paper. Each slip stated the same three facts and the 2 volunteers had to come up to the rest of us and try to convince us that these three facts were true. If they were able to convince us, we would receive one of the slips of paper and we had to join the original 2 in convincing the others. If we refused to be convinced, we could tell them to go away and they had to try on someone else.
Now, these three facts were OUTRAGEOUS. I don't remember exactly what they were, but they were completely fictitious facts that no one in their right mind would believe. Things like, "If you brush your teeth with pickle juice 3 times a day for an entire year, you will receive special superhero powers," or "The sky is blue because a fleet of Smurfs wanted more blue in the world and decided to take a paintbrush to the sky and paint the whole thing blue." These are facts that no 7th grader would EVER believe.
I was not only a 7th grader, but a 7th grader that was far too smart for her own good (and secretly took pride in it). I allowed one of the volunteers to read their facts to me, but after hearing them and determining that they were completely ridiculous, I told them I wasn't convinced and to go away. Not a single self-respecting 7th grader, most especially myself, would embarrass themselves by deciding those facts were correct, I thought. I spent the rest of the activity avoiding the people holding the slips. I thought I was being pretty smart and cool and superior to those idiots falling for the trick.
The activity came to an end, and one of the leaders said, "Okay, now, all of you who managed to avoid the people with slips and not fall for the trap of those crazy facts should come over to this side of the sanctuary and follow me out to the Fellowship Room." I was pretty proud of myself and normally, the Fellowship Room is where we have dinner during youth group. I figured we were the first to go for dinner, but instead, our leader led us through the Fellowship Room and into one of the hallways. A few people started asking where we were going, but the leader wouldn't respond to us. We finally stopped at a dark classroom and once we were all inside, the leader locked the door behind him and told us that we wouldn't be leaving.
The classroom normally had a table and some chairs, as well as a bookshelf and a chalkboard. Tonight, though, all of the furniture was removed and the room was completely bare. The leader parked himself in front of the door and there was no way we were going to get around him or get his keys or anything. He had even duct-taped the light-switch so that we couldn't turn it on. A little bit of light came through the small window near the ceiling, but for the most part, it was pretty dark. There was nothing to do except sit down and wait.
We sat for a little while in silence, but we soon figured out that the leader didn't care if we talked. We tried to very subtly make a plan to get the leader's key away from him and unlock the door and escape, but hello. We were in a tiny classroom, it was dark, and the leader could TOTALLY hear us. But anyway, we hatched our plan in a corner of the room, which involved one of the 8th grade girls faking a searing stomach ache, which would ideally draw the leader over to her, at which point another 8th grade girl would try to jump on him and the rest of us would try to find his keys. It's a good thing we never managed to carry through with our plan because it surely would have ended up in injury and sexual harrassment claims.
It's hard to say how long we were trapped in that room since none of us had watches (and this was before every 10-year-old had a cell phone, of course). I like to think it was several hours, but the leaders were adamant that it was only 20 minutes. It probably seemed like so long because there was nothing to do and we were getting pretty edgy. When they FINALLY let us out, we were led to a section of the Fellowship Room that was cordoned off with the big metal curtains. It was mostly dark, just a lamp on, and we were served our dinner there. I'm 800% sure that we received a different dinner than what was actually provided by the parent volunteers that night. I mean, seriously, what loving parent is going to make a youth group dinner of bread, butter, cheese slices, and unsalted potato chips?!
Once we had finished eating (or refused to eat, as was the case with a couple of the mouthier girls), we were led back to the Fellowship Room where the rest of the students and leaders were waiting. Thankfully, the REAL dinner was waiting too and those of us that got the less-than-satisfactory dinner eagerly filled up our plates and sat down. The leaders started out by reviewing what the activity was and what it was all for. Even this way-too-smart-for-her-own-good girl didn't see this coming:
It was a role-play of what happens when a Christian witnesses to a non-Christian. The students that agreed to the facts that were read to them became "Christians" and got to go to "Heaven." Those of us that stubbornly refused, like me, where relegated to "Hell," or that dark classroom. Those facts from the piece of paper seemed completely ludicrous to me, the facts of Christianity seem completely ludicrous to someone who hasn't grown up hearing them all their lives. A man that came to earth who never did anything wrong that went on to die on a cross in exchange for all the bad things that every person in the world had ever done? And then he ROSE from the dead and now lives in a place called Heaven? And has a father who is also part of himself, but sits in a separate chair in Heaven? And who is everywhere at once? AND KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT I'M DOING AND THINKING AT EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY?!
Girl, please.
My first reaction was "How did I not see this coming?!"
My second thought was "Whoa. That was pretty cool."
But my third thought was "Uh oh, how do I know if I'm going to Heaven or Hell when I die?"
The rest of the night was dedicated to answering our questions about the implications of the activity we had just participated in. I was too chicken to ask them directly how I'm supposed to know where I'm going, but thankfully, other students had the same fears as I and were much braver. I'll always remember that youth group meeting because it cut me to the spiritual core. I'm hoping that someday I'll have the opportunity to do this activity with future youth group kids. It was so simple, yet so intense.
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