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Friday, December 19, 2008

More Fun with Pastor Rick Warren

Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 2:15 PM

From his sermon, "Let There Be Life":

From a human viewpoint we may have unplanned pregnancies. But there are no accidental conceptions. God says a fetus is not a tissue; it's a life I planned.

Ninety-seven percent of abortions are not because of rape or incest or not because the life of the mother is threatened, which would be a legitimate issue, but simply because the mother said it's inconvenient. "I chose not to have it because it's not in my lifestyle at this time."

I think it's ironic that the feminists who have been so active in promoting abortion and the right to choose abortion are now complaining because more baby girls are being aborted than boys now that you can find out the sex. More babies are being aborted if they are not boys. Bumper sticker: "Support unborn women's rights."

God says abortion is killing. If you don't want to believe that then you'd better cut that verse out of the Bible because God said it.

There's the argument, "No child should be brought into this world unwanted." I say the fallacy of that is maybe the parents don't want the child, but God does. There is no unwanted child. God wants that child born. That's why He allowed that conception.

From his sermon, "Affair-Proofing Your Marriage":

The top five needs of most men are:

1. Sexual fulfillment
2. Recreational companionship
3. An attractive spouse
4. Domestic support
5. Admiration

The top five needs of most women are:

1. Affection
2. Conversation
3. Honesty and openness
4. Financial support
5. Family commitment

Did you see any similarities between those two lists? No. No wonder we have so much trouble adjusting in marriage.


On the various types of men, from his sermon, "God's Model for Manhood":

The third type is the World Class Whimp. [sic] These are the Dagwood Bumstead's [sic] of life. They are so inept that they are constantly outwitted by their children, wives, their dogs. Nobody takes them serious. Their motto is "Blessed are the passive for they will avoid conflict at all costs."

The fourth image is the Gender Blenders. They are the Michael Jacksons and Boy Georges that don't even pretend to be masculine. They have a complete reversal of roles and identity.

What is the alternative to this? God's Model for Manhood. Being a male is a matter of your birth
but being a man is a matter of choice.

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Comments (50) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
what's wrong with having an attractive spouse? Attractiveness means different things to different people. And, besides, beauty is subjective.

This is the last straw. I cannot tolerate all this reactionaryism about Warren. I shall no longer read slog.
Posted by danhowes on December 19, 2008 at 2:24 PM
2
I am not a Christian, and have asked this many times but never got an answer.

What is the verse in the Bible that says abortion is killing? I can't find it. All I can find is a verse that saya one is only alive when blood is flowing. Which would imply that abortions is ok, as long as it is before the heart has formed.

Some Christian here please tell me.
Posted by Tulle on December 19, 2008 at 2:26 PM
3
ECB, quit whining!
Posted by Frank Sinclair on December 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM
4
I'm sometimes told that we should tolerate Christianitis because only a small portion of the afflicted are harmful fundamentalists. This seems to be wishful thinking on the part of liberal Christians, however. Rick Warren is mainstream. This disease should be treated with sympathy, but not tolerated.
Posted by lusk on December 19, 2008 at 2:34 PM
5
AHH! I hope Obama is doing this *only* in order to keep him in office for 8 years.

Pastor Rick Warren is just as sick of a human being as all the other pay-to-pray, spread-your Jesus-seed conmen.

Obama has lost some credibility on this with me. If this ends up being repeat behavior I'm writing in Rachael Maddow 2012...

Posted by Caribou Barbie on December 19, 2008 at 2:36 PM
6
@4: "Christianitis"? Dammit, I've never been a Christian, but I still find that offensive. Go home.
Posted by breklor on December 19, 2008 at 2:38 PM
7
@3. How is this in any way whining? All she did was post excerpts of his sermons, which, to me, would be interesting regardless of the whole Obama thing.

Frankly, I love reading stuff like this. I am totally fascinated by all of the weird ideas that many fundamentalists have about gender roles and marriage. On a long drive to Michigan, I once flipped past a Christian radio station and didn't stop listening for an hour because some woman was on talking about the what it means to be a "biblical woman" and the implications for how women should act...

So, keep it up, ECB....
Posted by Julie in Chicago on December 19, 2008 at 2:41 PM
8
How about this. A movement to have everyone on the Capitol Mall to boo when Warren speaks. Everyone everywhere get out on your balconys and boo at that moment.
Posted by jeff on December 19, 2008 at 2:41 PM
9
gross. i like obama a little bit less now. and that's too bad.

"I say the fallacy of that is maybe the parents don't want the child, but God does."

Not all of us believe in God! You have no proof he exists! Herego, you have no right to force the laws and morals of an unproven entity on my body! It's my choice!
Posted by Jennifer on December 19, 2008 at 2:41 PM
10
@6: Deal with it. We have come to a time when we need to distinguish between different types of tolerance. Tolerance is okay, if it means I allow you to exist without violence. Tolerance is not okay, when it means we treat absurd ideas as the equals of rational ones. These two types of tolerance are not the same. The former does not mean that I won't hold your ideas to be fucked up and wrong.

Also, I *am* home. Transits fucked up, remember? :P
Posted by lusk on December 19, 2008 at 2:45 PM
11
i'm not too worked up over this guy giving the invocation, but i'm glad other people are because this kind of shit needs to get more circulation outside christianist* circles (*a sub-set of christians who think their scripture should determine public policy). thanks for digging it up, and don't quit whining.
Posted by brandon on December 19, 2008 at 2:46 PM
12
Who would want an affair-proof marriage? What's the point?
Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay on December 19, 2008 at 2:49 PM
13
So how do we contact the Obama camp and tell them we're livid and will vote Green next time if he keeps this shit up?
Posted by dwight moody on December 19, 2008 at 2:50 PM
14
Rick Warren is the model of masculinity now? No, sorry BtmBear69xX, you'd be laughed off of Bear411 in a heartbeat if you tried to lecture any single person about masculinity.
Posted by AJ on December 19, 2008 at 2:53 PM
15
Because tubby middle aged pastor Rick Warren is a paradigm of manliness...
Posted by matt on December 19, 2008 at 2:54 PM
16
My preference for a relationship more closely matches the men's list. Shit. Do I need to get a sex change?



I say the fallacy of that is maybe the parents don't want the child, but God does.


Well then I guess God should have arranged for a couple that wants kids right at that moment to get pregnant, eh?
Posted by keshmeshi on December 19, 2008 at 2:54 PM
17
@2:
"What is the verse in the Bible that says abortion is killing?"

Thou shalt not kill?

I think that it's more than a little ridiculous to claim that life could begin at any point *other than* conception. I think it's massive intellectual dishonesty on the part of pro-choicers who try to claim otherwise.

Of course, as an atheist, I don't believe there's anything wrong with abortion whatsoever. I do think, though, that it's pretty clear an abortion is an act that is terminating a developing human.

If you expect people to tolerate your views, you need to tolerate theirs. The main issue is that Christianists need to stop trying to make the legal system conform to their beliefs.
Posted by AMB on December 19, 2008 at 2:55 PM
18
@1
Physical attractiveness is not so relative. Ignoring personality and behavior and etc., most people agree when they see someone good looking and when they see someone ugly.
Posted by Urgutha Forka on December 19, 2008 at 2:56 PM
19
I'm with Julie in Chicago. I think this stuff is fascinating and creepy.

His "Top 5 Needs List" would actually be decent advice if it were a top 10, and not divided by gender. But then, he points out this Men Are From Mars bullshit, and totally misses the point. Of life.

Warren knows nothing of what it means to be a man. He's an insecure coward, hoping to keep the world in tune with his boundaries, rather than actually stepping out into it.
Posted by Dougsf on December 19, 2008 at 2:57 PM
20
"maybe the parents don't want the child, but God does."

Well then, by getting an abortion, the parents are simply giving god the child, right?
Posted by Urgutha Forka on December 19, 2008 at 2:58 PM
21
I can't believe Obama is such a devout member of Rick Warren's church. Wait ... he's not. Warren is an dumbfuck bigot, we all know this. No surprise there.

Let Obama use him as the olive branch, and then let us get the fuck over it.
Posted by d-squared on December 19, 2008 at 3:03 PM
22
@20: You win.
Posted by AJ on December 19, 2008 at 3:04 PM
23
Stupid knuckle-dragging bigot troglodyte asshole.

Do we have to "tolerate" David Duke's ideas, too? Why doesn't Obama invite him to speak at his inauguration in order to "reach out" to those white supremacists who were so upset by the outcome of the election?
Posted by M2 on December 19, 2008 at 3:15 PM
24
I'm sure that all the randy, young Christian married men at Saddleback were overjoyed when Warren got up to the pulpit and told their wives that job #1 is to satisfy their husband's sexual needs.
Posted by Hernandez on December 19, 2008 at 3:17 PM
25
So, does this mean parents of "unplanned children" can sue God for support payments? After all, if HE wants that kid so badly, why doesn't HE pay for it?
Posted by COMTE on December 19, 2008 at 3:18 PM
26
@25 Totally! And this is the problem with that rhetoric!

On the one hand, God wants all unplanned pregnancies.

On the other hand, the people with the unplanned pregancies don't have the resources to raise a child.

So...does that mean that if I get my girlfriend knocked up, Saddleback Church will give me money to support the child? If the answer is "no", that means he's not willing to put his money where his mouth is.
Posted by Hernandez on December 19, 2008 at 3:25 PM
27
I'm sick to my stomach of assholes who tell me what "God" wants. Let "God" tell me to my face, assholes!
Posted by Vince on December 19, 2008 at 3:25 PM
28
@2 Psalm 139:

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

It's a stretch, but you expected that. It certainly doesn't have the authoritative ring of Mark 10:21, "Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" Somehow that one manages to escape those who get hung up on the Psalm.
Posted by youth worker on December 19, 2008 at 3:26 PM
29
21
you're totally right
Obama isn't a member of Warren's church
Now, whose church was Obama a member of for 20 years....?
Posted by it's on the tip of my tongue on December 19, 2008 at 3:31 PM
30
Thanks, one last guestion then

If...

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Didn't God know that the book would be enpty of days? He sure should have know that the mother was going to get an abortion.
Posted by Tulle on December 19, 2008 at 3:47 PM
31
@30 I'm not trying to defend these nut jobs, just trying to shed some light on their nut jobbery.
Posted by youth worker on December 19, 2008 at 4:01 PM
32
Thanks, youth worker. At least I finally got an answer. My Christian friends never could come up with one.
Posted by Tulle on December 19, 2008 at 4:07 PM
33
Regarding the lists of what husbands and wifes want: did he cite a source? I have a feeling he didn't pull it out of his ass.
Posted by gillsans on December 19, 2008 at 4:14 PM
34
I wonder what examples one and two are in his list of male subtypes. Are they those paragons of Christian masculinity known as Promise Keepers, as in "I promise not to hit my wife so hard next time she burns the meat loaf"?

And...seriously, Dagwood Bumstead? Yes, I know who he is, but that's only because I'm old. How many of you under 30 Slogheads are asking yourselves "Who the fuck is Dagwood Bumstead?"
Posted by RainMan on December 19, 2008 at 4:27 PM
35
I want the citation for the verse that says Abortion is killing. I have a feeling that verse was cut out of the Bible a long time ago, because it's not in my King James Version.
Posted by Pam on December 19, 2008 at 4:32 PM
36
20, you beat me to it. And as for this @17:

"I think that it's more than a little ridiculous to claim that life could begin at any point *other than* conception."

I think it's more than a little ridiculous to claim that a life that can't sustain itself ON ITS OWN is nothing more than a parasite. It's only "life" when it can live outside its host's body.
Posted by son_of_a_preacher_man on December 19, 2008 at 4:36 PM
37
God loves and wants all the little children? Really

In 2 Kings 15:16 I thought he commanded Menahem to kill everyone and even "rip open the women who were with child". God doesn't seem to mind those fetuses dying.

In Joshua 8:25-26, didn't God allow Joshua to triumph over the city of Ai and kill all 12,000 inhabitants with no mercy for the elderly, women, or children? Ditto 1 Sam. 15:3, when the Lord said, "slay both man and woman, infant and suckling..." I guess those newborns aren't the same as embryos or fetuses, huh?

How about that "...Wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out upon the children in the street..." in Jeremiah 6:11? Doesn't look as if God cared about the suffering of those little children.

Please kindly stop spouting crapola about God/Jesus saying that every child, every life is a blessing. I've read the bible and THAT. IS. NOT. IN. THERE!

Kthnxbai!
Posted by Y.F. on December 19, 2008 at 4:43 PM
38
Too funny Erica. Ricky is nicknamed Tubby on zee Internetz. His wife is a chubby-chaser! I bet it was fucking painful for him to give those donuts away to the No on 8 protesters outside his compound.
Posted by Mark in Colorado on December 19, 2008 at 4:48 PM
39
@2 @28
It's my understanding that Christian and Jewish tradition have held for centuries that life begins 7 days after birth. That's when boys are circumcised, and more importantly, when boy and girl babies receive their names; before that, the chances of mortality were so high that they didn't get a name.
It's for this reason that we celebrate New Years 7 days after Christmas-it's the festival of Jesus' circumcision. When Jesus was a week old is when "A.D." is considered to begin. Before that, it was still "Before Christ (B.C.)" because Christ wasn't considered a living human.
If Christianity really thinks abortion is a sin, why do Christians not date our years starting at Jesus' conception? I've never heard a good explanation of that, and it seems a pretty strong implication that historically, neither Christianity nor the Bible condemned abortion.
Certainly, modern Christianity has evolved different moral standards, but it's a stretch to claim that the Bible condemns abortion.
Posted by Happy Foreskin Day! on December 19, 2008 at 5:23 PM
40
booo Warren on the Capital Mall
Posted by boooo on December 19, 2008 at 5:29 PM
41
"God's Model for Manhood."

EPIC. DOUBLE-ENTENDRE. FAIL.

BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!!!
Posted by Cookie W. Monster on December 19, 2008 at 5:53 PM
42
If God allowing a conception is proof that God wants that child, then God allowing an abortion is proof that God didn't want that child.
Posted by pox on December 19, 2008 at 7:23 PM
43
@39,

Jewish boys are circumcised eight days after birth.
Posted by keshmeshi on December 19, 2008 at 7:39 PM
44
@43
Yes, of course you're right, sorry, my mistake. January 1 is still, however, the day of Jesus' circumcision, perhaps if you start counting from Christmas Eve on the 24th? According to the Wikipedia article "Feast of the Circumcision of Christ":
"Until 1960, the General Roman Calendar gave 1 January as the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the Octave of the Nativity. In the 1960 revision by Pope John XXIII....1 January is denominated simply the Octave of the Nativity. Since 1969, the General Roman Calendar celebrates 1 January as the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, referring to it also as the Octave of the Nativity."
Posted by Happy Foreskin Day! on December 19, 2008 at 10:34 PM
45
@10: "We have come to a time when we need to distinguish between different types of tolerance. Tolerance is okay, if it means I allow you to exist without violence. Tolerance is not okay, when it means we treat absurd ideas as the equals of rational ones. These two types of tolerance are not the same. The former does not mean that I won't hold your ideas to be fucked up and wrong."

I'm trying to figure out how to sum that up for t-shirt purposes. Nice.


Also, anybody notice #4 on the list of top five needs of men? "Domestic support". Presumably that means, "a maid". Because making your own sammich after you cum all over your sporty, attractive wife is, like, a total drag. SHE should do it. Clearly.
Posted by violet_dagrinder on December 20, 2008 at 9:27 AM
46
The top five needs of most men are:

1. Sexual fulfillment
2. Recreational companionship
3. An attractive spouse
4. Domestic support
5. Admiration

I actually agree with this completely.What is wrong with a man wanting an attractive partner by the way?
Posted by Josh Black on December 20, 2008 at 10:56 AM
47
@45

I took domestic support to mean emotional support.Such as being there to talk to, give advice, etc.

I was just scrolling and this one part caught my eye.I didn't see it was from a Warren speech.Therefore I didn't pre-judge it to be a bunch of BS as clearly some here have.

I definitely think the rest of this is silly.But as a straight male I look for a a lover who fullfills those five things and I don't see what the problem is.
Posted by Josh Black on December 20, 2008 at 11:11 AM
48
Hey! Little Girl
Comb your hair, fix your makeup
Soon he will open the door
Don't think because there's a ring on your finger
You needn't try anymore

For wives should always be lovers too
Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you
I'm warning you...

Day after day
There are girls at the office
And men will always be men
Don't send him off with your hair still in curlers
You may not see him again

For wives should always be lovers too
Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you
He's almost here...

Hey! Little girl
Better wear something pretty
Something you'd wear to go to the city and
Dim all the lights, pour the wine, start the music
Time to get ready for love
Time to get ready
Time to get ready for love
Posted by Wiser words were never spoken on December 20, 2008 at 1:22 PM
49
@25,26 etc

God doesn't want all unplanned pregnancies. He doesn't even want all planned pregnancies. I don't know what the spontaneous abortion rate is, but it's pretty damn high -- and a lot of women aren't even aware that they've gotten pregnant and then unpregnant. Any sperm-egg combination might be a "developing human" but many don't have what it takes to develop into a human. So the embryo stops developing and falls out.

Why does God make so many of them like that? Why doesn't he filter the sperm-egg combinations so only the ones that will survive 9 months in the womb combine? Why is God so mean to so many unborn babies?
Posted by idaho on December 20, 2008 at 4:04 PM
50
@47:

I don't think so! On the girlie list, the top three are:

1. Affection
2. Conversation
3. Honesty and openness

These things do not, apparently, constitute "domestic support". The term "domestic" is sometimes used to refer to servants. It think that's the meaning behind the manly #4.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting the stuff on either list. But the division between the two seems, to me, to codify stupid old gender stereotypes. The men AND women I've know have needed sex AND affection, play AND conversation. Cuz we're all, you know, people.
Posted by violet_dagrinder on December 21, 2008 at 1:08 PM

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