Dear Pastor Warren - Democratic Underground

grantcart

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Sat Dec-20-08 02:38 AM
Original message

Dear Pastor Warren

I know that your not a pastor but I am humoring you.

Pastors have an all consuming passion about the pain of the person that they are encountering. Your a mega church preacher but you like to wear the appearance of a pastor so we will go with that.

Pastors don't care about the arbitrary lines that divide people they are concerned about pastoring to the pain that life has delivered them. It requires the kind of Ich-Du (I-Thou) relationship of Buber. (I know that guys like Buber never made it to the halls of Fuller so here is the cliff notes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Buber).

When you compare people who have been in committed relationships for decades and have raised happy children to pedophiles or incest participants you are not establishing an I-Thou relationship.

It does go down with the superficial folks at Saddleback. These are the folks that are worried about
http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/home/bibleqanda/index.html

- the color of Jesus eyes
- Is my name in the “Book of Life”?
- Will we judge angels?
- Will our pets go to Heaven?

And of course the all critical question of the ages, "Should a tithe be based on gross or net".

But Pastor Warren, (I just find 'But Mega Church Preacher Warren' to be somewhat counterproductive) I have searched your website and can find not a single question about;

The Christian response to an unjust war?
What is an unjust war?
Does God approve of Torture?

Well your on a bigger stage now and your pseudo intellectual two step may impress the pseudo intellectuals at Fuller (although I don't think even the Fuller Professors are happy with your use of 'Supernatural' as an explanation of Biblical Revelation - getting a little close to Joseph Smith for most intelligent Christians) and in the spirit of "reaching across the aisle" I wanted to give you an assist as you prepare for the invocation of January 20th.

Given that you have become so detached I thought it would be helpful for you to concentrate on giving the Invocation to three particular people. It will help you contextualize the kind of people that you need to reach if your going to be seen by the people outside of your narrow little world as an intelligent person.

Focus on these three people

1) Michael Schiavo.

You will remember Michael. Turns out Michael put on a Herculean effort to find the best medical experts in America to help his wife. He used up all of his resources and spent years in patient care for her. When the best medical experts in the world were absolutely convinced that she was brain dead and with the blessing of his in laws (who would later abandon him and sell their list of well wishers to pro life groups for a sizable sum) he picked up his life and started another family. With his common law wife he still maintained a daily vigil of care and affection. When all hope was gone and he wanted to keep his promise to Terri to help her end her life in dignity you took the low low road.

You called him a Nazi.

You stated that his actions were akin to Nazi atrocities and that he was probably motivated by keeping her silent out of his own self interest.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/22/lkl.01.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7286474/.

Following her passing and an autopsy it was proven that Michael and his doctors were in fact absolutely right and that your pronouncements were slanderous. You have never apologized or retracted these shameful acts. As you say pride is the most difficult sin.

Pride is what keeps you from being a real pastor.

2) My niece 'Pin'.

She died of AIDs and I know that you are proud that your "Church has done more than any church in the world about AIDS". The problem is Pastor Warren that she didn't die of AIDS she died of shame. There would have been drugs that I could have bought her had I known. She lives in Thailand and the drugs there are very cheap. She got AIDS from her husband who also died. You see when you compare homosexual activity with incest and pedophilia and call it a sin you continue the stigma against those people, and the people who share the disease that is synonymous with homosexuals would rather die than admit they are sick.

Pin was 19 she was feisty and a handful. She wasn't a great student but had a great smile and she was loved.

3) My brother-in-law 'Som Yod'.

Som Yod grew up in an isolated Thai village without electricity and without any outside cultural influences of any kind. There was no awareness of homosexuality or any gay people in any of the local villages. Now since the age of 3 Yod refused to wear boys clothes. They tried and tried. The tried to spoil him, they tried to encourage him. When he reached 6 and was supposed to go to school he was beaten every day for a year. He never went to school.

Now that little boy did not choose the confusion that he found himself in. If you really think that homosexuality is a choice and not the reality that people find themselves in then you are ignorant. However I think that you do know that is the case and you also realize that if you let this thread unwind it will result in a complete unraveling of your polished up fundamentalism.

Well he is grown now. Now that his mother has passed he is the sweetest person I have ever met on 4 continents. He has never said a negative word about another human being, although he does poke gentle fun at folks from time to time. I can't imagine a person who would be a better parent or life partner. As his Pastor can you help him? Can you feel his pain?

After all if a little boy doesn't have a clear direction on his sexuality at the age of 3 and it isn't his fault then the idea that there is a clear purpose that everyone in the world is born to would fall apart. The "Purpose Driven Life" would be exposed. Then again anyone who has absorbed the Holocaust realizes that your image of a benevolent God working a web of individual plans is, well crap.

In the spirit of reaching across the aisle I give you these three anchors to help you establish Buber's 'I-Thou' relationship.

Keep them close while you ponder what message of inclusiveness and hope that you can deliver a message that will match 1/100,000ths of President Elect Obama's.

If you find these three too challenging to meet in an honest dialogue you have an alternative. You can defer the invitation. You can say that you are doing it out deference to those that have been wounded and hurt. Trust me this is your best move. Even your supporters will think you were classy for it.

Of course I know that it was too great canyon for you to cross, that 5 weeks just isn't enough time to retrain yourself into a real pastor.

That's alright Pastor Warren I won't tell anyone it will be our secret.

Sincerely,