Posted on 12/19/2006 1:09:13 PM PST by Gamecock
Ive been out of every conceivable loop for the past few days, and now that Im back I see that Rev. Rick Warren has done it again.
By it, I mean Warren has managed to tee off conservatives and Christians.
On Dec 15, Americas pastor was on CNNs Situation Room to discuss his recently concluded AIDS conference. The conference featured 60 speakers, including Republican Senator Sam Brownback and Democrat Senator Barack Obama. The Brownback invitation was uncontroversial and generated no buzz. Obama is the medias flavor of the month, but hes also a hard left liberal if you go by his voting record. Hes every bit as liberal as Ted Kennedy, even if hes nowhere near as annoying. Warrens invitation to him was and remains controversial, because Obamas voting record is so far to the left and therefore far out of step with Christians who look to Warren for leadership. And, those of us who dont.
CNNs Wolf Blitzer asked Warren his thoughts on Obama post AIDS conference. Thats when Warren did it again.
BLITZER: What did you think of Barack Obama?
WARREN: Hes an amazing man. I think
BLITZER: Do you think hes got it? In other words, hes got that potential like so many other presidential prospects, to be the president of the United States?
WARREN: I think he does.
BLITZER: Because?
WARREN: I think he has good character. I think both Sam Brownback and Barack Obama the reason I invited them both, first, theyll tell you the truth. Theyre not just going to beat around the bush. Theyll tell you what they believe. And I appreciate that.
Second, theyre men of civility. And Im so tired of the rudeness weve got in our society where people are just mean to each other. We need to return to civility, which says, I treat you with respect even if I violently disagree with you. That weve lost the civil in civilization.
So being amazing and civil and of good character qualify one to lead the free world while it faces off against a militant and totalitarian ideology? Its fair to say that we all want and desire a civil president who is of good character (even if in 1992 and 1996 a plurality voted for the exact opposite), but its loopy to say that those two qualities are enough to make the grade. Obama has no military experience, no foreign policy experience, no executive experience, and hasnt even run a national political campaign. His biography is interesting, some might even call it amazing, but, at 44 years old and only a senator for two years, its far from complete. Obama seems like a decent enough guy, but the word unqualified should float behind him whenever anyone mentions him for the White House.
Maybe Warrens just being nice. Its possible. Elections do turn on issues, though, and after these comments its not as clear as it once was which issues and beliefs Warren sees as qualifiers and disqualifiers for the highest office in the land.
Im actually not much bothered by what Warren said about Obama. On a scale of 10 its about a four. Warren didnt come out and positively endorse Obama as his candidate in 2008. Warren just did what he usually doessay nice things that, after a little investigation, dont add up and leave you wondering what Warrens really up to.
Like his statements about Syria and North Korea, in the same interview with Wolf Blitzer.
At the top of the interview, in a little video intro Warren says of his trips to Syria and North Korea:
E.J. DIONNE, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think what youre seeing with Rick Warren is almost a new version, a 2006 version, of Billy Graham. SNOW: But unlike Graham, whos always seen in suits, Warren is often dressed in Hawaiian shirts. Most people know him as the author of the best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Life. It sold some 20 million copies worldwide.
Hes taken his message around the globe, even traveling to controversial countries like Syria. This past summer he tried unsuccessfully to enter North Korea.
PASTOR RICK WARREN, AUTHOR, THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE: Im always happy to be a back channel for peace. (emphasis added)
a back channel for peace. Hang on to that comment. Its fascinating. Generally, when youre a back channel for peace to states that are more or less enemies of the US, youre acting on behalf of the government to some extent or, like Jesse Jackson and Jimmy Carter tend to do, youre conducting freelance foreign policy. Even if your trip is unofficial and off the books, you have a political dimension that youre working, while you might also be working some other agenda.
Well, later on in the interview, Warren had this to say about the two trips to the two pariah states:
BLITZER: Youre ready to reach out to Kim Jong-il and North Korea to do what?
WARREN: Well, to preach the gospel. Im a pastor, not a politician. And I report to a higher authority, where Jesus said, Go into all the world, to every nation.
Does that involve Syria? Yes. Does that involve North Korea? Yes. Does it involve Iran?
Ill go anywhere as long as Im not muzzled. Now, if they put restrictions on what I say, thats a different issue. But I have a basic message that says you were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life isnt going to make sense.
And if I [dont] get the opportunity to share that, then I dont go I dont ever go into these places as a politician. I dont go in as a diplomat. I dont go in as trying to take a job thats not my job. But if I get an opportunity to go in and bring hope, encouragement, and the message of the good news, Im going to do it. (emphasis added)
A couple of things should leap out at you from these two exerpts. One, the back channel for peace has morphed into I dont ever go into these places as a politician. I dont go in as a diplomat. That doesnt square up at all with the earlier line about his being happy to be a back channel for peace. So which is it? Blitzer wasnt agile enough, or something, and didnt ask Warren to make the ends meet.
Its possible that Warren thinks hes being a back channel for peace just by being an American and showing up in Pyongyang and Damascus and shaking hands with the monsters that rule there. But, isnt that engaging in diplomacy and politics?
The second thing that should jump out is that Warren said that if hes muzzled or isnt allowed to preach when he goes to Syria and North Korea, he doesnt go. Well, Warren is invited preach to 15,000 in North Korea next year. But in a country where millions subsist on grass and whatever they can dig up out of the dirt, just who will occupy the seats in that stadium? In a country run by a Communist personality cult, what sort of person will get the privilege of seeing and hearing the visiting pastor? In a country where real Christian evangelism will get you a ticket to a prison camp and where the government approves and monitors all churches and where the ultimate deity is that fellow with the poofy hair who walks around in the Dr. Evil suit, why might Warren have been singled out for the invitation to preach? Could it be because the visits propaganda value to Kim outweighs any threat Warrens watered-down gospel might pose?
And in Syria, why is there no record of Warren having preached to anyone at all? The only thing we know about the Syria trip is that Warren got the go-ahead to ship in his PEACE Plan manuals and materials (minus the Purple Haze intro, no doubt), and that he lavished praise on the Assad regime. That would be the Assad regime that is right now helping Hezbollah re-arm for its next attempt to destroy Israel, and allows Syria to be the HQ for more terrorist groups than any other country on earth.
Is Syria a country that needs the gospel? You betcha. Is there any evidence that Rick Warren breathed a word of that gospel while he was in Syria? No. We do know that the one part of historical Christianity he did cite in defending his trip, he got completely wrong. Paul was not a Syrian, and it wouldnt matter in todays world even if he had been. Its not at all out of bounds to wonder that if Warren got that basic fact wrong about one of the most famous Christians in history, what else does he get wrong? But thats another topic for another time, and probably another venue.
Regarding Obama, Rick Warren has at least been consistent. He said nice things about Obama before and after the AIDS conference. Regarding his trips to North Korea and Syria, which I consider to be the more serious issues, Warren contradicts himself and may be lying about why he goes to those countries and what he does while hes there.
Since my last posts about Warren, Ive gotten a few emails from people who attend his church. One or two of them asked me not to continue writing about Warren, because it amounts to airing the churchs dirty laundry in public. Thats a fair point, but my response then and now is that I dont post about Warren as long as he doesnt stray into topics that I write about. I tend to write about politics, the war, sports, and occassionally pop culture (and Ive been falling down on that last onesorry, BSG fans). On this blog I dont write very often about faith unless it intersects with politics or the war. Unfortunately, Warrens words and actions keep bringing him back into the arena of things I write about. So I write about him.
If Rev. Warren or his supporters prefer him not to be criticized by bloggers who tend to write about politics, perhaps he should live up to what he says and actually stay out of politics.
By inviting politicians to speak at his church, and by visiting heads of state in Syria and North Korea if he goes there next year, Warren inserts himself into politics. And I write about it.
YBPDLN Ping
A very appropriately named website for hosting Rick Warren articles. Hot Air.
The heretic has spoken!
Unlike most others, they admit it....
Rick! Jesus said, "Go ye forth and preach this Gospel to all the world", not "Go ye forth and kiss Assad's butt".
What an idiot.
So far, I have'nt heard the "He is just being all things to all people so that by all means he might save some" defense.
And I really liked the author correctly pointing out what happens to real evangelists in North Korea as opposed to RW's photo - op of "watered down gospel". Watering down the gospel is like tagging the ceiling of the Cistine Chapel.
Pretty funny, considering Warren is one of the most public figures around. If you lavish praise upon a regime (Assad/Syria) that supports a terrorist organization (Hezbollah) that is responsible the the murder of thousands of Israelis and Americans then you're begging for trouble.
Any truth to the rumor that next Rick Warren will have Tara OConner as a guest on the values of rehab once she gets out of rehab? Just kidding!
Did you find that website that I gave you earlier? I think that I forgot to add .com.
Instead of doing photo-ops with dictators Warren should take his mega-church millions and open missions and go and stay in Syria, Iran and North Korea and preach Christ crucified then I will take him seriously.
All the other stuff is just noise to get attention and of course money.
Someone SHUT THIS MORON UP FOR GOOD!!!!!!
What part of "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" does this clown NOT understand? Christians do not ally themselves with unbelievers, no matter how "nice" we think they may be, nor how powerful they are, nor how much else we think we may gain thereby. He has opened his pulpit to a servant of the devil. What a fool!
>>But I have a basic message that says you were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life isnt going to make sense.<<
THAT'S what the Gospel message is, according to Warren?
Good grief, how much more tepid can you get?
I've always wondered why CNN and other talk/news shows always have these theological heretics & lightweights on their shows; and not guys like Packer or Sproul.
Now I know.
Actually, Warren will come up with some abstract translation and tell you that your verse means something totally different. LOL!
Very true. You've read his books too - I can tell. He comes up with some of the most off-the-wall translations and twists them in ways that are truly baffling.
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