Rick Warren: America's Dwight Schrute

Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture ^ | January 21st, 2009 | Aaron D. Wolf

[Gondring]

In an hilarious episode of NBC’s The Office, Dunder-Mifflin übertwerp Dwight Schrute unwittingly adapts the words of several speeches by Benito Mussolini and Karl Marx in order to appear impressive at a conference for salesmen. “Blood alone moves the wheels of history!” he cries, and by the time he gets to Il Duce’s “It is a privilege to fight!” the equally witless conference audience is chanting along with him. “Salesmen of the world, unite!”

Explaining a joke tends to make it unfunny, but it might be helpful here. We, the viewers, laugh, because we know that Dwight’s adaptation is a little, shall we say, inappropriate. We laugh at Dwight, the fascist salesman, and we laugh at his fever-whipped audience, barely suspending disbelief. Yes, it’s possible that a roomful of several thousand salesmen with bachelor’s degrees would not recognize any of these “historic” words. Again, the joke’s on them, and we laugh.

Reflecting on Rick Warren’s invocation at the “historic” inauguration of Barack H. Obama, I wondered: Whom is the joke on this time?

Mainstream newspapers were critical of the choice of “America’s pastor” to deliver this prayer, but here in the afterglow they are praising the prayer as “tolerant.” Of course, they aver, he prayed in the name of Jesus; what do you expect from an evangelical

Warren invoked “Almighty God, our father,” which is unsurprising. But very quickly, he turns to the Old Testam—er, Hebrew Scriptures to remind God of the Shema: “The Scripture tells us Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one.” Of course, as my dear-departed granny would say, “That’s Bible Scripture.” But of course, that One God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—the Name imprinted on our foreheads in Holy Baptism. Unsurprisingly, Warren doesn’t go on to clarify that.

What he does go on to clarify, in the very next sentence, is that the one god he’s referring to is Allah. “And you are the compassionate and merciful one.”

Each Sürah of the Koran begins with the phrase, “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate and Merciful One.” Pulling my English Translation of Al-Qur’an from the shelf, I let the book fall open to page 194, Al-Ma’idah, to find the same phrase at the Sürah’s heading. Skimming a couple of pages detailing the prohibition of meats not slaughtered in the name of Allah, I land on condemnations of Christians and the Christian Faith (emphasis original).

O people of the book (Jews and Christians)! Now Our Rasool has come to you to reveal much of what you have concealed from the Holy Books and to pass over much which is no longer necessary . . . Indeed those have committed Kufr (rejected faith) who said, “God is the Messiah, son of Maryam.” O Muhammad, ask them, “Who has the power to prevent Allah if He chose to destroy the Messiah, the son of Maryam, his mother and all that is in the earth?

Get that? In case you didn’t, the publishers provide a handy note in the margin: “Jesus, son of Mary, is not God or son of God” [sic!]. This is the word of “the compassionate and merciful one.”

But wait! Warren closes his prayer in Jesus’ name, right? Here’s the AP’s transcript:

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS), who taught us to pray, Our Father [etc.]

Yeshua (”Joshua”) is the Hebrew word for Jesus, and “hay-SOOS” will be familiar to Spanish-speaking viewers who apparently didn’t understand any other word of Warren’s prayer. Who is “Isa”?

Isa is the Arabic word for Jesus, used in the Koran in order to deny His membership in the Godhead, His resurrection, His saving mission.

But see, Warren fans might argue, America’s pastor was making use of a teachable moment. He was showing Muslims that the Isa they subordinate to Muhammad is really . . . well, the “one who changed my life.” Here in this country where we are “united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all,” we’re all really praying to the same Allah. Now, let Isa change your life.

People of the Book, UNITE!

Warren does remind us (though he is addressing God) that Judgment Day is coming: “And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.” That’s good advice. It meshes with Our Lord’s statement in Matthew 10:

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Does invoking Allah and praying to “Isa” amount to confessing Christ before men?

Listen, dude! If Rick Warren were the kind of guy who insisted on invoking the Holy Trinity and leaving out Isa and Allah and Shiva and the Dharma Initiative and Dr. King, he never would’ve been asked to pray in the first place! “Some people will tell you salesman is a bad word. They’ll conjure up images of used car dealers, and door to door charlatans. This is our duty—to change their perception.”

Tee hee. Joke’s on us.

[Gondring]

ping

[mockingbyrd]

One of the best Office episodes ever.

[Ted Grant]

Rick Warren reminds me of a used car salesman who refers to everyone as ‘buddy.’

[Woebama]

The best Office episode.

The quote is actually from Martin Luther by the by . . .

[irishtenor]

I used my online concordance and found that “Compassionate and merciful” is found in James 5:11, refering to God.

[SoCalPol]

Both the person who is the subject of this (a Shyster)
and the author of this (who writes for a magazine that is
Paleo - anti Israel, anti war including WWII.)

[muawiyah]

No doubt those are a few of the reasons most of this was remarkably not understandable in English.

[SoCalPol]

You hit it

[servantboy777]

I just don’t know what to think about Rick Warren. Sometimes he seems pretty orthodox, then others very progressive.

[muawiyah]

The Orthodox baptise you three times ~ the Dunkards baptise you backwards three times.

Warren strikes me as one of those guys who doesn't understand such things.

I'd suggest he's not Orthodox at all.

[servantboy777]

Not sure.

I’m not a big fan none the less.

When one claims to be Christian, then starts the PC shuffle when in the lime light.....not trusting that person.

If you believe the bible is God breathed, then Jesus’ words claiming to be the only way to the Father pretty much does it.

Waffling to appease other groups just shows the weakness of his faith.

[outofstyle]

Sometimes he seems pretty orthodox, then others very progressive.

Henceforth, "progressive" should always be preceded by the word "liberal." We need to stop the liberal language Nazis from changing the subject.

[LeonardFMason]

Agreed. He seems determined to “get along” with everyone and anyone. Preaching man’s utter ruin by sin, and salvation only through the Lord Jesus Christ, will not win any popularity contests. I am not sure Rick Warren get’s it anymore.

[agrace]

I think your post, and the article, are dead on. Although he has resisted identifying himself as such, I would say Rick Warren is part of the emergent church movement, and he is certainly well respected within it. Those involved in the emergent (or emerging) church generally lean toward the following. They

- look at faith through the perspective of postmodernism, and as a result they

- reject traditional worship/teaching for that which is more seeker-friendly, growth-driven, and appeals to the “emerging generation.”

- view the Bible as a text which must interpretively change with the times (much like liberals viewing the constitution as a living document), allowing one to pick and choose theology and put aside restrictive dogma, such as that which defines marriage or relationships, in favor of inclusion and ecumenism.

- place a greater emphasis on liberal causes such as social activism and environmentalism, their execution often lacking clear presentation of the gospel.

As a result of the above and more, one critic recently called such churches spiritually starved, in that they “get everything they want and nothing they need.”

Good link for emergent church info - http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/emergent.html

[lupie]

Thanks for the ping. I agree with what you said. I do not believe Warren is the evangelical that he proclaims to be. He used a lot of the right sounding words, but often out of the context of Truth.

In his prayer, he said: When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the Earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

It may sound right, but it is very clear in scripture that there is no forgiveness without repentance. We must realize we are sinning, desire to turn from that and to turn and walk with Him, to desire to follow Christ Jesus, the God of all of Scripture. Then...and only then are we forgiven. Anything less than that it just universalism.

What Warren is really praying for is an universal excuse for the nation to continue it its sins. If not, he would have prayed for the nation as Solomon did in his wonderful prayer in 1 Kings 8:22 - 53:
O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart...

And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. If a man sins against a neighbor...and comes...before your altar...then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemming the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness..

When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people...When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray...and turn from their sin...whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people aIsrael, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven...and forgive and act and render to each show heart you know, according to all his ways...that they may fear you all the days...

Warren's pray doesn't even come close. Yet.. because people hear the name Jesus and hear the word forgiveness, they assume it is a good prayer. It wasn't. It was awful. Not only did he pray to many "gods", he prayed for the spiritual detriment of people, not their spiritual good. Not exactly a shepherd of God's people, but rather a popular shepherd of many people.