Preaching Sinks to New Low
Let me warn you. The following video is funny, but it is also crass. (The only reason I’m posting it is because it is part of an actual sermon. This is not a parody, folks.)
It’s a YouTube of an independent Baptist, KJV-Only preacher who is speaking about the text that uses the phrase ”him that pisseth against the wall.”
Two aspects of evangelicalism sink to a new low here. First, this KJV Only preacher shows his desperation by using this example to bolster his case. (Not all KJV Only preachers would go this far.) Secondly, the whole “we need real men” theme (and real men speak crudely from the pulpit, of course) that runs from the Man’s Church to Mark Driscoll has apparently made its way into the very heart of isolationist fundamentalism.
(Comments are now closed on this post. I’m tired of seeing them in my inbox.)
Related Articles: The Fundamentalist Survival Mechanism
The King James Only Controversy
I haven’t looked up the references, but from what he said the Word says, “God will destroy those that ….” I wonder why he is defending it. Obviously because he does it, it is correct. I think he is very immature.
Comment by Liz — February 9, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
hahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahaahhahahaha
this is classic example of abusing scripture and taking something out of context. It should be used in every “how to study the bible study”.
Comment by Brian — February 9, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
I’m a bit more concerned about his eisegesis than anything else. Unfortunately, that’s not too unlike what you see in fundamentalist Baptist KJVO churches.
Comment by DT — February 9, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
I almost peed myself when I watched this video.
But I quickly stood when the urge hit me.
(Whew… that was a close one!)
Comment by Vidad MaGoodn — February 9, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
I didn’t laugh. I appreciate you posting this. But I don’t think it’s funny. This is too close to home, too serious, and true prevalent for me to laugh.
Comment by Matt — February 10, 2008 @ 8:30 am
i need to get me a grey suit like that! And maybe install a WALL in my bathroom for the MEN! Although with 4 daughters I should probably rethink it.
Comment by andrew — February 10, 2008 @ 11:20 am
I don’t know how he got to where he was going but I think I agreed with a couple things he was saying.
1. The new bibles do seem to soften the language in a way that I think takes some of the potency out of scripture.
2. There is a war on manhood these days. Everybody knows that.
But how in the world he got from that passage to where he was going didn’t make any sense.
And men in Germany don’t sit down. That’s not true.
Comment by Frank S — February 10, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
I pee sitting down and I could take this guy with my pinky.
Comment by James — February 10, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
I’m sorry… I could only make it half-way through.
**shudder**
Comment by wilsonian — February 10, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Trevin,
Would you be so kind as to provide a transcript for your Deaf readers? I don’t do too well following mechanical voices. The parts I could catch were pretty funny, though.
Comment by Stephen Newell — February 10, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
I grew up in one of these churches, and this is pretty standard fare. You should never expect a sermon in an Independent KJO Baptist Church to have anything to do with the text it’s taken from; that would just be too easy.
I think lumping Mark Driscoll in with this nutjob is a bit unfair, though. There certainly is a lack of biblical masculinity in the U.S., but what this guy is offering as the solution is nothing more than chauvinism, which is also a sin. There’s a reason that I hold to the complementarian view of gender, and this guy exposes why I think chauvinism is dead wrong.
Thanks for the laughs!
Comment by Hutch — February 10, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
I’m rather disturbed that he admitted to using a public restroom.
Surely he should be a real man and pisseth against a wall somewhere.
Bathrooms and public restrooms are an abomination.
Comment by Rodney Olsen — February 10, 2008 @ 6:14 pm
This might well be the worst thing I have ever heard from a pulipit - and what’s he talking about German men peeing sitting down?
I didn’t find this funny - just disturbing. Who is this guy? Where did he train? I’m serious - does anyone have anymore info. about him?
Comment by Santosh — February 10, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
The man’s name is Steven Anderson. He’s the pastor of a church plant called Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona. He does not have a college degree or any seminary training, although he is trying to memorize the entire New Testament in five years.
A look at the church’s website will tell you a lot about the church’s KJV-Only stance.
This preacher is probably a nice guy who just hasn’t been taught hermeneutics.
Comment by trevinwax — February 10, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
what the HUH??? This is one of the most odd ball things I have heard from a grey suited pulpiteer in my life…I reckon he really pees sitting down
Comment by Jake Riddel — February 10, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
If those that pisseth against the wall will be destroyed by GOD …why is this guy advocating peeing standing up??
Comment by Jake Riddel — February 10, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
[...] die keiner braucht und die eigentlich in das Reich der Irrlehre gehören” (via Hufi): da predigt ein Baptistenprediger aus USA, der natürlich nur die einzig von Gott inspirierte King James Version (KJV) liest und zitiert, [...]
Pingback by Männer, pisst im Stehen - es ist biblisch! « Wegbegleiter - Fährtensucher - Wellenreiter — February 11, 2008 @ 2:43 am
love to know what that German guys just said . . .
Comment by andrew — February 11, 2008 @ 5:14 am
as a young, naive, sappy believer, i utilitzed the more subtle and juvenile WEE or WISS. then, under king james’ influence, i boldly declared: PISSETH! but in an attempt to be culturally relevant (especially to the hip-hop community), i began refering to urination in general as PIZZLE and male urination in specific as MAN PIZZLE. i’ve also coined a similar hip-hop-friendly word for defecation . . . can you guess?
this man is obviously trapped deep in the matrix! somebody PLEASE unplug him!
Comment by donavon hill — February 11, 2008 @ 8:47 am
I cannot believe this. I don’t really know how and where to start. Stunning. I have nothing to say, unbelievable. I have seen this attitude a lot in the “christian-US”. So… the king james version is written by God? To me a real big problem is, that I am german. So I really do need a translator (Pastor; Pope or someone) to translate the King James into my language.
I do not think this guy is nice. The last sentence says so much about him.
To me there is the hermeneutic problem but far more than this, I can feel the worldview of this man, and this is really really scary to me. Nothing nice, just the thought of the people who are listening to him… I mean poor people. This is their leader, he is guiding them. They are honestly listening to him (they might be nice, he is not) and to be honest if he is taking this verse out of context, what is he producing out of other-verses talking about divorce etc.! And worse than this what is he telling people who are not Christians yet. Yikes!
Comment by Nikolai — February 11, 2008 @ 10:16 am
this is too much!
there are a couple comments here about a war on manhood.. what does that even mean? How does someone come to this conclusion? and who is the ‘enemy’ in this war?
Comment by David — February 11, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Hi andrew - I am the german guy with the pingback from the german blog - and I try to translate some thoughts in my bad english. The baptist preacher left me half laughing half crying, because of such horrible hermeneutics plus wrong and unhistorical understanding of scripture.
I am an evangelical pastor too and more concerned about the people in our culture trying to find roots and sense and a solid basis for their life. And we christians fight ourselves with this. I cannnot stand it! We in Germany have very similar problems, even without having a bible belt..;-). They use Luther 1912, based on the old textus receptus and tell everybody else, that real christians have to read it too! Modern translations are not that inspired! Strange inspiration dogma! We evangelicals don’t have a pope, we have an inspiration dogma!
Comment by wegbegleiter — February 11, 2008 @ 11:25 am
I am glad that he lets scripture dictate his preaching, like he pointed out a few times - “its in the Bible, that’s why I am saying it”, instead of finding passages to support his pre-existing conclusion (please note the sarcasm)… How in the world could anyone let that message go forth from a pulpit, especially on something as obscure as that phrase? I also love the “Acts 5:5″ comments - about 5 being the number of death, as if God gave forth his word in chapter and verse.
For the record I went to Germany Jr. High and I pee’d standing up all over the place. I really wonder why he is so insecure about this. I understand the whole thing about a war on masculinity and stuff… but he got overtly angry at times, there has to be something there underneath the surface.
Comment by Tato — February 11, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
Unreal….and so sad.
Comment by hulia — February 11, 2008 @ 2:58 pm
I actually don’t think you can link Driscoll and this guy together. This guy is EXTREME and Driscoll really isn’t if you listen to him.
Comment by serial youth pastor — February 11, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
rodney, how do you know he didn’t piss against the wall in a public restroom? it could be an act of rebellion!
Comment by Kyle — February 11, 2008 @ 11:58 pm
wegbegleiter - thanks for commenting back and translating your thoughts
i was wondering if the “all German men pee sitting down” message created some conversation in Germany.
Comment by andrew — February 12, 2008 @ 6:08 am
andrew - no conversation, only laughter.
Is the man lying? No, of course not, the signs exist, but he exaggerates. The sign can be found in approx. 5% of the toilets, mostly in private homes, where the people are not really amused to clean up the mess afterwards…
Comment by wegbegleiter — February 12, 2008 @ 8:58 am
Posting anonymously ’cause it’s embarrassing. I agree with our German friend.. that poor man needs to stop preaching such nonsense (Acts 5:5??) and stop leading people astray.
Comment by Anonymous — February 12, 2008 @ 9:30 am
I can’t speak for contemporary German men, but I know for sure that Martin Luther stood up - it’s right there in the title of his biography.
Comment by Terry J — February 12, 2008 @ 10:56 am
“here i stand . . i can do no other”
i love it!!!!!
Comment by andrew — February 12, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
Is that Jack from Lost?
Comment by Paul — February 12, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
Alright Andrew’s challenge on TSK- was to try and watch and NOT laugh… i didn’t laugh just cuz… it ticked me off! I also did a bit of research and checked out his family blog- (which basically states that if your using any type of birth control other than “natural”- then you shouldn’t be speaking out against abortion - because your part of the problem)
It just gets darker the more you listen to the other video’s…
I’m just scratching my head how anyone can sit under that type of bollocks.
I was looking for the toilet - to hurl in… (yes i was standing.)
Comment by cathryn — February 12, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
Is that Jack from Lost?
Thats what I thought! It sounds like him and looks like him.
Alter ego?
Comment by Matt Scott — February 12, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
So THAT’s what happened to Jack after he left the Island!
Comment by Julianna — February 12, 2008 @ 8:18 pm