A whole lot of people are trying to drag down the Barack Obama for President campaign by linking Obama with his former reverend. Of course, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have churches with some pretty far out ideas too – and they’ve both linked their church attendance to their worthiness to be President. Let’s start taking a little look at John McCain’s church today.
John McCain’s church is the North Phoenix Baptist Church. I took a quick look at the web site of the North Phoenix Baptist Church this morning, and was amused by a document I found put out by the men’s ministry.
As a side note, I have to say that the men of the North Phoenix Baptist Church seem like a bunch of social dullards. The women’s ministry has something like a dozen different active groups going on, promoting Christian virtues like scrapbooking and going to the movies. The men’s ministry, on the other hand, has two Microsoft Word documents available for download.
Exciting? No. Kooky? Oh, yes.
Now, I don’t like John McCain’s politics, and I think he would make a terrible President. However, I’m not going to claim that this is earth-shattering, and that it involves the kind of moral degradation that in itself automatically makes John McCain unqualified to be President. I think that I found is, however, really kind of creepy.
One of the two online documents for men is the “final draft” of “10 Key Moves” for men… and all the 10 Key Moves are blank. But that’s not the creepy bit. The creepy document is the Manhood Plan.
The Manhood Plan at John McCain’s church asks men to take care of “unfinished business” and deal with mistakes in their lives. There’s nothing wrong with that, in itself. The examples that the North Phoenix Baptist Church provides for how to deal with mistakes and unfinished family business, however, seems to emphasize speed over substance.
Men are encouraged by the church’s Manhood Plan to write down specific action steps for making up for their mistakes. There is a due strongly suggested. The following examples are provided:
I don’t know what a “Depravity Wound” is, but I wonder if a person suffering from one can realistically set a deadline to “build a strong spiritual foundation by June 30.” Might it not take a little bit longer than that? Can a person really set a date, just a few weeks or months ahead in the future, by which time they will have built a strong spiritual foundation?
The “dad” example doesn’t seem to be very helpful, either. If you’re an adult man who has a father that you have to schedule a meeting with so that you can ask him if he loves you and is proud of you, your problems are not going to be solved just by having your father say to you, “What the hell is wrong with you, asking me a stupid question like that? Hand me another beer.”
Then there’s the third example, in which men are advised that they can receive forgiveness from and provide full restitution to the wife and children they have abandoned between now and the first of June. Goodness me.
Maybe some men can make some kind of restitution to their ex-wives in a manner of weeks or months. It depends upon their situations, I guess. However, I do not see how a man who has abandoned his children can possibly make restitution to them in such a short time. Get a clue, Dad: You’re looking at decades of restitution, possibly lasting for your entire life. Forgiveness isn’t going to come quickly either.
It’s not the place of any father who has abandoned his kids to decide all on his own when his restitution to his children is over. He doesn’t just get to say, “Hey, look! It’s June 1, and I’ve been providing you with restitution for 3 months now. Time’s up! Spiritual goal accomplished! Here’s a check for 80 thousand dollars – invest wisely!”
What kind of numbskull church would give this kind of short spurt of effort as an example of dealing with mistakes and unfinished business? Here’s a more realistic example: “I will ask forgiveness from my wife and children I left in a divorce and then spend the rest of my life earning it.”
As most people know, John McCain abandoned a marriage himself, leaving his wife and children to be with another woman. Does anyone know if he followed the advice of the North Phoenix Baptist Church, and arranged a quickie little four-week forgiveness restitution schedule with his ex-wife and children?
The Manhood Plan distributed by the North Phoenix Baptist Church is a whopping five pages long. That includes the title page, where all you’re asked to do is write down your name.
Listen up, all you guys at the North Phoenix Baptist Church: If your plan for how to be a man can fit on just five pages, it’s time to get a new plan.
Barack Obama has repudiated his former reverend. Will John McCain repudiate his church’s skimpy Manhood Plan?
No, Obama has NOT repudiated his pastor. Is that lie the latest talking point? Obama specifically said he could not repudiate his pastor. He repudiated his grandmother. So now the Clintonistas are all talking about how Obama threw his grandmother under the bus.
Then Obama went on to make some comments about “the typical white person”. So guess what kind of t-shirt you can buy on the republican blogs now. Yup. “Typical White Person” t-shirts.
Oh, gag me, Iroquois. With a serving spoon.
Actually, the outline that you reference is used in locations all over America…Google it. What you would find by doing more research, not just downloading one document, is that just the beginning course that goes with that plan is 24 weeks long. Throw into the mix that most men actually have NO plan, but rather they let life just happen to them and really don’t act much like men at all, but remain as children in many areas of their life, I think you might actually have to applaud that his church is making the effort they seemingly made. (Nice run together thoughts there, huh?!).
Anyway, not as creepy as you suggest…probably a lot less creepy than the catastrophes I deal with as a counselor each week where men are ignoring their failures, taking no responsibility for their lives, remaining passive in their pursuits and really pursuing nothing more than the smallest of rewards like the next big profit and the next good buzz.
Pardon me? Most men “really don’t act much like men at all”?
What do you call that kind of logical structure? An anti-tautology? How on earth can most men not behave like men?
As a counselor, would you encourage men getting a divorced to set a goal of trying to resolve issues with the children they’re leaving behind within just a matter of weeks?
If so, why don’t you leave your full name here, Stephen? I think prospective clients deserve to know about your approval of get-rid-of-your-family-quick schemes.
I too would like to know why most men “really don’t act much like men at all”. Sigh.
JClifford and associates are the exceptions that prove the rule–even though they have a few rough edges that I would be happy to enumerate later.
Oh, and jClifford, Question: how do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time. Breaking down insurmountable life problems into manageable portions is not all that unreasonable. But I don’t expect someone who thinks “hope” is a policy position to really understand that.
Went and looked up “depravity wound”… More evangelical weirdness right from the depths of their self-constructed personal hells…
The last few weeks I have been reading, thinking about the wound that we all share … the depravity wound. I see it everyday on the news, in the headlines and on the Internet. Just this morning I was listening to reports by reporters who just couldn’t understand how smart men and women could do dumb things or why rich individuals would choose to do lead destructive life styles. There is this belief that educated, well off people have the capacity to “be better” than those who are less educated or less well off financially. The truth is that no person is immune when it comes to the depravity wound; that wound which is from our sin nature, which no matter how hard we try, it just doesn’t heal on its own. In the Search for Authentic Manhood by Robert Lewis, he talks about this wound and how it can’t be overcome by education, money or self effort. It is a wound only God can heal.
Is it a castration wound from where they got their balls cut off, which is why most men don’t act like men?
This religiobabble makes no sense whatsoever.
Then again, what better solution for a problem couched in logically inscrutable babble than a force that transcends empirical reason?
I guess.
Im sure no one will see this. This article has been out there for a while but I did find something very funny. A reporter decides that he can figure out a half year long in depth study of yourself and the enviornment that brought you to where you are by reading a blank outline. Thats not good reporting.
I also find it funny with this attack on the divorce line. Where does it say be finished by x date? I believe the example on the outline says that the process should be started by that date. Men respond to deadlines and presurre. The line “and make whatever restitution necessary” would imply that this will be a process and that all he can do is take the first step. The next step lies in the hands of the children and wife which he wronged. He cant force forgiveness
And Mr. Clifford. You claiming that a man is afraid because he doest post his full name? You are listed as “J. Clifford”. Afraid?