Interview with Warren the Pastor
July 25, 2007
About a month ago I posted a request for interview questions to ask a local priest. I got the questions, but the priest said no. So I did some searching and I dug up a very helpful Baptist Pastor named Warren. He was a good guy, and was very polite, he answered all my questions candidly and never tried to turn it into a sermon or tell me the error of my ways. He didn’t even hang up on me! (That happened earlier with a different pastor)
So without further a due:
Me: Hello Pastor, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me.
W: My pleasure. I have no problem talking to atheists, I think Jesus would want me to talk to you.
Me: Well good to know I’m highly recommended. Lets get started. Were you always religious?
W: Yes, my mother was a musician who played religious music and my father was involved in the church. I guess you could say I was always around religion. When I was younger we moved and even then we found a Baptist church like our old one and continued attending there.
Me: Well have you ever doubted your faith, having been involved for so long?
W: Yes, I think everyone does at some point. Doubt is the beginning of faith and when you doubt the purpose of true faith is to hold on and in time god proved himself to me, even in doubt.
Me: Do you know any priests, nuns, or pastors who lost their faith?
W: I’m not Catholic so I don’t have any experience with priests or nuns, but I do know some who have left or turned their back on the church, but that is more of a disagreement with the church and the people in it, than with God or with Jesus. I do know of people who have lost they’re faith completely but I haven’t spoke to them.
Me: This is more of a Catholic teaching then Protestant, but do you believe in the Virgin Birth?
W: Yes. It is a scriptural teaching and I believe it. Mary was 14 when she was married and she was a virgin. I do believe she had other children after Jesus was born but she was a virgin when he was conceived and born.
Me: Really? I hadn’t expected that.
W: I think the Catholic church tends to say that she never had intercourse and remained a virgin till death but she was married and I think she most definitely had other children. I think you’ll find that most Protestant ministers will say He had siblings and most Priests will say he didn’t.
Me: Do you believe in reincarnation?
W: No, you have one life and you must make a choice within that life to live for either God or for yourself.
Me: Do you, as a Christian, feel that you are a minority within the U. S. today?
W: As a Christian? Not right now, but it seems to be headed that way. I think most Americans, Christian or not are living Christian lives and you can see that in the way they act, what they buy, and who they vote for. But I do think there is a growing movement against the Christians mostly because of how they are portrayed in the media.
Me: On a side note have you seen Jesus Camp?
W: No, I saw a very long clip of it and I think its absolutely ridiculous. I think that those people are misrepresenting Jesus and the Scripture and that they will answer for it in the long run. Honestly, it irritates me and I think if Jesus were walking the streets today and he saw it he would be angered by it. I think that most people who have problems with Christianity have problems with Christians of that type and that makes up only about 5% of Christians today.
Me: Well thats one thing we can agree on. As a pastor, do you think women should be allowed to join the ministry?
W: Thats a tough question, I don’t have a problem with women teaching. I think God can speak through anybody, men, women, children, whoever. Men were made as leaders and women as caretakers, but in a time when there is a lack of leadership from men, womenwill have to step up. They can be leaders at anytime but naturally men are called as leaders of the church.
Me:Another big issue question is that of gay marraige?
W: Well….It states very clearly in scripture that homosexuality is a sin, but it really doesn’t bother me if they want to get married. It doesn’t effect my faith any but if we become ok with things that are specifically sinful in the bible it will effect society negatively. I suppose if there was a vote I would vote against it, but it doesn’t really bother me too much.
Me: Huh, thats not the answer I expected.
W: It doesn’t effect my faith and personally I have no problem with homosexuals. My roommate in college was gay and we discussed it quite a bit.
Me: You mentioned the bible calling homosexuality a sin, but there are many examples of stories in the bible that aren’t to be taken literally, but at one time they were. How can you trust the rest of the bible when its unclear what is fact and what is fiction?
W: That depends on who you ask. You have some people who interpret it how they want and you have biblical scholars who can interpret it how it was meant or more closely to how it was meant. Before the dead sea scrolls were found the bible was more like a translation of a translation but now we have those actual scrolls that people who read ancient Greek and Hebrew can unroll and read what they were really trying to say. The bible I use in teachings was translated that way.
Me: How come, Jesus never wrote about himself in the bible?
W: In John it says if Jesus wrote about himself there would not be enough pages in the world to contain all that he had to say. Jesus knew his plan when he walked the earth. He knew what would happen. He also knew that men would write down what he said and did. So if he knew that why would he take the time out of what little he had to write down what others would write later?
Me: In the bible, why is it that humanity is always to blame? Why is it that God never says he could’ve screwed up somewhere?
W: As humans we want to see things as we want them to be. All bad things, be they disease or some terrorist crashing planes into a building all come from sin and human error. For God to put a stop to bad things happening, he would have to remove sin and that would mean removal of man. God can do know wrong, but people see what he does from our own selfish perspective and when its not what we want we say its wrong. It’s easier to place blame on God then to except it on ourselves.
Me: So disease, like cancer, come from man?
W: Yes, I think all modern ailments are a result of sin. God made the world perfect. And He put Adam and Eve in the Garden with one single rule and when they broke it, the human body began to degrade. And since then, the human body has continued to deteriorate. All diseases, HIV, Cancer,the common cold, they all are a product of sin.
Me: Well, if thats the case, then why won’t God heal amputees? If they were harmed, not by any sin, say they are a veteran, and they have to have a limb removed, why won’t God heal them?
W: God never promised healing for all things. He does not promise to grow back limbs or miraculously heal the innocent, what he promises is the ability live while suffering. To be able to lose an arm or a leg and to continue to live and enjoy life.
Me: Finally, what would you do if you discovered that there was no God?
W: To be honest…I don’t know what I would do. I don’t think it would be anymore possible to prove there was no God than I could prove to you there was a God. I suppose….I love Jesus Christ. I love who he is and if I could model my life after anyone else it would be him so I think I would continue to live my life as I have, trying to help people and do good things. I would just continue living by his example.
Me: Well thats the last question, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me.
W: Oh your welcome, I’m glad I got a chance to talk with you and if you want to talk again just call me here at the church!
Comments
15 Responses to “Interview with Warren the Pastor”
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great interview! Thanks TJM
Your welcome inginious.
Very balanced, I enjoyed the spirit of the questions and the answers. There’s so much screaming on the internet, its nice to find a conversation.
An Agnostic chiming in to say:
I liked a balanced discussion about this. It seems like most people on one side of the fence or another are very adamant about being right and because of their animosity, it makes both seem angry. I’m glad you both had a civil discussion about such a topic.
I wish more Christians like this Pastor were speaking louder than the crazies that claim to be the voice for all Christians. It is nice to see someone combine their faith with reason.
Hey Hannah, this is a pretty damn good post. I’m getting 50+ people coming in on it each second (unique visitors staying for over 5 minutes) on my lil Meter here.
. I’m turning it off since it beeps each time and my friend can’t sleep. lol. Thanks Hannah!
why they don’t comment is beyond me.
AnswerMan
Admin #3
Interesting post…so why did god create himself in man’s image (jesus) and then commit suicide?
Haha I was wondering how many people were really reading it! Thanks Answerman.
And Jk if you have questions you want in another interview, get people to send me more questions. The pastor invited me to call him with more anytime.
I think that if you talk to most christians “on the street” they would most likely want to articulate themselves in the way that this pastor has. Questioning someone’s religion can be inflamitory, and often times that gets in the way of what we are really trying to say about our beliefs. This pastor, as we all should, has probably asked himself these very same questions, so he is able to readily offer an answer. Most christians hold beliefs that are similar to this pastor, but are unable to verbalize in such a succinct and understandable way. Also, when questioned about one’s religion, it can come across as an attack instead of an inquiry, limiting a person’s ability to really engage in a meaningful conversation.
Thanks for this, it’s a nice refreshing read in an era defined by political-religious wars (both armed wars and ideological ones).
In case you were wondering, a lot of people are landing here using stumbleupon.
Ay, another Stumbler here.
It’s a nice little interview. Honestly, if every Christian were like him, well, let’s expand that, and say that if every religious person were like this pastor in regards with their own religion, I wouldn’t have a problem with religion. The pastor seems understanding and respectful of others’ beliefs, and in the end, isn’t respect what everybody wants?
Three cheers for this guy!
er, should have added this, but eh, better late than never:
I disagree with his opinions about disease and such, but as long as a person is being respectful and permitting those who desire to get treatment to get it without attacking them, then it isn’t too much of an issue.
As I said, respect is a big draw for people, and if he is tolerant of homosexuality, even if he doesn’t agree with it, I have a feeling that he would be tolerant of medicine (perhaps even stem cell research? One can only hope) as well.
I also like how he mentions the whole “blaming others” bit. I don’t know if he would translate that to taking responsibility for one’s actions instead of blaming the devil for it, but again, one can only hope.
Ahh my people. I’m a stumbler too! I was pleasantly surprised when I went to stumble it and it was already up and being reviewed! Gotta love stumble!
You’re right x the guy was very respectful, he asked me some questions about atheism and the like and we talked for awhile after the interview finished, but it was all very friendly.
And I think most people on the site disagree with his take on diseases and such, but to each his own, right?
Yes, a nice conversation but it’s always a shame to hear a nice and normal person spout such nonsense as “disease is from sin”. England Football manager, Glen Hoddle once said the same and rightly got the sack!
I really enjoyed this balanced conversation. It was inspiring. It’s good to know that there is down to earth Christians out there.