Slamming "The Wittenburg Door"
4 Apr 2007
I received an email recently from Bob Darden, the editor of The Wittenburg Door, a satirical magazine that wields the weapons of “foolish talk” and “jesting” in its so-called defense of the Christian faith (Ephesians 5:4). “The Door,” as it is lovingly called by its many admirers, is the spiritual version of Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. In fact, The Daily Show gets its “God Stuff” segment from the good folks at “The Door.” Although one cannot help but giggle at the regular lampooning of today’s televangelists on The Daily Show, one can also not help but wonder if The Wittenburg Door is hindering rather than helping Stewart’s predominately Chirst-rejecting audience from coming to Christ. After all, providing examples of spiritual shenanigans rather than authentic Christianity only adds fodder to The Daily Show’s Christian-roasting fires.
Along with lampooning loony televangelists, The Wittenburg Door also pitilessly pokes fun at everyone who disagrees with their ever-growing politically correct version of evangelicalism. Like the Jon Stewarts, Bill Mahers, and Stephen Colberts, “The Door” has nothing constructive to contribute to our troubled times, but merely makes fun of all who attempt to offer instructive input. It’s good work if you can get it; all you have to do is crack jokes until our world dies laughing.
A recent target of “the Door” has been Dr. James Dobson. While Dobson is only one of many evangelical leaders repeatedly targeted by the satirical magazine, he particularly peeved the good folks at “The Door” by calling for the resignation of Richard Cizik, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals. Dobson was upset with Cizik over what he saw as Cizik’s exaggerated commitment to combat global warming. Feeling that evangelicals should be far more concerned about other things, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, Dobson called for Cizik’s resignation. Consequently, “The Door,” the Christian version of “Green Peace,” ridiculed Dobson into repentance.
According to Darden’s email, Dobson has now apologized for his “ill-advised attack on [his] dear friend Dick Cizik” and sought the counsel of key members of The Evangelical Climate Initiative—Jack Hayford, Rick Warren, Richard Stearns (President, World Vision) and David Neff (Editor, Christianity Today). Thanks to “the counsel of [these] godly men,” Dobson has now turned from the error of his ways and enlisted in the greenhouse gases fighting army, adding a whole new meaning to the old hymn: Onward Christian Soldiers. Dobson has also contacted global warming naysayers like Jerry Falwell and Donald Wildmon in hopes of converting them into evangelical environmentalists who no longer dismiss global warming as “earthism worship.”
As much as Dobson, Hayford, Warren, Stearns, Neff, Cizik and the good folks at “The Door” will hate to hear it, I’m afraid global warming is inevitable. According to the Apostle Peter, “the heavens and the earth, which are now…are [being] kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). In light of this, it appears to me that evangelicals ought to concentrate on saving souls rather than the planet. Instead of fighting greenhouse gases, the vast majority of which are naturally produced and have nothing to do with human activity, we should be fighting for souls.
To see how environmentalism is infiltrating evangelicalism, consider the popularity of “eco-palms” in this year’s Palm Sunday services. These big, leafy, and slightly more expensive palm fronds from southern Mexico and northern Guatemala are collected in a way that better preserves the forest. Therefore, many American churches opted to use them rather than regular palm fronds this past Sunday. The pastor of one of these churches, David C. Parsons, explained that his church elected to use the “eco-palms” because of their desire “to be a green congregation." According to Rev. Parsons, churches have “a biblical mandate” to be “conscious of [their] footprint on the earth.”
I thought our Biblical mandate was to preach the Gospel and make disciples, not preserve the forest and save the earth. Rather than being a part of a “green congregation,” I prefer to be a part of a soul-winning congregation. Well, I’d better be careful. If I’m not, I might end up getting a call from Dr. Dobson and being lampooned in the next edition of The Wittenburg Door.
Don Walton
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