128 thoughts on “Cognitive Dissonance Redux”

    1. I never get to be first because I live in MT time but I had to work overnight tonight. At least something positive came out of it!

      1. I’m in central and usually it’s been well and truly posted before I get on the computer. I’m up at 5 am but don’t want to be first that much to come right on the computer haha.

  3. This is the first preacher featured on SFL that I actually know and have heard preach.

    I have always wondered how other fundies (especially pastors) view him with all that sin, um I mean facial hair. :mrgreen:

      1. Surely you jest :mrgreen:

        That’s why over in the forum I welcome everyone on the plane. Don on the other hand tells people they are getting on a boat. Rather than separating we compromised and agreed that we are on a sea plane, like Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose.
        pastor’s wife christened the aircraft/vessel “The Bitter Lady”. 😆

    2. I have to assume I’ve heard/seen some of the lunatics featured on here before in various chapel service at PCC. I don’t recall any of the chapel speakers we had for the entire time I was there. I remember a lot of “great another clueless bunghole coming this week” a lot.

      I don’t know how Jim Schettler hasn’t made an appearance on here. The church he runs has a podcast I found a few years ago, although didn’t have the nerve to listen to any of them. The titles were basically exactly what you’d expect.

      1. I don’t suspect he’s actually going to pick up a gun and open fire but his hyperbole seems to express a real desire to destroy “the opposition.” If it’s a joke it’s at least in very bad taste.

        And he didn’t seem to be joking at all about wanting to box the kid’s ears. In fact he says explicitly says “I really would.”

        Not that I haven’t wanted to punch someone a time or two but I hope I wouldn’t rant on about it from the pulpit where I’m supposed to be magnifying Christ and not my own lust for violence.

        1. They are called “Fighting Fundies” for a reason… 😉
          “Step out back and I’ll teach you some proper Fundamental doctrine….” 😯

      2. …..yeah it seems like he made clar statements that prepare us for the humor following…it was jest and used as an example of what one may WANT to do, but should NOT do methinks.

        Not cognitive dissonance, but just a speakers tool.

        I was surprised how good his opening was.

      3. If you called him on it, he would say he was just joking. Been there, heard that. It’s the all-purpose dodge (to elude or evade by a sudden shift of position or by strategy: to dodge a blow; to dodge a question).

  5. Ohhhh, it was a ordination service? That explains the lack of women in the front.

    And what’s with the dude that has to emit a “heymen” or some garbled-sounding verbal approval after every other word that comes out of the preacher’s mouth? That would drive me crazy. I nominate him as the fist person to be visited by the death angel. I’m not sure boxing of the ears would be sufficient.

  6. Well, I’m offended by the bottle of water. Everyone knows that a managawd should have a glass.

    And, isn’t Aquafina a Pepsi product? And doesn’t Pepsi give a portion of their money to the Satanic church along with McDonald’s and Disney?

    1. That would be triple separation, right? I think we need to get the fundies started on that right away! Less time for “soul winning” if they have to go looking for the 3rd level everywhere to separate from!

    2. That bottle of water is TOTALLY product placement. The label is facing directlly at the camera so everyone can see the brand clearly.

        1. .3 cents per view multiplied by your massive following equals …. ahhh, i give up, i’m not good with numbers 😉

        2. I’ll take this one Shoes. According the US Government Accounting Agency, SFL averages 2,220 hits per day. 2,220 hits x 0.3 cents per hit = 666 cents per day. Coincidence? I think not.

          I just hope Darrell is tithing on the $6.66.

        4. “I just hope Darrell is tithing on the $6.66.”

          Okay, that’s the comment of the day. 😀

      1. We didn’t have Wikipedia back when I was in school writing term papers. I had to do it the old fashioned way and copy directly out of the encyclopedia.

      2. my trick was always to take the sources which wikipedia used, and stick those in my paper. apparently my english teachers hadn’t yet reached the point of ‘secondary separation’ on term papers yet.

  8. Excellent point, Darrell! I actually watched the video: I decided I could handle listening to fundy preaching today since it was short.

    I agree that he sounds normal and then transitions into wishing he could kill people, but I’m not at all pleased with his examples of being gentle and not arrogant though.

    First, he said that it’s OK to hug or even give a holy kiss to people. Really? That’s the FIRST example you can think of? In a culture of sexual scandles in the church, I personally think he shouldn’t be encouraging young preachers to be kissing parishioners.

    Secondly, he said be nice to the little guy. He gave no example of this, and by calling someone else a little guy, to me he’s actually expressing his own self-importance, demonstrating the very arrogance he supposedly is preaching against.

    The third example is for young preachers to basically not question their older mentors. Many young men are indeed arrogant, but this is a rather self-serving example to me because he’s the older guy telling younger men not to think they know more than he.

    He gave no example that showed how being humble and gentle actually applied to HIM. As far as he’s concerned, he’s out behind the church boxing ears.

    1. Your points are good. I suppose I should have qualified this as “reasonable for a fundamentalist”

      You’re right that there is obviously some subtext to his examples but at least on the surface he does seem to at least be identifying that there are issues and he’s not foaming at the mouth or yelling.

      It’s all relative, I suppose.

      1. At least he gave lip service to the idea that a pastor should be humble, and that first part was eminently reasonable compared to what immediately followed!

    2. Way to rip him apart, the preacher, I sort of glossed over the first part to be honest. But you are right. A lot of the young kids that he is calling arrogant are probably just working out their own cognitive dissonance. They are learning things and asking questions. He doesn’t distinguish between the actual arrogant douche from the questioning learner who is trying to work the crap from reality from his brain. To a Fundamentalist the mere act of questioning makes you an arrogant young College Freshman.

      1. Especially since to question the established M-O-g is to question God himself; a truly blasphemous act. These young whippersnappers have to learn the pecking order and it is up to the old alpha MOgs to “box their ears” and put them in their place. 🙄

    3. I’ve heard preachers tell stories on themselves along the lines of “When I was younger, I thought I knew everything” (only to find out how little I knew), but this one seems more in the spirit of, “People who think they know everything annoy those of us who do know everything.”

  9. The official ideology abounds with contradictions even when there is no practical reason for them
    -George Orwell

    1. As Orwell realized, there is a purpose to cognitive dissonance. When people feel pressure to believe contradictory things, they will paper over the conflict by constructing rationales in their minds that make it OK. People who can manipulate this effect shrewdly can attain great power over others– not just over what they do, but over what they believe.

    3. Junior-high school joke:
      What’s black, white, and red, red, red?

      By the way, that kitten is a trained stunt double. Don’t try it at home!

  11. I LOVE it. The sound was kinda low, though. Fyi.

    I’m a Methodist PK, and my Dad has always had troublesome parishioners causing all kinds of crap. A guy that followed him at one church was a runner, and after 4 years there suffered a massive stress-induced heart-attack. My Mom had to go on Zoloft because of it. I bet this guy is crazy, but sometimes people IN churches can be just as frustrating as the people RUNNING them. My gramma, who was in favor of gun control, Obama, and a social gospel had a dream about shooting one of the trouble-causers with an oozie. There is nowhere safe from screwed up people. ^_^

    1. terrible spelling Sean…but great points! 😀

      There are crazies everywhere….not just fundamentalism or Christianity or religion……..just think gow much craxier they would be without it!

  13. Well done. I like the new videos. Keep em coming. Of course this one is a crazy one. Easy to miss if you just weren’t quite paying attention, and he is clearly joking (at least I hope). The real problem is all the other dissonances that people are so blind to and that Fundamentalists are serious about. Those are the ones that scare me. Of course they abound, but are too numerous to list. However, they are endemic of the Fundamentalism faith, which is why I had to leave. It was either let my head explode or go somewhere else. I chose the latter. This is also why I don’t believe Fundamentalism can be saved.

  14. I have to agree with PW on this one. The phrase be nice to the little guy is just as/ if not more arrogant than a preacher boy knowing as much or more than his pastor. (In this neck of the woods that is entirely possible what with some the Jethros manning the pulpits around here, armed with their 8th grade educations and Bible Institute Doctorates and all.)

    “Be nice to the little guy” because we know the Class hierarchy in the Americanized Church puts the Pastor M-O-g at the top of the pyramid right next to god and everyone else falls somewhere underneath.

    Between that and his Death Angel fantasy one can clearly see the philosophy of Pastoral Superiority that subtexts his whole message.

    Titus 1:7-8, “For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.“*

    or

    1 Timothy 3:2-3, “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.“*

    *Emphasis added for the speaker in this video*
    **Actually those two passages disqualify a host of IFB so called Pastors.**

    1. How do you account for the fact that both Timothy and Titus seem to have left out being good at boxing ears and killing troublemakers?

      1. They learned the lesson of Moses?? …never have any witnesses… 😉

        I’m sure the Death Angel Fantasy comes from his desire to be like Peter in Acts 5:1-11
        …Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.…

  15. What is it about Fundamentalism that makes preachers so violent? I’ve heard this type of bologna over and over again. Preachers like this need a big fuzzy bear hug. <3

      2. Clint and Don, you are right.

        But couldn’t use the cool wristbands with “A4C” on them? 😯

        2. I’m glad george has found so many friends here on SFL. I’m glad to know he will be well cared for when I’m gone.

  18. Dang, that makes no sense down here!!!! Was supposed to be a reply to Scorpio. Ah, more dissonance.

    1. Of all the missplaced replies of SFL, this one deserves an award. Your comment above, taken by itself, all by itself, is that of a rambling madman. :mrgreen:

      1. Well, that much is true, at least. Of course, there are at least three people in my day-to-day dealings that would recognize that line without context.

  19. This reminds me of Mark Driscoll. He loves to go on and on about how much he hates young men, especially. How they’re not up to snuff and how they need to be cut down to size. Not very helpful or uplifting, and very fundy-esque.

    1. Driscoll would never “box their ears.” I believe he prefers to cage wrestle those he feels superior to. 🙄

      1. Driscoll is overcompensating for something. What it is; I surely couldn’t guess. 😯

        1. Really? I just thought that was his sense of humor. Let’s not fall back into the fundy trap of taking everything literally and too seriously. 😉

  20. He follows up saying “most of us want to be arrogant, cocky, and tough” and then gleefully describes how he’d like to be the angel of death! Insane!!! He’s saying the opposite of what he just said!!! Your marvel comics villain illustrates this well.

  21. I’ve seen a lot of things that were tons more disturbing than this… This just seems like he was joking… A bit nitpicky dont you think? I’m just wondering if any of you actually believe any young men were actually spiritually down trodden by this man’s sermon? Come on! lol it wasn’t very helpful or uplifting…maybe because it was a joke… Take a chill pill 😎

    1. The point remains. The “joke” is in direct opposition to the behavior he claims to espouse just a few moments before.

        1. No. Theo, he’s serious. The situation he describes in the beginning of this service (which you don’t see) is one lie piled on top of another. He demonizes a former member of his church with one fabrication after another. A pastor is NEVER wrong. EVER. It is ALWAYS the evil sheep. Just ask him.

  22. “You need to go back to Bible school and learn how to be humble” – MOG

    Um, really? Really?? Humble a Bible school does not one make. Yup, let’s all go back to the place where the cookie cutter is king, where you can match everyone else and be cool, and everyone outside the walls may as well be reprobate. I have seen few grads of Bible schools and seminaries in my day who were not assholes. I should know – I was one of the assholes 😐

  23. I lived with this for twelve years. IT is said so you could take back what you said if you were called on it! So happy to be FREE! 🙂

    1. He actually mentioned it earlier in this sermon. His defense was…

      “Well you need to pray for me about that.” followed by…”Gluttony is really eating one more mouthful of food than you need to stay alive. So everyone in here is guilty of it too.”

      Much hooting and hollering from his fellow gluttons commenced.

      1. Ahhhh yes, the old “Everyone is guilty of it” tactic. Deflect your OWN sin while condemning others for their sin. Yeah … I think there was a group in Jesus’ day that did that … what were they called again??

      2. Clearly there’s a lot more eating going on here than “one more mouthful”!

  25. I live in the same town ass this idiot. Him and his church love to hurt and judge people. This tubby can barley stand on his own and finds it acceptable to have his female teenage church members over to his home to rub his back each night and he make the girls in his school do a walk and turn so he can stare at them and make sure they are modest. He is a sexual deviant, so glad I am out of that cult of a “religion”

      1. my wife works with a teen girl from this cult and she was asking her what she was doing one night and she said well i am going to the mall then after that going to preachers house to rub his back. my wife thought she was just joking at first but nope it was truth and not the first time i had heard of it

        1. I knew he had trouble getting around but I never heard about the back rubs from teenage girls. Apparently what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander.
          Could you imagine telling you local IFB pastor that yeah, I have teenage girls come over every night to rub my back. And I do have them parade in front of me so I can make sure nothing is too short or too tight. I wonder what kind of “church discipline” the girls receive if they fail.

        2. I knew he had trouble getting around but I never heard about the back rubs from teenage girls. Apparently what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander.
          Could you imagine telling you local IFB pastor that yeah, I have teenage girls come over every night to rub my back. And I do have them parade in front of me so I can make sure nothing is too short or too tight. I wonder what kind of “church discipline” the girls receive if they fail.

        3. Not sure why that posted twice. Sorry everyone. I guess it’s the fundy equivalent of caps lock 😆

        4. yea he is a piece of work and the church he is preaching at in the video is my old church in michigan Thats a whole different can of worms to be opened they go thru staff members like most wear underpants and had one staffer rape multiple girls and they quietly fired him and then he was arrested 2 years later for the same crime in washinton state

        7. Big E – I’m not sure how long you have been coming to SFL, but for the last 9 months or so, I have learned all about the craziness and scandals at Christian colleges like HAC, BJU, PCC etc. It is nice to know that the one college I am aware of is just like the other ones.
          I guess there aren’t a lot of SFL readers who hail from that remote part of Michigan or whose experiences have been within the orbit of the “great” dr. jenkuns (loved the way you spelled it).

        8. Scorpio I have been coming to the sie now for 3 days I have had the mis fortune of attending both HAC and Grace both HAC back in the Jackie boy days in 93 then the first year of Grace, my wife was actually a highly abused and extremly low paid teacher in both the school and college in gaylord. I am glad of my time in northern mich we adopted our son when living there and he gives us much joy. But the pain of being blown out my an egotistical god-complex pastor almost did us in. Its a long story i will share with you sometime

        9. Big E – You should check out the Forum here. You will find a lot of similiar stories and a place to share your own.
          Whether the blog or the forum, you will find so many people that have gone through somewhat similiar circumstances and use SFL to vent, share and heal from the abuses and malpractice of the IFB cult.
          Hope to see you around more.

        10. Well, Big E, welcome.

          I’m a Trinity graduate who made my final exit from fundyland when Dr. Gray was arrested. That toppled my whole little world. Your rubbing back story reminds me about the story where years ago, Dr. Gray would have all the children of the church go up and give him a hug sometime in the service. It makes me nauseous just to tell that story.

          We goof off on here and have fun, but there’s a lot of people who have been hurt and abused by the cult of fundamentalism. My story is very deep and only a couple people here know about it. Its hurtful for me to tell, so I don’t tell many people.

          So, again, welcome. You’re in like company here.

        11. scorpio how do i find the blogs and such i was just checking on the site and could not locate??

  26. Is it typical for Fundamentalist preachers to use just one verse for a sermon text? Not even a whole chapter?

    1. It’s probably a lot harder to take things out of context when you provide the context. At least, that’s my assumption. 😉

  27. It’s funny how the small things make you mad – I’d forgotten since I escaped how much I always hated that “amen” preachers stick in their own rants. Not only does it not mean anything, it always sounds as though he’s providing his own agreement.

    And backrubs – srsly?

    1. Can you think of a better way?

      Of course, it wouldn’t work if you hate cats. But I like cats.

  29. After attending a conference, my pastor seemed to really like one sermon by Kevin Deyoung, about why the church (the building in particular) is important. (It was basically an anti emergent church sermon) Doudtful, I listened to it.

    In the middle of the sermon he talks about a man stealing your wife’s purse. He says, ‘How many of you would preach to him? I’d knock his block off!” Or something like that. This statement got the biggest AMEN in the whole sermon.

    That one part negated anything else he had to say to me. If you can’t get on board with the very clear peace teaching of Jesus, how can you ever understand anything else he taught?

    1. IFB fundyims and the YRR crowd clearly have something in common. And that is excessive machismo.

  30. A beard, wire rimmed glasses and a white piano (right side of pulpit). What will fundies think of next.

  31. comment left on the YouTube channel by “jenni829”

    I think its a sick shame that people can take a clipping and do this! I feel sorry for people who fall into this. Pastor Lou is a great man of God! People that have problems need to leave then and keep their opinions to themselves! Your opinion could send people to hell!

    It must be sad to serve a God who is so tiny.

    1. If God sends people to hell for their reaction to your youtube posting, what does her reaction to your youtube posting tell us about her eternal destination? I think it’s high time for *someone*, Jenni, to come down to the old fashion altar & get right with gid!

    2. Did jenni829 post this on her way over to give the pastor a back rub? (See above.)

      I had always heard that the eternal disposition of each soul is up to God, but this church apparently teaches that it’s up to Darrell and his opinions.

      Uh … What did you say you want for your birthday, Darrell?

    3. “H-e… i-s… an-n itsy-bitsy. teeny-weeny, weak, anemic, gid-like meany…
      That she waits on for the endtimes.” 😯

  32. she’s just worried that all those backrubs might not have gotten her any spiritual brownie points.

  33. oh, the little kids at his church hug him and the other leadership every service…right after they put $$$ in a special offering plate. You know—train them up in the way etc.

  34. yes Susan, I see you have had the unfortunate opportunity to play their game. They leave a way out all the time…”See, I was laughing when I said it- this shows that I made the statement in jest”
    Ummmm, no, I know you and you absolutely meant it!

  35. the second part is not a joke!! The audience is laughing but the speaker is not! If you heard the whole message, you would hear that he has just explained many of his miracle prayers that have all ready been answered… barren women giving birth, large sums of cash bring donated and his well known reputation for prayers being answered.

  36. Is that seriously the best example of cognitive dissonance you could come up with from fundy preachers? Take any sermon from Jack Hyles, or from Bob Jones I-III, Kent Hovind, or pretty much any preacher who shared a pulpit with these guys and you have loads of cognitive dissonance. The guy in this video was clearly making a joke (hint: people were laughing. That’s because it was a joke). Ex-fundies like me already agree with you, while current fundies won’t be moved by your example when you demonstrate a misunderstanding of basic humor. Find a better example. It won’t be hard.

  37. he was so drawing that never forsaken came and left and came and left again. it is right up there with earl hughes just saying…

  38. Oh my goodness! That was my preacher for 15 years! Wow! This is actually a fairly typical sermon for him, as far as I remember. He wasn’t usually too bad from behind the pulpit – I’ve definitely sat under way worse. Now not behind the pulpit can be a whole different story.

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