Today I am returning to Pastor Paul Chappell of the Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster, CA, to mock his infamous anti-woman "filthy dishrag" sermon of November 14, 2014, as promised in my last War on Women column of November 29. Kindly follow me below the orange poison mist of the right wingding.
Pastor Paul Chappell on YouTube: Would you buy a car from this man?
Since the first refuge of a scoundrel is "I was taken out of context," I will provide my full transcription of Pastor Chappell's entire speech in the block quote near the end of this diary, from the post on YouTube, so that you can judge for yourself (since you probably don't want to listen to this claptrap yourself, but there's the link if you prefer). Here, I'll place excerpts in italics, with my comments below.
"One wonders whatever happened to purity?... Whatever happened to the days when girls said, 'I'm not going to be touched by every guy, I'm not going to walk down the aisle like a filthy dish rag on my wedding day'?"
I'm pretty sure those days never existed. I'm pretty sure young women never thought of being a dish rag as an option. If you were a dish rag, you'd have a hard time walking down the aisle. Do filthy dish rags grow feet?
Of course, most women still have no desire to be "touched by every guy". Women are selective. This is a dangerous idea of the right wingdings, that they think a woman who has sex outside of marriage might be available to "every guy".
Not sure what he thinks of sex before marriage for young men. Maybe he's planning a sequel sermon, boys "walk down the aisle like a filthy doo rag," or something.
"I don't want to sound weird tonight".
Too late, Pastor.
And then it got weirder:
"There is a standard in this church that the dresses are going to come down to the knee when a lady stands up here".
Then he asks himself why? And his answer surprised even me. You see, at its core, it's not about us ladies. It's about the gentlemen!
"I've counseled too many men to know that if we don't have everything covered just right, they're not going to be thinking about the wonderful grace of Jesus.... We're just trying to keep the focus on Him".
Oh, so women could wear whatever we wanted if only the men could just keep their thoughts on the Lord in the presence of women's flesh. Not only do we need to be covered, but we need to be "covered just right". Poor, uncontrollable, animal men's urges. How insulting to men. But where have I heard this before?
Burqas, anyone?
I have a feeling that the misogynistic Pastor would say that Christian religious extremists are in no way similar to Muslim religious extremists. Surely the above is proof to the contrary.
I get so sick and tired of going to weddings and... here's some Jezebel with hardly any clothes on strutting around the wedding.... You go to a funeral and unsaved women do the exact same thing.
Wow, what wild assumptions. It's the current fashion for women's clothes to show off her figure and show some flesh. The vast majority of women will wear what is fashionable. How dare this pastor think he has the right to judge women if their clothes happen not to meet with his approval?
For someone who likes to quote the Bible, he seems to have forgotten the words of Jesus such as in James 5:9: "Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged".
And finally, see the very scary photograph below. If you thought he's a fundamentalist creep in what must be a tiny church in California, then you'll be as surprised as I was by this photo of his church:
Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster, CA, July, 2011. Photo by Jeremy Lofgren.
How can so many people sit there and listen to someone who is so wrong-headed and the only audible response is merely "Amen"?
***
As promised, here's the entire speech, for those who want context. If you've had enough of the misogynistic Pastor, please feel free to jump down to the poll.
One wonders whatever happened to purity? Whatever happened to that? Whatever happened to the days when girls said, "I'm not going to be touched by every guy, I'm not going to walk down the aisle like a filthy dish rag on my wedding day"? Whatever happened to that day? I speak no ill against someone who has had difficulty and sin in their past, but from this day forward. It's not wrong when a couple of hundred teenagers got up here a few weeks ago and made a purity pledge. That's a wonderful thing. Titus 1:15: "Under the pure all things are pure". Now you listen very carefully. That pure Mom and Dad out there when those kids were up here, you know what they were saying, "That's great, praise the Lord". Because "to the pure all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled". I don't want to sound weird tonight. There's a reason when ladies come up here to sing, that the rule, if you want to use it, the standard, call it, I don't care what you call it, call it legalism, call it control, I don't care what you call it, there is a standard in this church that the dresses are going to come down to the knee when a lady stands up here. I've been here long enough now, you can call me every name you want to call me, I mean, just fill my name in the blank. They call me old fashioned, okay, say why, Pastor? I've counseled too many men to know that if we don't have everything covered just right, they're not going to be thinking about the wonderful grace of Jesus. Some of you men want to help me with this tonight? We're just trying to keep the focus on Him. I get so sick and tired of going to weddings and it's the bride's day and here's some Jezebel with hardly any clothes on strutting around the wedding. Lookit, you come to a wedding around here, show some respect to the bride. You go to a funeral and unsaved women do the exact same thing. You come to the house of God, it ought not to be a flesh show, it ought to be a place where Jesus is lifted high and His holiness is remembered. Well, Pastor Chappell, you know, you're in California, and this kind of message is just whooo... (gesture going over his head). It doesn't matter where you live, the Bible is the same, folks.