Controversy surrounds self-appointed slugger for God, pastor Eric Dammann of the Bible Baptist Church in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. In this video, Dammann is shown proudly telling the story of how he brought a teenager named Ben to The Lord by punching the boy in the chest as hard as he could. He is pictured here demonstrating his swing for the Sunday congregation
Why was Ben deserving of such violence? Dammann says Ben was “a nice kid, but one of those — he was a real smart aleck.” Said Dammann, who continued, ” He was a bright kid, which didn’t help things — made him more dangerous.”
Are we getting the picture? “Bright” equals dangerous. Good ol’ Pastor D has a way of dealing with smart alecks…A category which includes anyone brighter than he is. It appears that this so-called pastor doesn’t have any faith in God’s ability to deal with a young ‘smart aleck’ – so he’s pioneered the ‘Smack the Smart Aleck Right out of Them’ program.
The preacher describes the day he led Ben to the Lord. “We were outside one day at youth group,” Dammann continues, “and he was just trying to push my buttons. He was just kind of not taking the Lord serious [sic].”
Let’s pause for a moment, It says Ben was ‘pushing MY buttons’ – not God’s, but the pugilistic preacher continues.
“So I walked over to him and went BAM! Punched him in the chest as hard as I could. I crumpled the kid. I just crumpled him.”
“Then I leaned over and said, ‘Ben, when are you going to stop playing games with God?’ I led that man to the Lord right there,” We don’t know that Ben was ‘led to the Lord’ I presume the air was knocked out of him, and nowhere does it say that Ben responded in any way, nor does it mention his parents who certainly should have responded. Perhaps we’ll find the story is fantasy. If so, there will be a national retraction.
Pastor Dammonn is a believer in the “Slap the smart aleck out, and slap the stupid in” campaign, so he’ll be on equal footing with his young charges. Whatever his motives, churches and secular groups are upset by the preacher’s actions.
I am still searching for a parable from the New Testament in which Jesus has ‘had it’ with some smart ass and deals him a life-threatening blow (for salvation) of course.
Likewise, references to prayer for those in need of intervention may be errors in translation, with the word “Slug!” is what is intended when Jesus advises his followers to “pray” for others.
“Suffer the little children to come unto me” could well mean, “Make the little tykes suffer so they may know me.”
‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ is always high on the hit parade…But punch ’em until they crumple into a pile of compliant idiocy is up and coming on Dammann’s downfall list.
Hopefully Dammann is on the way out, as it is difficult to square his actions with the official church mission statement and history. Bible Baptist was founded by a group of five ladies during the early 1920’s, as a “family-focused body of multi-cultural believers.”