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On Mark Driscoll

Posted by on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 · 8 Comments 

Not sure if you’re familiar with the discussion going on right now surrounding a Facebook status from pastor Mark Driscoll. Here’s the post in question…

 

Rachel Held Evans, an author and blogger had this to say in a post about the issue:

If this Facebook status were Pastor Mark Driscoll’s first offense, it might not warrant a strong response. But Mark has developed a pattern of immaturity and unkindness that has remained largely unchecked by his church. In evangelical circles, he’s like the kid from high school who makes crude jokes at every opportunity, uses the words “gay” and “queer” to describe the things he most detests, encourages his friends to subject the unpopular kids to ridicule, and belittles the guys who aren’t “macho” or “manly” enough to be in his club.

What are some of the parts of this pattern? Well, for one there is this report from a 2008 conference where he said:

“The problem with our churches today is that the lead pastor is some sissy boy who wears cardigan sweaters, has The Carpenters dialed in on his iPod, gets his hair cut at a salon instead of a barber shop, hasn’t been to an Ultimate Fighting match, works out on an elliptical machine instead of going to isolated regions of Russia like in Rocky IV in order to harvest lumber with his teeth, and generally swishes around like Jack from Three’s Company whenever Mr. Roper was around.”

“Jesus and Paul were serious dudes. They had teeth missing. Jesus was a carpenter, Paul was in prison. These guys didn’t eat tofu dogs and bean sprouts. They didn’t play tennis. If there were trucks back in their times, they would have been doing driveway lube jobs on a Saturday afternoon. Same thing with King David. Yeah, he might have played a lyre, but he slaughtered thousands of guys.”

So, with that, let’s continue discussing this in the comments section. What are your thoughts on all this?

Matt Peyton

About Matt Peyton

Matt parked himself in Indianapolis, IN after graduating from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and English. After working for a year and a half with junior high youth, Matt helped form The Bluevine Collective . He has worked in various media positions including writing for The Indiana Daily Student and the Indianapolis Star, starting Moved Media, a company focused on telling the stories of non-profits, and shooting freelance photography. In his free time, Matt enjoys drinking way more coffee than can be considered healthy and reading anything he can get his hands on.

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  • Chris

    Great post and one worthy to be discussed. I’m an Evangelical, but certainly do not associate myself with Mark Driscoll. As usual the most extreme on any side of the theological aisle is the one that gets the most press. Not suprising at all, however, I do think that his comment/s merit conversation about love, acceptance, and what does it really mean to be a follower of Christ. All of us have a personal opinion on who Jesus was and Paul likewise. However, I do not associate their words and teachings with how they dressed, what they looked like, or if their teeth were falling out. I think the same needs to be said of our Pastors, Worship Leaders, etc. At the end of the day I’m pretty God doesn’t care what we look like as long as we are living out the Word and following in the footsteps of Christ. I say let the Mark Driscoll’s of the world be held accountable, but if and when they come to a place of repentance, will the Church Universal accept them as well?

  • http://kramark.net Mark Miller

    I’d never heard of this guy until your post so had to visit his website to learn more about him. His is an interesting twist on the Evangelical concept. It’s kind of an in your face approach but basically the concepts are the same offered by all the other evangelists before him and competing against him for those all important dollars for Jesus.

    Live by his interpretation of the bible (the one true word of God and his one true interpretation) and your life will be good, you will be saved and you will get through those pearly gates on judgement day. Fall short and you will surely burn in the eternal fires of H-E-double toothpicks.

    Now I do give him credit for finding a niche market for his God business. Since the “effeminate” evangelists have got the little old lady market sewed up, why not appeal to that huge demographic of homophobic MMA fans with no teeth who need salvation and are willing to pay for it too. I think it’s a brilliant marketing concept.

    He’s making fundamentalist evangelical preaching cool in a sleeveless hoodie sort of way. God is radical and Jesus is a badass with ninja skills who will soon return to give a roundhouse kick in the head to all of the unrepentant sinners who don’t support Driscoll’s view of “God’s truth”.

    It’s the same story that’s been told over and over again from Billy Sunday to Jimmy Swaggert to Pat Roberstson but it’s being told in a new way that is very good for the God business.

  • http://www.twitter.com/sssemester Scott

    I kind of think members of the Bluevine community can agree that this is not OK; Rachel Held Evans provides a clear and compelling outline as to why. The question for me is, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

    For while I feel pretty secure in saying Mark Driscoll screwed up by using Facebook inappropriately to perpetuate hate, homophobia, and sexism, I also feel great gratitude that God’s church, as part of the kingdom of God, is big enough for all of us screw-ups. I hope that forgiveness and grace come to Mark Driscoll as they have been offered to me — to all of us, I imagine — time and time again.

    In the case of this screw-up specifically, what do we do with the Mark Driscolls of the world who, in our view, misappropriate God’s word in support of a worldview different from our own? Do we lose our minds and riot? Write a strongly worded letter? Talk about it on our blogs with other “Inside Baseball” theology cool kids who agree with us already?

    I think it starts closer to home. I’m a member of the United Methodist Church. And I believe we United Methodists are called to remove the beam from our own eye (or whatever, my lack of Bible knowledge is shameful) before concentrating on the sawdust in Mark Driscoll’s.

    From my perspective, our denomination’s official stance on sexual identity (banning “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from serving in ordained ministry, prohibiting clergy from blessing or presiding over same-sex unions, etc.) does not appear to be all that far off from Mr. Driscoll’s stance. Which pretty much sucks. It’s just that our denomination doesn’t regularly post ¶304.3 or ¶341.6 from the Book of Discipline as its Facebook status.

    Unless or until we get our own house in order(a house which discriminates and bullies and perpetuates division, just like Mark Driscoll’s Facebook post and other comments convey), I believe our outrage at Mr. Driscoll is moot.

  • Jerry T

    Evangelicals (and/or those who interpret the Bible ‘literally through their own filters’)bother me less these days as long as they keep their ideas out of the political realm.

    Meanwhile, Progressives might be more “evangelical” in communicating their beliefs (and the Bible according to their particular filters)?

    p.s. heading to the gym; then to get my hair done. Confused.

  • Chris

    Looks like he’s being held accountable after all. This was passed on to me today by a friend.

    From Mark’s blog today:

    As a man under authority, my executive elders sat me down and said I need to do better by hitting real issues with real content in a real context. And, they’re right. Praise God I have elders who keep me accountable and that I am under authority.

  • http://www.thebluevinecollective.org/ Matt

    I don’t see the accountability, and frankly his response makes me even more angry and disgusted with the whole thing.

    Accountability means taking responsibility for your actions. Does he do that? No, instead he tells a story about meeting “a stereotypical, blue-collar guy who drives his truck with his tools, lunchbox, and hard hat to his job site every day,” who told him about his discomfort with an effeminate worship leader. Mark then turns around and posts a “flippant comment” (his words) on Facebook.

    I don’t care that this man had a problem with a worship leader. I don’t care what Mr. Driscoll told him in response to his concern. What I do care about is the carelessness in words and attitude that he posted on Facebook.

    Nowhere does Mr. Driscoll admit that what he said was offense, hurtful or wrong. Nowhere does he apologize. Instead what he says is, “These are big, tough, far-reaching issues. Too big, tough, and far-reaching for things like Facebook and Twitter, I’ve recently learned.”

    Again, I don’t see accountability. I don’t see repentance. I don’t see a request for forgiveness. Instead, what I see is arrogance.

    Finally, and most sickeningly of all, Mr. Driscoll writes

    “So, we are working on a new website where I can speak to these real issues in a fuller context. Lord willing, sometime in September, after my trip to Europe with my family and a lot of other people, and then some recovery time, we will launch a new website…

    The first content on the new website will be about gender, and much of it will be around a book my wife, Grace, and I have completed together called Real Marriage: The Truth about Sex, Friendship, and Life Together, to be published by our friends at Thomas Nelson in January.”

    The man has turned what should have been an apology into a sales pitch promoting himself.

    As I said before, I am sickened by this response.

    His whole response can be found here, for those curious: http://theresurgence.com/2011/07/13/the-issue-under-a-lot-of-issues

  • http://www.twitter.com/sssemester Scott

    I’m just some guy, so I’ll state up-front that I’m not as informed about Mark Driscoll as others who are more theologically well-read and connected. But I guess I’ll be danged if I can figure out why what Mark Driscoll writes on his Facebook page should matter to me any more than a sound bite from Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or any number of other Christian leaders who believe differently from me.

    Offensive? Yes. Inappropriate? Without question. Relevant to my relationship with God? Not one bit, even from a social-justice, for-the-sake-of-the-effeminate-music-leader-in-question perspective. As I said, if I’m going to get riled, it’s going to be about the injustice in my own Church’s ongoing offensiveness and inappropriateness before I worry about Mark Driscoll’s ongoing offensiveness and inappropriateness.

    But for the sake of discussion, let’s say I *have* figured out that Mark Driscoll’s offensive, hurtful, wrong, and idiotic words are an affront to me, either as a personal attack against me or in my compassion for “the effeminate music leader” and the millions of others like him. Must Mark Driscoll apologize, or repent, or request my forgiveness in order for me to forgive him?

    Nope.

    It sure would make me feel better if he did. But God doesn’t always lay out for us the circumstances that will make us feel better. I don’t think that’s how forgiveness works, anyway; it’s not always transactional. My apologizing to you and your forgiving me aren’t always mutually dependent — or even mutually present. I can apologize without your forgiving me. You can forgive me without my apologizing. Or both can be there, or neither.

    In my opinion, waiting for a credible apology from Mark Driscoll is a recipe for frustration. Even if he said, “I apologize for inappropriately using Facebook in an offensive and hurtful and insensitive manner, and I promise never to do so again,” I don’t think his critics would be appeased. His underlying beliefs — which, from our perspective, reinforce division and stereotypes and exclusion and sexism and homophobia — are what’s really offensive to us, and I don’t think he’ll ever apologize for what he believes.

    So, for me, it comes back to my question in my previous comment: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

    As it stands now, our waiting for Mark Driscoll’s next blog post or Facebook update or sermon allows all the power to rest with him. Wouldn’t it be better to take back our power and use it to spend time in prayer and reflection, seeking God’s guidance in forgiveness and reconciliation with Mark Driscoll and other Christian leaders with whom we disagree, but who strive to serve Jesus with as much passion as we do? Wouldn’t it be better to develop a blog series on “Loving Our Enemies,” or “Human and Divine Grace, Even for Difficult People,” or “Forgiving the Unforgiveable”? Wouldn’t it be better to focus our energy in our own denominational backyard and address discrimination and inequality in our own Church?

    Wouldn’t it be better to use our gifts to glorify God than to put down another human?