Driscoll's Spinmeisters

A behind the scenes look at the spin doctoring that went on to cover Mark Driscoll's sins. When he unceremoniously threw honest questioners under the bus, his spin doctors were hard at work making what he did sound spiritual, godly, and necessary.

Here is a link to Rob Smith's comment on Throckmorton's blog which is very revealing:
Words spun to the church

Again, thankful for those coming forward. May God bless and keep them.

Domineering, Forceful Marriages

Yesterday I linked an article by Jessica Abrams concerning Mark Driscoll stealing the voices of women. Today I want to link the confessional letter of her husband Luke Abrams. The reason I'm linking it is because of this quote from the letter listing of sins that he committed while participating at Mars Hill.

Sin #2 that he confesses is this:
"I lived out and defended the early MH years teaching about marriage, which was domineering and forceful leadership,"

I feel no judgment towards Luke for being part of the Mars Hill 'machine'. I've been a part of a 'machine' in the past myself and know how enticing it can be.

Rather, I feel relief that this is breaking and the machine may be grinding to a halt so that it might have a chance to become a church rather than a machine.

May more people come forward, confess, heal and bring healing. And may Driscoll himself be broken so that he can heal properly. I wish actual, Spirit-led healing on him.

Link to Throckmorton article with Luke's letter and confession in it:
Former Mars Hill Church Worship Leader Luke Abrams to Current Church Members

(Thanks goes to Gem who reminded me about this letter.)

[Blast from the past link from 2012 "Stolen Hearts and Stolen Voices"]

Driscoll Stealing Women's Voices

There is already a post on here concerning the stealing of Grace Driscoll's voice by her husband Mark Driscoll. And I have expressed elsewhere my concern over Mark stealing the voices of other women through his misguided attitude and doctrine.

Here I'm going to link another example of Mark stealing the vibrant and important voices of women from God, from His church, from their husbands and children, and from themselves.

First a few quotes from the link to whet your whistle.

Jessica Abrams: "What was I taught about the image of a godly woman? She prays, learns the bible, submits to her husband, running most decisions past him. Her life is dedicated to God, her husband, children and if there is time, other interests. She cooks, cleans, supports, encourages and serves. On a whole, she is entirely non-offensive. She doesn’t stir the pot, doesn’t speak out of turn, always weights her opinions against those of her husband and church. This was my experience."


Jessica Abrams: "She is, in essence, in the background, out of the way, playing a supporting role in the lives of others. This is called, by some, godly and good.
So the question is, how is this woman going to make an impact with her life, mobilizing her unique passions, abilities and insights, if she has passions and talents outside of the home, but is cast in a supporting role?"

Jessica Abrams:"In my opinion, the impact of the woman I was called to be was limited within it’s definition. And that is a big problem.
It’s a problem on many levels.
On one level, it is a problem because it sets up a system where the relevancy of her opinion is dependent on the approval of a male.....  It also set’s up a spiritual hierarchy wherein men are more capable of discerning whether or not something is good or beneficial. ."


Jessica Abrams: "On another level, her fundamental dignity and worth as someone who bears the image of God is being suppressed."
On this one please go to the article and see how she 'hashes' this out. It is very good. If you get a chance to go to the linked article, please do so.

The last quote from Jessica Abrams that I want to give actually occurs earlier in the article but I believe that it is a good stopping place for us:
"Our pastor spent the next few years detailing among other things, what it meant to be a godly man and woman, not just from the bible, but also from his personal assessment. Rather than challenging us to ask these formative questions of ourselves, he filled in the blanks and gave us the answers. And in accepting these answers and trying to conform to this very specific image of what it meant to be a godly woman, I gave something valuable away. I gave up the messy task of wrestling with life and finding myself through that and gave myself over to a tidy answer that sounded good."

Here is the link to this informative, first hand experience driven blog post by Jessica Abrams: On This Woman's Day

I have given several good quotes from her article, but in order to get the full impact and the grace that she delivers her message, again, please go to the original article in the link.

Driscoll's Scrubbed Scotland Sermon Found

He doesn't want you to know this. He doesn't want you to hear it. He doesn't want this sort of evidence out there along with all the other things concerning his sexocentric book "Porn Marriage" er I mean "Real Marriage". Because, you see, he wants to be taken seriously. He doesn't want people to know what was in his heart when he studied The Song of Solomon. He wants people to believe that he is a true Bible scholar and not a sensationalist attention seeker.

Well, folks. He is a sensationalist.

Here is a prime example:
Sex: A study of the good bits of Song of Solomon

I have yet to listen to this all the way through.
It really is too much for me to stomach.

Satire of Driscoll's "Apology"

This is wonderful and cuts right to the heart of the insincere of Driscoll's "Apology".

All Apologies by Jeff Breakfast.

Mrs. Mark Driscoll, the Voiceless

Great topic suggestion by my friend Charis/Gem.

She points out a paragraph in the Mark Driscoll's apology letter to his church concerning Grace.
And this paragraph, third from the bottom, is very concerning.

Here it is: "To be clear, these are decisions I have come to with our Senior Pastor Jesus Christ. I believe this is what He is asking of me, and so I want to obey Him. The first person I discussed this with was our first, and still best, church member, Grace. Her loving agreement and wise counsel only confirmed this wonderful opportunity to reset some aspects of our life. I want to publicly thank her, as it was 26 years ago this week that we had our first date. She is the greatest friend and biggest blessing in my life after Jesus. When we recently discussed this plan to reset our life together, late at night on the couch, she started crying tears of joy. She did not know how to make our life more sustainable, and did not want to discourage me, but had been praying that God would reveal to me a way to reset our life. Her prayer was answered, and for that we are both relieved at what a sustainable, joyful, and fruitful future could be. As an anniversary present, I want to give her more of her best friend."

The most concerning sentences are bolded.

As Charis states in a comment at TWW:
"I’m distressed by Grace’s powerlessness and lack of a voice in their relationship. She dare not tell him plainly that it is not working for her lest she “discourage” him. NO ONE corrects MD!!! NO ONE!!!"

Mark Driscoll's doctrine and Bully personality is bad.

It is bad for Grace. She is a voiceless appendage to the great and powerful mark driscoll.

It is bad for his church. Look at all the cleaning up and defending they have to do for him all the time.

It is bad for women everywhere. Now lusty Driscoll fanboys all want little voiceless Graces of their own and are mad at any and all women who will not kowtow and become nothing so these boymen can think more highly of themselves than they ought to.

It is bad for the church. It makes us all look bad when Mark Driscoll is held up as relevant and a true representation of the way church ought to be.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Driscoll let it slip. He has given us a glimpse of just how under his thumb Grace really is.

Christian Literary Agent on Driscoll

Chip MacGregor, experienced and respected literary agent, speaks out on the evils of buying your way onto the NYT bestsellers list.

What's wrong with buying your way onto the bestsellers list?

Edited to add...

I know, I keep pointing to WTH on the best, most uptodate and comprehensive understanding of all things Mark Driscoll/Mars Hill. But just in case people aren't taking me seriously in this light, here are are two recent MUST READs from his blog.

Remembrance of Things Past

And

Linked Titles Speak for Themselves.

Don't Throw Rocks? Really?

The master Rock thrower, Mark Driscoll, is pleading with people to not throw rocks at him.

Really?

You know, Driscoll. If you don't want people throwing rocks at you, you should have never started throwing rocks in the first place.
You don't have the right to throw rocks, throw elders and church members under the bus with no compassion, and then when you are caught, think that you should get some sort of special consideration that you never gave any of your victims.

Zach Hoag, who wrote the blog post that I linked above, asked people to chime in on Driscoll's plea.
Since doing so required that I make an account with disqus, I chose rather to deal with this topic here.
Zach said: "But I resonate with commenters who would rather see Mark repentant and reformed (no, not that kind of Reformed) than see him disappear. "

Mara talking here again:
Well, I'll have to be honest. Sure, if Driscoll could repent to the level that he needs to, that would be great. But I don't see this happening.

I may be in sin for feeling this way. But from all the damage I've seen, I think the best thing is for him to disappear and become an average joe Christian somewhere and to stop troubling the body of Christ with his harmful doctrine and wrong view of women.

It's comments like this from TWW that make me feel this way:
"Mark’s book did cause harm to the woman who read it first, she spoke to me about it and then I looked at it with her, I was able to share some scripture with her and our whole group got into the action of comforting her. But the real problem is the attitude and teachings that are coming out of this movement. Women are having their spirits broken with the doctrine of Driscoll, I am so angry about that. His book really seems to perpetuate a stereotypes, and further it is irresponsible for someone not trained to put himself out there as an expert in some sort of counseling when his advice or counsel continues to victimize those already wounded. Shame on him. And all those people who support this kind of tripe. This man could not counsel anyone out of a paper bag, period. He has no desire to understand the abused and suffering women in this country, and I sincerely hope and pray he continues to implode."

The comment is found here: rebeccalynn's comment

The thing is, even if Driscoll sincerely repented this would not mean that he would suddenly begin to understand what he's done to the voiceless victims still attending his church and bleeding behind his bus. His entire outlook concerning women and marriage is warped. He is not qualified to teach and minister to women. AT ALL. Nor is he qualified to teach husbands on how to treat their wives. Repenting from his national sins concerning plagiarism, buying NYT best-selling author status with church money, etc... Repenting from these sins, even deep sincere repentance, will not heal his sinful attitude toward women.  He needs to step down and be mentored by someone who does understand and care for the abused and suffering women in his church and in our world.

(sorry for the weird white background. sometimes blogger freaks out on me.)

Driscoll Needs to Step Down

Comp and not-Comp women agree.

First the Comp one:
The Line at the Mars Hill Communion Table

Then the not-Comp one:
Mark Driscoll and His Mars Hill "Advisory" Board: Time to step down

Also, don't neglect looking at Wenatchee The Hatchet's blog. He has the most thorough, objective, info on Mars Hill that is humanly possible. His is the place to go for those who want to know more.

L.A. Times & Atheists on Driscoll

First the L.A. Times:

Can bestseller lists be bought?

Now The the Atheist:

So That's How Mark Driscoll's book got on the Best Seller's List.

Things don't look just real peachy for Driscoll.
And in all of this, I really feel sorry for co-author, Grace.

Janet Mefferd/Driscoll. Shots fired.

Mefferd is at it again.

She takes on Mark Driscoll's fake, paid off, claim to the honor of being a NYT best selling author.

He doesn't deserve it. He bought it with a whole lot of the other people's money.

Janet Mefferd on Driscoll's NYT best selling status

When you get a time, give it a listen.

Nothing illegal. But definitely unethical.

They are calling it a "train wreck". I predicted the 'train wreck' part some time ago.

And even before the predictions I made back in 2012, I predicted the train wreck Driscoll was heading toward on a friend's blog back in 2009.

Driscoll -- Fake Best Selling Author

Driscoll bought his way onto the list. He didn't earn it. He paid for it with real money.

Unreal Sales for Driscoll's Real Marriage

Shame on you Driscoll. When you have to pay this much money to buy your way onto the New York Times best sellers list, then you are definitely NOT a New York Times best selling author.

Besides being a plagiarizer, you are also a fake.

John Piper Connected to BJU

The Crazy making behavior of John Piper has concerned me for some time. I often wondered what was driving his war on the feminine in public worship. Now I know. He is connected to Bob Jones University. Even though he considers Bob Jones to be the "crazy uncle" (Dr. Camille Lewis's words) he's still connected and deeply influenced. And as yesterday's post points out, the influence on BJU goes back to the Deep South slavery, patriarchy, and misogyny.

Here is Camille's comment over at TWW:

Piper linked to BJU

The plot thickens.

Gem from a Year and a Half Ago

Dr. Camille Lewis is making a splash over at TWW. Her guest post lays out the long history of abuse present at Bob Jones University.

While looking over some things written on her blog, I came across this gem on the rape culture and evangelicalism. I wanted to share it with people who might have missed it.

"It's not me, it's her isn't it?"

She touches on Jared Wilson, Doug Wilson, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, to name a few.