Responses to a Few Words on Driscoll

Last week I posted an open letter to Mark Driscoll in response to some offensive comments he made regarding worship leaders he finds effeminate. Driscoll has not chosen to apologize for his remarks, but has posted a retraction of sorts, calling his remarks "flippant" while taking the opportunity to promote his new sermon series, website, and book.

I received a wealth of thoughtful, wise responses to my post through various avenues, and some of them were so thought-provoking to me I wanted to post them here. I hope you find them as compelling as I did.

I think it's important not to become distracted by [Driscoll's] view of masculinity. The real issue is his Christology or his view of Christ as a model of strength. He seems to view Christ as some sort of uberman who reveals how power is the essence of a genuine humanity. This is my initial impression just from reading quotes from him—so I may be off here. But if this is his view, then his understanding of Christ is, oddly enough, more like Nietzsche's prophet Zarathustra (in Nietzsche's classic little book Thus Spoke Zarathustra) who reveals that the goal of humankind is the will to power. The best sort of therapy for Christians repulsed by Driscoll's confusion of Christ with brute force and power (and the implication that men ought to emulate this uberman-Christ) is to read Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the Gospel of John (especially chapter thirteen with the washing of the disciples' feet) side by side and compare these two very different prophets. One prophet reveals the truth that God is nonviolent reconciliatory and infinite love (demonstrated perfectly by Christ's virtues of mercy and humility... Aquinas says God's power is God's goodness); the other reveals that truth is the will to power. Matt

From a male children's minister and elementary school educator, thank you for this post. My mouth filled with a bitter taste at the words of Mr. Driscoll. The fruit of the Spirit has been edited, the good parts redacted. Ridicule for love, mocking for joy, provocation for peace, bigotry for kindness, thin words for goodness, self-worship for faithfulness, a harsh tongue for gentleness and Facebook for self-control.

I think I let comments like this hurt me more than I should. I am bothered by them, shaken. I feel a bit broken and a bit beaten up despite a good voice whispering strongly in my ear that I am doing good and being faithful and that I am loved. Ryan

The whole thing just infuriates me; makes me sad at the same time.

Those statements that he makes are not in line with my experience within the community of Mars Hill. There is strong community. Great teaching. Love for this city of Seattle. Hundreds of people coming to know Christ.

People make mistakes. Mark says some stupid things from time to time. Very stupid things. However, they do not (in my opinion) represent the sum of his understanding and teachings of who Christ is and was. Nor do they seem to represent the church's opinion or theological understanding of women. I want the rest of the country to see what I see. There are so many good things about Mars Hill. It sucks that these things are all people hear about.

I may be wrong in this, but I think the heart of many of those infuriating statements is this: men need to step up and take on some responsibility in their families, communities, and cities. The West Coast idea of laid back guys who just play all day is often not far from the truth. And this needs to be said.

To be honest, all his statements you quoted make my blood boil. Not only his calculations of what Jesus is like, but his references to feminine attributes. Using the beauty and uniqueness of women as a negative makes me see red.

The truth is this: Jesus was God, a man who I view as being well balanced. One ready to fight if need be, but preferred not to. A man who worked hard calluses into hands yet spoke like a poet. He was not a singular stereotype like a "pacifist" or a "warrior." He was so much more. He was something we should strive to be. Someone balanced. The straight and narrow never made sense to me till I understood this.

We are a culture of extremes. Left or right. Black or white. War or peace. We like things simplified. Tangible. We group in the extremes. That is why the narrow path is so hard. It defies our natural inclination to choose an extreme. It forces us to think because things are not always simple as this or that.

Christ was not this way and is hard for us to wrap or heads around that. Often we exaggerate the aspects of Christ we feel culture has forgotten about. And this is dangerous. Jared

Image: Dean Ayres