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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Don't Fuck Around at Mars Hill Church

Posted by on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 2:50 PM

Or they will make you sign, according to the Matthew Paul Turner blog, a sexual discipline contract.

 

Comments (23) RSS

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1
Ah, the People's Temple of Mars Hill.
Posted by tiktok on January 24, 2012 at 3:01 PM
2
Sounds like a cult to me. Which I always suspected.
Posted by Erin K on January 24, 2012 at 3:02 PM
3
Quiet, you weaker vessels. Men are talking.
Posted by He's Totally Gay on January 24, 2012 at 3:16 PM
ryanayr 4
wow, helluva read
Posted by ryanayr on January 24, 2012 at 3:23 PM
Fnarf 5
Ooh, sexual discipline, my favorite kind! If I misbehave, will I be flogged? Will I have my hands bound behind my back? Will you make me scrub the floor?

Ahem. Breaking down the will is basic cult 101, from the People's Temple to Scientology to AA to Mao and Stalin. Mars Hill is drawing their people into line like good little soldiers. Writing out your faults in close detail is a traditional technique. Say "yes, sir".
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on January 24, 2012 at 3:36 PM
ryanayr 6
@5 - If you go to a Mars Hill picnic, don't drink the kool aid.
Posted by ryanayr on January 24, 2012 at 3:40 PM
Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In 7
Christians feed off of public humiliation like Patrick Bateman feeds off of prostitutes.
Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on January 24, 2012 at 3:54 PM
8
Wow. Good for Andrew for getting out. I can hardly believe that this kind of church has such a huge congregation in a place like Seattle.
Posted by Lori E. on January 24, 2012 at 3:58 PM
bedipped 9
Any chance we could get at peek at the Stranger's Sexual Discipline Contract?
Posted by bedipped on January 24, 2012 at 4:25 PM
10
@5: Plus, forcing initiates to write out and sign their confessions creates exciting opportunities for future blackmail should they ever find themselves in a position to do the Church a "favor." Win/win!
Posted by Proteus on January 24, 2012 at 4:39 PM
aardvark 11
really?? Really???
Posted by aardvark on January 24, 2012 at 4:48 PM
COMTE 12
Hey Driscoll, what's up with the whole suit-and-tie schtick? I thought Mars Hill was supposed to be the trendy, hipster version of fundamentalism? Looks like you've been taking advice from those old fuddies over at "The 700 Club".
Posted by COMTE http://www.chriscomte.com on January 24, 2012 at 4:59 PM
Salad 13
I can't feel bad for Andrew. If he were 15 instead of 25 being "beaten down" in a small town church he was compelled to attend, it would be different. But he freely choose Mars Hill after moving to a big city on his own. He liked Mars Hill and despite any "questioning" in the past year, he felt comfortable enough to stay.
Dude was cool with the he-man-jesus-was-no-pussy-church that preaches that women are "weaker vessels" and takes the invasive approach to its members sex lives. It's an enticing deal for a guy looking for a complacent virgin bride whose church bullies and shames her into spousal submission. And now that that environment has produced some negative consequences for him, he doesn't wanna play anymore? Don't feel bad for him at all.
Posted by Salad on January 24, 2012 at 5:59 PM
14
so, there's plenty of action at Mars Hill? I might have to check it out...
Posted by Cassette tape fan on January 24, 2012 at 10:31 PM
AmyC 15
@13 - i get what you're saying, but i think the better response is to have compassion for the guy for two reasons. first, the "you did this to yourself attitude" is exactly what the church is doing and what has us all riled up. second, and more important, don't forget this guy was raised in this kind of cult-like controlling atmosphere. it takes time, and usually some personally cataclysmic events, to be able to see just how fucked up the whole thing is. when you're raised in it, steeped in it from before the time you could think, it's not easy to see this kind of thing for the heinous manipulation that it is. i give him credit for leaving when he did. it's an incredibly difficult and painful thing to do, no matter how much you know that leaving is the right thing, and being cut off from the community like that is impossibly lonely, no matter how much you know that you're better off without that kind of "community." i feel for the guy.
Posted by AmyC on January 25, 2012 at 7:09 AM
Allyn 16
@13, 15 - I agree with you both.

True, he’s not someone who needs to be rescued. He’s an adult and can leave at any time… but, he was bullied by people he felt he needed to trust in order to please God and to get into heaven. Protestants are told we don’t have to pay penance, but having a little punishment can feel reassuring (spanking is no longer considered BDSM, but pretty standard fare, yes? (Is there a font for “facetious”?))

This is what he had been trained to believe from a young age. When Christians quote “raise up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it,” they’ve got the right idea. Even with my own misgivings in the Christian faith early on, it took me ten years to fully drop my childhood beliefs.

It seems one good reason for knowing and sharing Andrews’s story is to highlight how fucked-up their system of discipline is. If more visitors, attendees, members and potential visitors knew about how the church treated Andrew, maybe the more level-headed people will get out of there before the leadership of the church gets totally power-happy and builds an armed compound in the hills.
Posted by Allyn on January 25, 2012 at 8:15 AM
aardvark 17
@14 i think some of us might need to go under cover and score with the wives / daughters / sons / fathers / preachers club. then confess. see what happens.
Posted by aardvark on January 25, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Joe Szilagyi 18
@6 honestly, at this point I'm half expecting to drive down NW Leary one day and see bodies with little Dixie cups scattered all over.
Posted by Joe Szilagyi http://www.joeszilagyi.com on January 25, 2012 at 11:52 AM
aisteach79 19
I saw "church spankings" in the blog and it totally turned me on. Hmmm....maybe I should explore this...
Posted by aisteach79 on January 25, 2012 at 3:03 PM
20
Jesus Fucking Christ.
Posted by J from Oregon on January 25, 2012 at 4:11 PM
kathotdog 21
@10: Jehovah Witnesses do this, as do Scientologists, and the Boston Church of Christ, which is now called something else, where you are assigned a Prayer Partner that you must confess to.
Mars Hill is bad, as is most organized religion. I am not a religious person, but I was raised in a very boring church in the south. I do not understand why someone needs a middleman in their relationship with God.
Posted by kathotdog on January 25, 2012 at 4:34 PM
22
An old friend of my boyfriend went to Mars Hill and was very persistent in having my boyfriend break up with me because I am an agnostic. This guy was a psycho meanie.
Posted by unopenedfiles on February 18, 2012 at 7:00 PM
23
http://santitafarella.wordpress.com/2012…

Check out this thread. Interesting one. Andrew didn't tell the whole story....
Posted by Skeptical observer on March 2, 2012 at 4:40 PM

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