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Friday, February 3, 2012

Religion A Pastor on "Church Discipline"

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 4:43 PM

A pastor who—I presume—isn't affiliated with Mars Hill put up a post on The Broken Telegraph about "church discipline," as well as a partial answer to the question I posed in this story about Mars Hill Church and its way of exercising "church discipline": When does submission to a pastor's human authority go too far?

He/she writes:

We’re called to hold each other accountable because, if we’re going to wear the t-shirt that says we belong to Jesus, we need to help each other look like Jesus.

This is, of course, precisely where the rub comes because without severe limitations on this action, we run the risk of becoming the Taliban, both in our levels of scrutiny, and punishment, and hypocrisy. Unrestricted control of fallen people, in the name of ‘discipline’ doesn’t just turn people off from a particular local church - it turns people off to Christ. For that reason, the misuse of discipline needs to be held up to the light of scripture and exposed.

The pastor posted anonymously, which is too bad: An argument has so much more force when the arguer shows the courage of his convictions in public. But it's a start.

And it's a start for Christians who don't want to abdicate their reputations to loudmouths—behind the pulpit, on the campaign trail, wherever—who do not, in fact, represent them.

Comments (9) RSS

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This guy Driscoll should really be more sex positive. Let's see he's channeled his energy into submission, discipline and makes sure to make fun of "queer"-style conceptions of Jesus (I guess queer means taking care of the poor/indigent and encouraging peace/tolerance) and doesn't pass up chances to call homosex sinful.

It's got Haggard written all over it.

Posted by dirac on February 3, 2012 at 5:41 PM

it's disappointing to me that this church grew IN SEATTLE. i moved here partially because it was such an an unchurched city (plus no humidity). maybe the unchurched are easier pickins.

Posted by Max Solomon on February 3, 2012 at 5:55 PM

Christianity: Because math and science are hard.

Posted by BetarayBilly2 on February 3, 2012 at 6:50 PM

@2 - I moved because their are practically no mosquitos, and absolutely no chiggers. Bugs are one of the many reasons the midwest is intolerable.

Posted by Free Lunch on February 3, 2012 at 6:57 PM

The pastor poster doesn't need to put forward his/her name. A feud between churches is fun if you like dog fights but he or she sounds like a reasonable person and probably doesn't want his/her congregation to have to get involved.

Posted by thatsnotright on February 3, 2012 at 10:28 PM

I like to imagine that most of the Mars Hill people are also recent immigrants to Seattle*, who missed the mega-churches and extreme Christianity of whatever part of flyover country they grew up in.

So, basically, I blame newcomers. :P

*I have no actual evidence for this. It just makes me feel better.

Posted by SLCamper on February 3, 2012 at 11:09 PM

Can we PLEASE have a campaign which requires all people of good conscience to always say "Mars Hill Redneck Church?" Their philosophy is pure backward-ass country-fuck. They need to be constantly ridiculed and reminded that they are not urban or cool in any way.

Posted by ScrawnyKayaker on February 4, 2012 at 12:09 AM

It's clearly a weakness for Christian in the 21st century that it has to tip-toe around the issue of being too dogmatic. The very fact that the pastor in this post admits that they run the risk of becoming the Taliban really tips their hand.

The great unwashed Christian masses know at least enough about how much is too much before they become disillusioned ("turned off to Jesus" as he puts it) with the institution. Which means that people DO have a sense of when the sermon (and the sermonizer) are full of bullshit.

I saw, let Mars Hill get more dogmatic and more fundamentalist. They will preach themselves out of a job.

Posted by rootwinterguard

on February 4, 2012 at 9:37 AM

I think churches like Mars Hill appeal to the same sort of people that buy into things like real estate marketing. Keep in mind that while we have a town full of big thinkers, a lot of them think big only in the area that they have training in: basic software coding, aerospace engineering, etc. A church that makes them feel "hip" and "relevant", while still telling them how to think, and reinforces their worldview, is very attractive to those sorts.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay