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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Housekeeping / Religion Mars Hill Responds

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:44 AM

After a flurry of articles and blog posts about Mars Hill's idea of "church discipline"—which occasionally veers towards the stalker-ish, with letters and phone calls to church members' family and acquaintances detailing their "sins"—the church has responded.

The response has no real surprises—it's a free country, members have agreed to be subjected to that kind of treatment, etc. Fair enough. It's their press release and they can be as defensive as they want. I only have one quibble. They state:

Unfortunately, in most of the articles and blog posts published in recent weeks, with the exception of the recent Slate article, we were not contacted by the authors to verify the facts or seek explanation regarding those cases prior publishing their articles.

That is factually untrue, at least in The Stranger's case. From the original article:

Mars Hill pastor Jeff Bettger responded to queries from The Stranger about these stories with a long, heartfelt e-mail. He confirmed some of the stories, did not deny the rest, and wrote:

I personally have never known anybody at Mars Hill who would harass, blackmail, verbally abuse, or belittle ex-members. I would actually say that over the last few years Mars Hill has increasingly become more loving, kind, generous, and humble. I have been seeing this over and over from leadership at Mars Hill, and from members. We know we are not perfect, but we believe in an active God who loves us... The way God is growing this Church, I don't believe anybody would even have the time, let alone the interest, to follow ex-members around. We have a difficult enough time maintaining all the work that needs to get done from week to week as well as meeting with all the people who want counsel and are hurting.

The Stranger attempted to contact several current members of Mars Hill, but none of them responded to requests for comment.

To be crystal clear: I sent many emails with many questions to current church members and Mars Hill HQ. Only Pastor Bettger and Mars Hill's p.r. liaison answered—and there was this Tweet by Pastor Driscoll, which I love:

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Comments (28) RSS

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"most of the articles and blog posts... with the exception of"

Isn't that a bit clunky? Is the Slate article the only one they perceive as being outside the "most" group?

Posted by stinkbug on February 16, 2012 at 11:58 AM

Them Gospel thingies paint Jesus as one hell of a critic, and monuments to him are fucking EVERYWHERE.

Posted by gloomy gus on February 16, 2012 at 12:04 PM

Re: Driscoll's tweet. I bet Roger Ebert will get a monument someday.

Posted by rutabaga pie on February 16, 2012 at 12:05 PM

"No one ever made a monument to a critic"

Um...If you believe in Jesus, he kinda sorta _was_ a critic. Constantly.

Posted by fuznotfuz on February 16, 2012 at 12:06 PM

I was going to say wasn't Luther a critic, but ya @2 Jeebus was most definitely a critic.

Posted by lazy sign in on February 16, 2012 at 12:06 PM

Lenin was a critic, Washington, Linclon, and the list goes on and on....

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on February 16, 2012 at 12:08 PM

You'd think that he'd be somewhat familiar with this guy?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c…

Posted by Valentein on February 16, 2012 at 12:11 PM

oh, that's fucking it! i'm building a monument to a critic myself--RIGHT NOW.

Posted by Adrian Ryan on February 16, 2012 at 12:17 PM

"we were not contacted by the authors to verify the facts or seek explanation regarding those cases prior publishing their articles."

"That is factually untrue."

That's why they call it "Lying for Jesus."

Posted by judybrowni on February 16, 2012 at 12:18 PM

I think Driscoll's tweet said it all....MEGALOMANIAC.

Posted by go bulldogs on February 16, 2012 at 12:29 PM

Brandon rules.

Posted by stephaniedrury

on February 16, 2012 at 12:29 PM

Martin Luther came to mind immediately. @7 beat me to it.

Posted by Sandiai on February 16, 2012 at 12:40 PM

I wonder how much shit Pastor Betger has gotten for responding

Posted by metardtard on February 16, 2012 at 12:51 PM

the role of the critic is not to inspire monuments, but to expose those who would build monuments to themselves.

Posted by JD Johnson on February 16, 2012 at 1:08 PM

Well, at least I can post a link to a pic of just ONE EXAMPLE of a monument to Martin Luther. There's lots more.

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germa…

Posted by K on February 16, 2012 at 1:15 PM

Religious leaders lie as it suits their purposes. Film at 11.

Posted by bleedingheartlibertarian on February 16, 2012 at 1:19 PM

There's also this guy:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi…

Posted by K on February 16, 2012 at 1:20 PM

Hell, I'm going Mencken on his ass. There will never be a 'Discoll' house...

http://welcometobaltimorehon.com/images/…

Posted by SweetDarkLord on February 16, 2012 at 1:30 PM

How many monuments are there to faux-hawked douchebags?

Posted by keshmeshi on February 16, 2012 at 1:43 PM

Didn't Moses have something critical to say about monuments?

Posted by Dougsf on February 16, 2012 at 1:58 PM

@18:

Dammit, you beat me to calling bullshit on PastorMark.

So all I can do is add a link to About the H.L. Mencken House.

Posted by N in Seattle

on February 16, 2012 at 1:58 PM

This is years too late, but can't we get together on a meme emphasizing that there is nothing about these guys that is not backwards and old? I suggest always using the full name "Mars Hill Redneck Church." You're not cool and urbane just because you have a guitar.

Posted by ScrawnyKayaker on February 16, 2012 at 3:06 PM

whoa, you mean the hypocritical douchebigots at mars hill couldn't put out a press release without lying? color me surprised...

Posted by pastormarksapastorprick on February 16, 2012 at 3:26 PM

@22: "can't we get together on a meme emphasizing that there is nothing about these guys that is not backwards and old"

I remember "hip" 70s bibles where everyone in the images wore bellbottoms and it'll look just as embarrassing as these post-grunge already balding grunge SK8R D00DS will in ten years.

However, their real-estate holdings will probably still be going strong sadly.

Posted by undead ayn rand on February 16, 2012 at 3:31 PM

First critic I thought of has a monument:

http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/ruskin-m…

So, so dumb.

Posted by brocaine

on February 16, 2012 at 5:07 PM

Apparently Brendan is great at writing but not so pro on reading. That Mars Hill article addressed all the issues he brought up.

Derp da der... let me go dig up some other reasons to be butt hurt.

Posted by actionattack on February 20, 2012 at 1:11 AM