Opposing Views’ writer Michael Allen posted an article last night which discusses Mars Hill’s ambivalent reaction to the “Jesus Makes Mistakes” segment of Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Acts 6:1-7. Preached publicly on May 4, the sermon featured Driscoll’s speculations about the boyhood of Jesus had he rode a bike, or played baseball. Mars Hill edited the section but then stood by the content. The church leaders also said the editing was nothing unusual even though the edits made the video shorter than any other video in the series. Former Mars Hill Media Team members also contested the official explanation of the edits. After defending the content, Mars Hill issued a copyright complaint with YouTube who acted again me to remove the video clip. An account of the situation and a transcript of the segment was posted here on May 19.
The missing segment has now been posted on LiveLeak:
Some have asked me about the significance of this story. I think a media empire posing as a church is relevant to the ongoing conversation about celebrity pastors and celebrity status in Christianity. In this situation, local listeners who heard the sermon live were buzzing about it. The decision was made to delete the content in order to “edit the best possible version of the message for distribution to the other Mars Hill locations, and our online audience,” in the words of Anthony Ianniciello, executive pastor of Media & Communications to the Christian Post.
There is something troubling about this. Only the pastors who are rich and famous have a media team which can surgically edit out embarrassing moments or questionable statements. The local pastor rises and falls on what he says and can’t take back. When (and it is when, we all make mistakes) a local pastor says something troubling, he must personally repair the problem big or small. If he makes too many of them, and there is no media team to save him, he eventually faces questions from those he serves.
On the other hand, I feel some tension because I also favor creating quality media products. I like listening to produced music even though I know it is the best version of the several times the song was recorded. I suppose if we are thinking about sermons as media productions and church as ministrytainment, then it makes sense to provide an edited version of sermons.
Some additional tension I feel is that I am reflecting about a system of church which I have not experienced but am skeptical about. I say this then as an observation from afar. It seems to me that the multi-franchise model of church provides a structure where celebrity status for the central media figures in the brand is inevitable. I know it works for many people, but I don’t find appealing the idea of watching a jumbotron of a person I don’t know preaching to other people miles away at some other time. Mars Hillians who like this please forgive me but I think the structure of the church has encouraged some of the concerns many of you are now expressing.
Category: Religion
Religious Right Politics and the Ex-Gay Movement Get Back Together in Texas
After a period of relative quiet, the religious right and the ex-gay movement have picked out curtains again in Texas. As has been widely reported, the Texas GOP approved a phrase in their platform last weekend defending reparative therapy. The proposed platform language on homosexuality was:
Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples. We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values. We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.
According to Focus on the Family, the reparative therapy plank language was softened slightly to:
We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.”
Behind this political proposition is a past commenter here on the blog: Jeremy Schwab. Apparently, he has recently gone by Jeremy Joel and sometimes doesn’t use his last name but according to several reports and his own blog, Schwab persuaded Cathie Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum to include the language in the platform. Several reports said he received therapy from Joseph Nicolosi. In his comments here, he said he received therapy from Nicolosi’s son, Joseph Jr. Also, he defended Journey into Manhood, the International Healing Foundation and NARTH. He now has his own organization, Joel 2:25 International. His story now sounds a little different than his story then.
I have been at this awhile now and this script looks familiar. A young believer with a lot of energy aligns with his mentor and defends his mentor’s approach in a hostile environment.
Probably a lot of people thought the ex-gay movement had gone away with the collapse of Exodus. However, as long as Journey into Manhood, and NARTH are around, there will be fertile ground for such things. Unfortunately, the demise of the political connection between the religious right and ex-gay approaches might have been hastened if not for the movement to ban reparative therapy in the states for minors. This approach has galvanized opposition and has given the religious right a reason to hook up again with the ex-gay movement. The religious right groups will support holding therapy, and all kinds of silliness if it means engaging the culture war.
Thus, I am still ambivalent about the movement to ban sexual orientation change efforts. I do not believe SOCE work to change orientation, and I certainly don’t think any political party should make ridiculous statements in support (such as the Texas GOP has done). However, I think public education was working with fewer and fewer people holding any confidence in the approach. Now, if political conservatism will again be defined as what you think about gay change, we will be going backwards.
I suppose we are in for a return of ex-gay politics with a new cast of characters datalessly shouting that change is possible.
Was Glenn Beck Right About Joseph Smith When He Spoke At Liberty University?
When Glenn Beck spoke at Liberty University in April of this year, many alums and other observers were upset that Beck preached a sermon including Latter Day Saint theological concepts. The school and Beck eventually responded to but did not agree with the concerns. Beck was especially bothered and engaged name-calling to defend himself. In addition to the odd pairing of LDS Beck preaching about his religious calling at a Baptist university, Beck’s history caught my eye. In prior posts, I addressed the accuracy of his claims regarding WWII and those who wore the purple triangle in Nazi concentration camps, the Salem witch trials, and the Bibles of British and French monarchs. In this post, I want to address what Beck said about Joseph Smith. In his speech, Beck said at about 15:56 into the video:
Days before Joseph Smith was martyred he was taken out by the sheriff.
They tried to tar and feather him several times. He was taken out by the sheriff and the last time they took him, they said you owe two hundred dollars, I think twenty-five dollars, twenty-five dollars. He said, ‘I don’t owe a man anything.’ He said, ‘No you stole a stove.’ One of the most ridiculous charges I have ever heard. At that time he reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch. This is his pocket watch that he pulled out. He gave it to the sheriff and said, ‘I owe man nothing.’ They let him go and they killed him. But on the warrant for his arrest, he wrote on the back of his warrant to his people, ‘Put down your guns, no matter what happens, put down your guns. Put down your guns and trust in the Lord.’
Beck is correct that Joseph Smith was accused of not paying for a stove. However, the incident did not take place “days before” Smith was martyred. Instead, Smith was served a warrant on July 27, 1837 (Smith was killed in 1844) to recover the cost of a cooking stove which Smith was trying out. In volume 2 of the History of the Church, page 502, the words of Smith are recorded:
Thursday, 27 [July 1837].–I started from Kirtland in company with Elders Rigdon and Marsh for the purpose of visiting the Saints in Canada. Brother Rockwood on his return home, Elder Brigham Young on a mission to the eastern cities, started with us. When we arrived at Painsville we were detained all day by malicious and vexatious law suits. About sun-set I got into my carriage to return home to Kirtland; at this moment the sheriff sprang into the carriage, seized my lines, and served another writ on me, which was sworn out by a man who had a few weeks previously brought a new fashioned cooking stove to Kirtland, and prevailed on me to put it up in my kitchen, saying it would give credit to his stove, wishing to have it tested by our people; and now he thought would be a good time to get pay for it. I gave my watch to the officer for security and we all returned home.
So the story is correct but incorrectly linked to his martyrdom. The two events have nothing to do with each other.
There are some problems with Beck’s version of Smith’s martyrdom as well. Beck said that Smith signed an arrest warrant with a call upon his followers to “put down their guns and trust the Lord.” There is a historical basis for the story but Beck adds details which make the story misleading. On the trip to Carthage, IL on June 25, 1844, Joseph Smith’s party stopped at the farm of Albert Fellows. On page 555 of volume 6 of the History of the Church, an account is given of an order from the governor regarding the Mormons at Nauvoo:
The company made a halt, when Joseph, Hyrum and several others went into [Albert] Fellows’ house with Captain Dunn, who presented an order from Governor Ford for all the state arms in possession of the Nauvoo Legion, which Joseph immediately countersigned.
The Nauvoo Legion was a militia sanctioned by the state of IL and commanded by Joseph Smith. In Nauvoo on June 10, 1844, at the direction of the Nauvoo City Council, the Legion had destroyed a newspaper which was critical of the Latter Day Saints and declared martial law. Subsequently, Smith and some of his followers were charged with unlawfully destroying the press and his arrest was sought. Furthermore, Governor Ford sought to relieve the militia of their government supplied arms. After evading capture, Smith and several followers surrendered supposedly to be placed in protective custody. On June 27, 1844, Smith was killed in a shoot out with a mob who broke into the jail where he was being held.
Back to the note presented by Captain Dunn. The note was an June 24 order from Ford which read:
You are hereby ordered to comply strictly and without delay with the within order of the commander in chief, Gov. Thomas Ford.
Here is a copy of the document which is in LDS church possession:
According the church history, Smith signed the document but did not write any message to his followers.
In contrast to a message of putting down arms, one Nauvoo Legion member said Smith had given an order to the Nauvoo militia to rescue him but the Jonathan Dunham, the commander, did not heed the order.
And while they were in jail, Brother Joseph wrote an official order to Jonathan Dunham to bring the Legion and reserve him from being killed, but Dunham did not let a single man or mortal know that he had received such orders, and we were kept in the city under arms, not knowing but all was well, until the mob came and forced the prison and slew Joseph and Hyrum Smith and wounded John Taylor severely.
As it turns out, a supporter smuggled in a hand gun to Smith in the jail where he was being held. When the mob stormed the jail, Smith was killed in a shoot out. It doesn’t seem reasonable for him to write what Beck said when he did not completely honor that sentiment himself by giving an order to bring the militia or by having his own weapon. No church source I can find has the quote used by Beck. If Beck has a primary source for that quote, he should make it available.
None of these accounts provide any justification for the martyrdom of the Smiths or for the discrimination demonstrated toward those of LDS faith. The point is only accuracy and fact checking. As with the other claims made at Liberty University, this story had its share of problems as well.
I want to thank a representative of the FairMormon.org website, who helped me put this together. I also consulted the various LDS documents noted above as well as some other LDS sources who wish to remain anonymous.
Ministers Warn Evangelicals About "Unholy Alliance" With NRA
Interesting presser comes across the wire this morning:
On Visit to Shooting Scene, Evangelical Leader to Warn of Unholy Alliance with NRA
Contact: Peggy Nienaber, National Clergy Council, 202-236-0953
ISLA VISTA, Calif., June 5, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ — The Reverend Dr. Rob Schenck, president of the Washington, DC based National Clergy Council, will speak at a news conference tomorrow, June 5, 2014, at 11:00 AM in Isla Vista, California, the scene of a recent mass shooting. In his remarks, Dr. Schenck will warn evangelical pastors and other church leaders against an “unholy alliance” with the NRA.
Schenck said, “Too many evangelical pastors default to the NRA position on guns. By doing so, these church leaders shirk their responsibility to form a biblical position on the life-and-death issue of gun ownership and use. If a Christian’s answer to gun violence in America is, ‘The NRA says,’ then he or she is wrong.”
Schenck is in the Santa Barbara area with Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney meeting with church leaders and family members of victims.
Details
News conference with representatives of National Clergy Council, Revds Rob Schenck and Patrick Mahoney
Thursday, June 5, 2014, 11:00 AM
In front of the Wall of Remembrance,
6549 Pardall Rd Ste C,
Goleta, CA, US, 93117
For information call 202-656-1252
I don’t know how many people this group represents or can influence but this is a reasonable warning. I appreciate something said in a similar press release yesterday:
Mahoney said, “It’s time for the Christian community, especially pastors, to stand up, speak out, and take action. We have spent so much time conducting funerals and comforting the grieving, now we must spend equal time working to avoid the next tragedy. If Christians don’t have answers to this problem, who does? My hope and prayer is that a national conversation on the connection between gun violence and mental illness will begin among pastors and other Christian leaders.”
Based on Mark Driscoll's Missing Video, Christianity Today Asks Theologians "Did Jesus Make Mistakes?"
Beyond the implausible explanation from Mars Hill Church leaders about why the Mark Driscoll’s sermon was edited, Christianity Today wanted to know what some theologians thought about the accuracy of the missing material. So CT’s Kevin Emmert asked for opinions and reported six. Emmert started with a theologian who largely agreed with Driscoll’s missing six minutes and ended with someone who did not. Since he started at one end, I’ll get you started at the other:
“We can distinguish between mistakes and sins. Suppose I write about Jane Austin on social media. My friend corrects me: ‘It’s Austen, not Austin.’ I made a mistake, yet no sin was committed, surely. However, sin involves a mistake of some sort—failing to meet the mark. Jesus could not sin, because God cannot sin, and he is God incarnate (Hab. 1:13; Heb. 4:15). His divine nature is perfect, and a perfect being cannot make mistakes. So Christ the God-man could not make mistakes.”
~ Oliver Crisp, professor of systematic theology, Fuller Theological Seminary
Go read the whole thing at CT.