Rachel Evans is calling for a response to Marck Driscoll’s recent bullying of effeminate men, here: But I have to mention….doesn’t this sound a lot like an episode of GLEE?
Mark Driscoll is gay? Don’t kill the messenger…I didn’t come up with this.
You can find a pretty solid case HERE, compiled from his friend Don Miller, who–years ago–coined him, “the cussing pastor” in his best-selling book Blue Like Jazz. (When I say “case”…I mean Donald seems to refer to Driscoll, with some detail, right along with [other] male leaders associated with…well, gay scandals. Maybe it’s a connect-the-dots thing.)
Another person to recently point out Mark’s hyper (and perhaps suspicious) masculinity, is Brett McCracken, within the pages of his new book Hipster Christianity, (pages 103-105.)
- “There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.” –Mark Driscoll [4]
- (There’s a common theme of guy-on-guy fights/violence with Driscoll. You may remember he showed, the hot and sweaty brawl movie “Fight Club” as an official church event. Hum.)
Mark, if you’re reading this, you can stop over-doing it to throw us off track. Don and I both realize you’ve painted yourself into a corner, Mark. The gig is up, dude.
Nevertheless. IF Driscoll was gay, we would love him anyway. Right, everyone? Right?
There’s a punchline in here somewhere. Can you spot it?
Is Mark Driscoll too overtly macho, and (like recent pastors caught in self-created sexual hypocrisy -Eddie Long and Ted Haggard), too anti-gay to be straight? (This is where you start to realize how silly the whole topic is.)
Disclaimer:
Am I joking about Driscoll? Sure. Of course. I’m a humorist. (I’m upfront about that here at the blog.) And despite loads of circumstantial evidence, and the writing stylings of Don Miller, Mark’s certain proclivity could remain a mystery, much like Theodicy, or atonement theories. This is all probably just a loooong series of coincidences. No biggie. If Mark is gay, or tempted with homosexual thoughts or feelings, I’m sure we could trust that he’d just open up and tell us–straight out. Or, maybe, like his marriage book, he’ll hold out on telling us that he’s had some trouble until he writes a book on the topic. I”m honestly NOT worried about it. The point is, neither should any of us be!
Cue the “It’s Raining Men” ditty.
:)
you are so funny… but now you got me thinking. Could MD ‘come out’ if he was. food 4 thought
“Fight Club,” I dunno. Now, if they show “Spartacus” at the next men’s retreat, well, there’s not much left to do but buy some guyliner and head for then next Broadway musical.
On a more serious note, I guess if Brother Driscoll can’t anyone he can beat up, he can’t worship Jesus, because (working here on the slim off-chance that Jesus actually MEANT all that jazz in the Sermon on the Mount,) if he punched the Son of David in the mouth, the Master would simply shake it off and lean in for the left-hook. The cross asks us to worship a guy whom EVERYBODY could – and DID – beat up, and who thought that meant that he won.
Scary great question. We definitely need to reconsider how vehement our attacks upon _______ and ask ourselves as Christians, “Is our faith about what we deny or what we believe?”
Thanks for the comment on mine and I’ll mark you for future reading.
Peace to you.
If Mark Driscoll or Billy Graham or anyone struggled with same-gender attraction and wanted to talk about it, this is the advice I would give them: http://spiritualklutz.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-okay-to-talk-about-it.html
If Mark Driscoll was gay I’d hope he’d apologize to the lgbt people he’s grossly offended. And I’d hope he apologize for being a hypocrite. I do think it’s funny to think about though! My pastor and Mark are friends and he always talks about how he “challenges Driscoll to a cage match”… Too funny!
I love reading your blog Michael. Fantastic point. spot on.
Thanks, Tim: Well, of course all those ultimate fighting champs are 100% straight. Same with WWF, right?
Thanks Josh! If Driscoll wants to forgive his father (?), maybe he can give you a call. Clever.
Ha! Love that pic of Mark at the top. FAB-YOU-LOUS!
Anyway, I’m not too interested in outing anyone. I figure stuff like that will ALWAYS make its way to the surface if it’s true. The hardest thing for me when this happens is to not gloat too much. It’s hard, because there’s a certain bad satisfaction in seeing really loud, obnoxious people brought to humbling circumstances, but I also want to extend them more grace than they have extended their brothers and sisters.
Fun post. Will be back! Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Yes. Grace. I don’t think I would gloat if it happened. I think I’d feel really sad for him to have made such a big mess. (My feelings are the same for recent scandalized pastors.) My point was just to expand on Donald Miller’s idea (post) today, with a bit of fun. Mark was, I guess you could say, the proverbial *butt* of the joke. Gay or not, Mark makes for good material. :) And in the end, so to speak, this might have all been more of an “inning” than an outing. Or something like that.
I don’t think Mark is overcompensating for anything within his own sexuality. He has taken a somewhat valid point and make it a caricature and thus invited such response as you point out here.
There is a bit of tension in picturing the Jesus of the Gospels and then the Jesus of Revelation. It is true that he will not return in the humility and meekness in which he first came.
So, yes, I think Mark overstates it. I don’t think UFC Jesus is a good analogy, but I don’t make too much of it either.
i don’t think he’s overcompensating. i think he’s trying to get young men interested in the christian faith and has overdone it at times. i hate to see an otherwise good bible teacher get the boogie man treatment over a few dumb remarks, but he’s done exactly the same thing to rob bell and brian mclaren.
Kyle: Thanks for responding. Welcome. Yes-The “boogie man treatment,” I see your point… plus…he’s only part boogie, really.
(we could all be boogie people, I’d say)
To your main point: Has Mark gotten you interested in the Christian faith through this means? Or have you seen this work for others?
Dan: I think you could take Mark in the Octagon.
well, the dude runs a megachurch, doesn’t he? does that mean drumming up controversy works? or could it be an even mega-er megachurch if he had a less alienating approach?
i’ve never been to his church and don’t know anyone who has, so i don’t really know how successful his “church needs dudes” campaign has been (or if it’s really even necessary; i haven’t been to a church in 10+ years, how should i know what it needs?).
what did get me deeper into the christian faith when i had very little to speak of, however, was listening to some of driscoll’s sermons on the gospel of john while i read through that wonderful book. there was no agenda, no spin, he just taught the bible. answered the big questions that pop up, illuminated some things i’m too dumb to pick up on, really helped me come to a better understanding of and love for Jesus.
gosh, that’s a lot of words to basically say “ah, he’s not so bad.” sorry.
Oh yes, controversy works.
I quadrupled my avg hits yesterday. hahahhaaa.
Kyle. a lot of words isn’t a bad thing here. And I really thought your comment was insightful. Thank you for sharing it. It’s good to know how God uses Mark, and I’m quite glad it was so positive.
Tell me about church, and why you’ve opted out.
All your thoughts are welcome here.
Much blessing to you.
Well said.
What a driving force envy can be–that’s all this slander says to me… and greed for blog hits seems a pretty big draw too… who am I to judge another’s servant? Before His own Master He will stand or fall, and God is able to make Him stand. Let’s not shoot our brother. We’re in this together after all.
Oh, no. You don’t seem judgmental AT ALL.
hahahahaaa.
(slander, greed, sniper… did I miss one?)
I guess you didn’t realize this was only in fun.
Hiding behind anonymity, a passer-by. Is that good for Christian community and togetherness?
Don’t worry, sister. I forgive you. :)
” i think he’s trying to get young men interested in the christian faith . . . “.
Is what he selling the Christian faith? After all, Jesus–present at the Earth’s creation–could have lifted his little finger and destroyed those crucifying him. While Jesus did not back down, he did not fight back physically.
Personally, I think everyone should send a copy of this book to Pastor Driscoll with this message: get over it. http://www.amazon.com/Rosey-Griers-Needlepoint-Men-Grier/dp/0802704212
Okay…now THAT looks like a funny/awesome book. hahaha Luv!
Actually, I think Driscoll is probably gay. He wears tight t-shirts and
looks somewhat effeminate. He preaches against homosexuality, and
usually whatever a preacher preaches against the most is the very thing
he has trouble with. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Driscoll is
gay.
9th October 2013
I have just listened to Mark Driscoll’s sermon, sermon 4 of The Seven, titled “Persecuted in Smyrna” and at 23 mins & 27 secs he says: “to live as Christ & to die as gay”.
A the end of the talk he then speaks specifically to the “young men”.
I think he’s gay.
Kathryn
My apologies re my recent post about the sermon ‘persecuted at Smyrna” – the Seven – about mark using the word gay – I checked it out with a senior person & they said the word is ‘gaine’.
My apologies to Mark.
Thank you for deleting the post.
Please forgive me.
Kathryn
Oh! I totally assumed you were kidding the whole time. Esp b/c the post I wrote years ago was 100% tongue-in-cheek.
(I can’t delete the post, but I think you can from your side.)