Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Offensive Words from Mark Driscoll

I know that [the biblical insistence on qualified male elders] is, in many ways, the dividing line between various kinds of evangelical Christians. I believe that male eldership is like a border between two nations. If you live on the other side of the line, you're in a different country. You may still speak the same language, and you may still operate in love and collegiality. But the truth is, the way you see God, family, Bible, is different. That line has to be drawn, and it has to be kept. That doesn't mean that there can't be women who are deacons and leading and using their gifts in the church, but that complementarian issue is incredibly important.
This quote is taken from Driscoll's talk at a recent conference hosted by Mars Hill Church. Justin Taylor blogged about the relationship between Driscoll, C.J Mahaney, and John Piper (both of whom also spoke at the conference) here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

On this issue, no offense taken from me as the neighbor over in Idaho. In fact, no offense is taken from the majority in the intermountain I-15 corridor.

My battle is over whether there is a heavenly father and a heavenly mother . . . celestial marriage . . . and the nature of eternal male and female roles in eternity.

Anonymous said...

And what about the people who've been married multiple times on earth because their spouse died? Will they have a spouse in Heaven, and if so, which one or ones?

Don Johnson said...

Ben, I must be obtuse -- I don't get your point.

Are you saying the content of the quote is offensive, or the direction of the quote is offensive? In other words, is it a good or bad thing Driscoll said what he did?

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Ben said...

Don,

I'm not suggesting this should be offensive to you or me. But I'm pretty confident these kinds of statements are pretty offensive to others.

Many different kinds of people are deeply offended by the things Driscoll says and does. I think it's worth remembering that some of the offensive things he says are bold statements defending unpopular biblical concepts.