Minor Local Seattle Celebrity Strives to Make Calvinism Even Uglier Than it Already Is

My take on Calvinism is here. Basically, what Driscoll adds to it is a) a ballsy preaching style that appeals to people who are tired of wussiness masquerading as charity and b) a huge amount of Mark Driscoll. Much of his “ministry” seems to rely on the notion that brutal egoism and draconian rule is the same thing as “telling it like it is”. His sect seems to do something for a number of young folk who are hungry for this in preference to the powder puff religious culture of mainstream Seattle religiosity, much as abused girls of passive mothers will grow up to marry some guy who slaps them around “for their own good”.

No doubt he has his good qualities too. The story of the tattoo guy is emblematic of how the bluff and hearty masculine virtues of guys like Driscoll can be used by God to save a soul. But the stink of hubris rises off the page. And as every ancient Greek knows, a tragedy is essentially the story of a great man undone by his own hubris. I hope that, by grace, Mars Hill does not become such a story.