UPDATE : Apparently Mars Hill has chosen to remove this clip from Pastor Mark\u2019s sermon.<\/strong><\/p>\nSometimes you just can\u2019t make this stuff up.<\/p>\n
That isn\u2019t an out of context quote in the headline. Here are Pastor Mark\u2019s exact words:<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of you, God hates you. Some of you, God is sick of you. God is frustrated with you. God is wearied by you. God has suffered long enough with you. He doesn\u2019t think you\u2019re cute. He doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s funny. He doesn\u2019t think your excuse is \u201cmeritous\u201d [the word he\u2019s looking for here is \u201cmeritorious\u201d]. He doesn\u2019t care if you compare yourself to someone worse than you, He hates them too. God hates, right now, personally, objectively hates some of you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nI do agree that God is frustrated and weary with many, if not most of us. God has great things in store for us all, yet we would rather do our own thing. I get that and to that end Pastor Mark is right. In fact, I would go far as to agree with him that we downplay God\u2019s wrath too much at the expense of a complete picture of who God is.<\/p>\n
However, Pastor Mark\u2019s exegesis of God\u2019s wrath is more than a bit inconsistent. Actually, it\u2019s just terrible. Not just in the conclusions that he draws, although I don\u2019t agree those either, but the way in which he draws them.<\/p>\n
Pastor Mark\u2019s argument begins with the assertion that God\u2019s wrath is mentioned in the Bible more than God\u2019s love? How does he know this? Because the concordance he uses told him so. Here\u2019s the thing, I don\u2019t know what concordance Pastor Mark is using. Either Pastor Mark needs to buy a new concordance or he is playing \u201cloosey goosey\u201d with his biblical languages. For the sake of time and interest, I\u2019ll spare you the exhaustive word study and give you the Cliff\u2019s Notes<\/em> version.<\/p>\nThere are several words that could be translated into \u201cwrath\u201d or which speak of God\u2019s \u201canger\u201d in Hebrew and Greek. However, according to Strong\u2019s Concordance<\/em> (perhaps the definitive Biblical concordance) Biblical scholars and translators only thought those words should be translated into the English concept of wrath about 170 times TOTAL<\/em><\/strong>. Guess how many of those are in the Old Testament? About 140. Which means only about 30 are in the New Testament. How many of those are in the gospels? About 3. Even if he counts uses of \u201canger\u201d to also mean wrath, that only adds about 210 more to his count.<\/p>\nLove, on the other hand, as it is translated into the English from Hebrew and Greek, is mention almost 700 times throughout the Bible. I\u2019m not a math wiz, but I think 700 is more than 380.<\/p>\n
So how does he come up with \u201cover 600\u201d?<\/p>\n
If you listen carefully he says there are \u201c20 some words\u201d used for God\u2019s wrath. Which means, essentially, that Pastor Mark\u2019s translating authority trumps scholarly consesus about what words do or do not refer to God\u2019s wrath. Kind of ironic if you think about it. Most of this sermon is spent ranting about how people pick and choose what attributes of God they will elevate above the rest. Pastor Mark hates it when people twist the Bible to fit their theological agenda. Kind of ironic if you ask me.<\/p>\n
From simply a numbers stand point, Pastor Mark\u2019s claim that \u201cwrath\u201d is the dominant word in the Bible is factually incorrect. However, even if the number count was even, that doesn\u2019t define the message of the Bible. Just because the word \u201clove\u201d doesn\u2019t appear in given story or chapter, doesn\u2019t mean that God\u2019s love is missing.<\/p>\n
Take, for example, the story of creation. The word \u201clove\u201d does not appear anywhere in Genesis 1 or 2. Yet, clearly God creating the world and breathing life into mankind is an act of love.<\/p>\n
Or how about one of the great stories of \u201cGod\u2019s wrath\u201d, Noah\u2019s ark? At first glance it would seem to clearly affirm Pastor Mark\u2019s case that God is all about wrath. Yet, if we dig a little deeper and do better theology than just counting words, we see that in giving Noah the ark and seeing him and his family through the flood, then starting creation over a new, this isn\u2019t predominantly a story about God\u2019s wrath. It\u2019s a story about God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, most damning of all to Pastor Mark\u2019s case for discerning the dominant message of the Bible through word count is the central narrative of the faith: the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n
The word love appears no where in the synoptic accounts (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) of the crucifixion and resurrection and only once in John when John describes himself (which is kind of funny to me) as \u201cthe disciple whom he loved\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yet, even Pastor Mark agrees (in this same sermon!!) that this most central narrative of the faith is a story of love, a story in which the word \u201clove\u201d is almost entirely absent!!<\/p>\n
Simply put, while Pastor Mark is correct in his point that we should not discount the fact that wrath is part of who God is, he and his neo-reformed colleagues are not correct,\u00a0biblically\u00a0speaking, by any stretch of the imagination that it is as dominant a theme as they would have you believe.<\/p>\n
The primary usage of God\u2019s wrath in the Bible is directed towards idol worship and social injustice. Certainly these are the 2 primary sins we are all guilty of and for that God\u2019s wrath is stirred up. But the\u00a0overarching\u00a0narrative of the Bible points us clearly and undeniably to what God has chosen to do with the world that so often stirs up his divine wrath:<\/p>\n
\u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u00a0For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/em>Biblical theology isn\u2019t done through word counts, nor is it done by overemphazing verses that seem to support your theological agenda. Not only should Pastor Mark know that, but he himself makes this same argument. Which is what is so confusing and disturbing to me.<\/p>\nWe certainly should not ignore God\u2019s wrath. We do so, not only at our own peril, but at the peril of the world. God\u2019s wrath is stirred because we try to take control of our own lives (idol worship) and we ignore the people he called us to serve: the\u00a0marginalized, the persecuted, and the oppressed. God\u2019s wrath is stirred because He wants the best for the creation He loves, but that\u2019s just it: He loves. God does not hate the world. Jesus himself said so.<\/p>\n
Love may not be a manly enough concept for Pastor Mark\u2019s theology, but whether he likes it or not love is the dominant attribute of God. This isn\u2019t something \u201chippies\u201d have decided themselves, it is the gospel proclaimed by none other than Jesus of Nazareth.<\/p>\n
Of course, there is a place for this message that \u201cGod hates you.\u201d In fact, their pastor is getting pretty old and I\u2019m sure the church will be in need of a new preacher soon. So, Pastor Mark, if you\u2019re looking for a new church to add to your Mars Hill kingdom, might I suggest Westboro Baptist? (DISCLAIMER<\/strong>: No, I do not think Mark Driscoll is Fred Phelps 2.0, I am simply making the point that what Driscoll says, \u201cGod hates you,\u201d in this sermon is too close for comfort to what Phelps also preaches, \u201cGod hates you\u201d.<\/em>)<\/p>\nGrace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UPDATE : Apparently Mars Hill has chosen to remove this clip from Pastor Mark\u2019s sermon. Sometimes you just can\u2019t make this stuff up. That isn\u2019t an out of context quote in the headline. Here are Pastor Mark\u2019s exact words: \u201cSome of you, God hates you. Some of you, God is sick of you. God is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":8617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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