{"id":6590,"date":"2012-04-24T11:39:17","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T16:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=6590"},"modified":"2012-04-24T11:39:17","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T16:39:17","slug":"mark-driscoll-doesnt-like-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/mark-driscoll-doesnt-like-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Mark Driscoll Doesn&#8217;t Like Critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You probably read that headline and thought, \u201ctell me something I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not exactly breaking news that Mark Driscoll doesn\u2019t like critics. <a href=\"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=5082\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">He really doesn\u2019t like them when they come in the form of \u201cinternet bloggers\u201d<\/a>. (As opposed to those people who blog off the internet?)<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Driscoll is not alone in his\u00a0disdain\u00a0for critics. Nobody likes to be criticized. I don\u2019t. Criticism hurts, especially when it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>What makes Driscoll different than other public figures who have battled critics is that he doesn\u2019t simply dismiss them, nor does he accuse them of spreading falsehoods. Instead, he tries to frame the issue of criticism in spiritual terms as we see demonstrated in this latest video posted by Mars Hill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Difference between a Critic and a Servant\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8UoO9Yzt8O0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p><p>For Driscoll, on one side you have critics: lazy, bitter, angry, trouble makers who sit around pointing out everything churches\/celebrity pastors are doing wrong without taking any action on their own part to correct the perceived problems.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side are the servants: noble, loyal, peaceful Christlike disciples who offer their\u00a0unwavering, no questions asked\u00a0support to their church\/celebrity pastor and when they do see something wrong they take action.<\/p>\n<p>So to recap: critics are lazy sinners who just complain all the time. Real Christians follow their leader and don\u2019t ask questions.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the fact that this clip is a thinly veiled attempt to dismiss the mountain of criticism directed his way, like a lot of Driscoll\u2019s theology his argument is both ridiculously absurd and ironically un-Biblical.<\/p>\n<p>For starters, everybody\u2019s a critic. Literally. All of us. We\u2019ve all criticized things or people and we will continue to do so for the rest of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>So has Mark Driscoll.<\/p>\n<p>Every time he gets on stage to yell and scream about a satanic movie, demonic exercise, or\u00a0effeminate\/n0n-reformed theological position he is criticizing something.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s ok.\u00a0Criticism, when it\u2019s constructive (and even sometimes when it\u2019s not) is a good thing. Criticism helps us do what we are often incapable of doing ourselves: seeing our own mistakes. If we have the courage to listen to those criticisms and learn from them, then criticism can be a mechanism for growth.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, there are few things we encounter more often in the Bible than criticism of the people of God, which makes me really confused as to what Bible Mark Driscoll is reading.<\/p>\n<p>When Moses comes down the mountain and yells at the people of God for not living up to their covenant with God he\u2019s being a critic.<\/p>\n<p>When Samuel holds Saul and David accountable for being imperfect kings he\u2019s being a critic.<\/p>\n<p>When the Psalmist cries out to God \u201cwhy have you forsaken me?\u201d he\u2019s being the boldest critic of all by criticizing God\u2019s fidelity.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>The second half of the Old Testament is\u00a0entirely\u00a0devoted to critics<\/strong><\/em>. We call them prophets. Their job was to call the people of God to account for not being faithful to God. They did this by criticizing the way they lived <strong><em>and<\/em><\/strong> the way they worshiped.<\/p>\n<p>Then, of course, you have that guy named Jesus in the gospels. When he\u2019s not healing sick people or preaching to the masses he\u2019s criticizing the religious establishment.<\/p>\n<p>But the Bible isn\u2019t done with criticism after the resurrection. Much of Paul\u2019s letters (as well as the other New Testament writers) are full of criticism of the churches he was righting too. He wasn\u2019t being \u201cmean\u201d or \u201cun-Christian\u201d. He was holding them to account so that they could learn from their mistakes and grow into the people of God they professed to be.<\/p>\n<p>The tradition of ecclesiastical criticism, though, doesn\u2019t stop with the Bible.<\/p>\n<p>The early church fathers, not least of all St. Augustine, were constantly criticizing their opponents for false teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Two of Mark\u2019s great reformed heroes, Martin Luther and John Calvin, were two of the greatest church critics of all time.<\/p>\n<p>Jump ahead to the modern era and we have people like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, and countless others who criticized the church for the way it was treating people.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>So, despite what Driscoll may want you to believe, the truth is that some of God\u2019s best servants were also some of the church\u2019s greatest critics.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s where Mark\u2019s bifurcation of critics and servants really falls apart\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>ALL of these Biblical and post-Biblical critics actively pursued the change they called for. They didn\u2019t just sit at home complaining, they confronted kings in their throne rooms, stood up in the heart of the temple, nailed their grievances to a church door, led marches, lived with the oppressed, and even gave their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Driscoll\u2019s\u00a0dismissal\u00a0of critics out of hand as lazy trouble makers only demonstrates his inability to respond effectively to their critiques. He tries to frame his critics as false Christians, or wolves among the sheep, so that way he can ignore them by claiming some sort of spiritual high ground because \u201creal Christians\u201d shouldn\u2019t let themselves be distracted by Satan\u2019s attempts to\u00a0thwart\u00a0the preaching of the gospel.<\/p>\n<p>The reality, of course, is that much of the criticism directed his way isn\u2019t the devil\u2019s handiwork. Many of Mark\u2019s critics are genuine disciples of Christ, concerned that <a href=\"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=4182\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">the things he preaches<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/matthewpaulturner.net\/jesus-needs-new-pr\/mark-driscolls-church-discipline-contract-looking-for-true-repentance-at-mars-hill-church-sign-on-the-dotted-line\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">the way he leads his flock<\/a> are not reflective of the Jesus he claims to serve.<\/p>\n<p>Like it or not, what happens at Mars Hills reflects on all of us. That\u2019s why we criticize and <a href=\"http:\/\/signon.org\/sign\/hey-liberty-university-1.fb3?source=s.fb&amp;r_by=2892443\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">that\u2019s why we actively try to do something about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sure there are critics out there who sit at home, never go to church, and criticize everything, never do anything about the problems they see. But that is\u00a0absolutely\u00a0not true of everyone. For Mark to pretend that it is in order to simply ignore the criticism is\u2026. well\u2026. lazy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Grace and peace,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?page_id=2718\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 You probably read that headline and thought, \u201ctell me something I don\u2019t know.\u201d It\u2019s not exactly breaking news that Mark Driscoll doesn\u2019t like critics. He really doesn\u2019t like them when they come in the form of \u201cinternet bloggers\u201d. (As opposed to those people who blog off the internet?) Of course, Driscoll is not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":6598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS: Mark Driscoll Doesn&#039;t Like Critics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; You probably read that headline and thought, &quot;tell me something I don&#039;t know.&quot; It&#039;s not exactly breaking news that Mark Driscoll doesn&#039;t\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/mark-driscoll-doesnt-like-critics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS: Mark Driscoll Doesn&#039;t Like Critics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; You probably read that headline and thought, &quot;tell me something I don&#039;t know.&quot; It&#039;s not exactly breaking news that Mark Driscoll doesn&#039;t\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/mark-driscoll-doesnt-like-critics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-24T16:39:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/04\/driscoll_hands350.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/mark-driscoll-doesnt-like-critics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/mark-driscoll-doesnt-like-critics\/\",\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS: Mark Driscoll Doesn't Like Critics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-24T16:39:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-24T16:39:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\"&nbsp; 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