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Tony Jones on Mark Driscoll: What came first, the thug or the theology?
This drawing is inspired by the Ouroboros Snake... of the snake eating its own tail.
What came first? The chicken or the egg? What came first? The thug or the theology? I read Tony Jones' thoughts on Mark Driscoll.
Jones has always admired Driscoll, maybe envies him a little, wants the best for him, believes he can be redeemed, and suggests that things can be restored.
What I found most interesting though is that Jones believes the problem with Driscoll is theological.
- He titles his post is "Thoughts about Mark Driscoll"
- He talks about the "heady" days of publishing and speaking.
- He dismisses his disturbing personality traits by his use of the word "sure".
- He says it isn't a moral issue (evil) but that he is passionate.
- He says more than once that Driscoll is "extremely smart" or "brilliant".
- He suggests that he will "see" (as in "think"?) his way out of this.
- He writes that Driscoll has just embraced a toxic version of theology.
- He hopes that Driscoll will turn away from this toxic theology.
- He concludes therefore that Driscoll is not the problem, but his theology.
But my question is‚ What came first? The thug or the theology?
That is, did Driscoll become the focus of concern because of his theology? Or was it because of his behavior?
I'm concerned that Jones' post reflects the refusal of the church to understand spiritual abuse. It neglects the pathology of its abusive leaders. I don't think this is being fair to the victims or the perpetrators of spiritual abuse. People are victims of not just a bad theology, but a pathological cruelty.
I don't think Driscoll's theology made this happen. Driscoll "embraced" his toxic version of theology because it aligned with his moral compass. It fit his personality. It worked for him to achieve his goals. Then it manifested the worst in him. Then he continued to develop his toxic theology in order to make more room for his pathological behavior. Mars Hill Church too.
Jones' sentence, "It could have happened to any of us." is true, because I believe we all participate in this dynamic. Theology is our creation. It is a reflection of our drives and desires.
Then, not satisfied to only be the product of our drives and desires, it also becomes the producer of them. Theology is a vicious cycle of our desperate need to understand and control our universe.
Step into this cycle at any point and you can see that we are both the root and fruit of our theology and pathology.
And yes, it spins out of control by manifesting itself in toxic, controlling, and abusive behavior. Nothing can be done about bad theology because of free thought and speech.
But we can do something when this manifests itself in bad behavior. Cruel theology is a nuisance. Cruel behavior is unacceptable.
When Driscoll thinks bully to his people, we can say please stop. But when he actually bullies people, we can step in and say you will stop now!
I don't think this is a theological issue. I think it is a pathological one. Not just for Driscoll and Jones, but for the entire church.
If we would be healed, our theology would take care of itself.
1080 comments
Julie, I have so much love for you, and I don’t even know you. Your courage is amazing, and your stength is inspiring. All the love to you and your kids.
My 3 kids are wonderful, brave and courageous. They live with me full time due to the discoveries in the custody evaluation and psych evals. MN law awarded the minimum visitation. My children and I attend weekly therapy to cope with the destructive personality disordered family members we must interact with on the proverbial “every other weekend.” They have learned coping tools and mechanisms and are incredible kids. They have survived such as being weighed with the remark, “Your mother is making you all fat.” That’s just one gem. Too many to list here. I am all for raising children who readily admit mistakes and have the ability to wholeheartedly say I am sorry. The ability to say I am sorry truly is the NPD litmus test. In my family we say, please forgive me. And then we move on. I’ll lead by example. I am sorry…for my part that may have hurt you or the Emergent “Discernment Team” I forgive you all. I think going public is wonderful and since public records do not include sex emails, psych evals, hospital reports, phone calls from Emergent leaders, MRIs or discernment letters….I will post them all here. Why the hell would I or anyone ever make this nightmare up? Isn’t it a lot more plausible it happened? Especially if you live together now? So, maybe I wasn’t “insecure” or “paranoid” to wonder. And maybe you weren’t just “platonic” and they were not just “flirtatious emails.” I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t ask MY male friends to be “hard pressed on me and in me : )” Don’t forget the smiley face as it is very important to the email sent to the married man. Can I get an amen? Or do we need to keep going? A simple I’m sorry for my part in the sordid tale can wrap this up, otherwise I have more stories…how about the one where the Edina police chaplain throws his wife across the room tearing her shoulder and her 7 year old helps her up and moves the furniture from off of her? Then when she goes to call 911 he says, “They’ll never believe you. Haven’t you ever heard of the code of the blue?” More? Or no? It’s all very sad but sadder still that a choking death need to occur before a confession. I can email all corroborating evidence to the naked pastor for verification. In the name of everything being public and full transparency…great idea. I think we are getting somewhere. Please note every Easter I send an email asking we bury the hatchet in the name of God, and for our kids and because we profess to be Christians….can. not. do. It. silent treatment and punishment only for causing the narcissistic injury. I must pay. I had really hoped light could come from this darkness…I still hope but I just don’t think they’re capable. Oh, and to answer the blogpost question? It’s Pathology before Theology! Peace and thank you all who PMd me and emailed me. This was very cathartic and healing. A beautiful person sent me a poem about abuse and the silencing. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you naked pastor for allowing me to speak freely. Love, light, truth and forgiveness. Yes, Doug! Let goodness flow. I’ll start…
David,
Our sincerest apologies for driving Tony away from this blog, never to return… however will you deal with that loss of status?
Tony,
Why on earth would you assume we haven’t looked up the public records on this? It seems the courts found Julie sane enough to give her custody of the kids… you know, the ones you are trying to enlist the aid of the entire internet to keep them from learning the truth. As far as I’m concerned, the matter has already been adjudicated but there’s been an attempt at obscuring the facts of the case by those that have the megaphone.
To be clear, I don’t think anyone’s asked for a defence… just an acknowledgement. And perhaps apologies where due. Good thing nobody’s holding their breath.
Um … Did he just invoke Maude Flanders?
“Won’t someone PLEASE think of the children???”
I noticed Tony didn’t deny that any of this happened.
As my husband, who works in criminal justice, always says - people are always very concerned for their children’s welfare after the fact. When they need to be bonded out of jail (but my children need me to work, and take care of them), to go home for the holidays (my children need their parent now), to have a lesser sentence (my children need me with them) … and yet there was no concern for these children when the parent was driving drunk with his kids in the car … or huffing paint while pregnant … or stealing a pocketful of makeup from Walmart … or beating their mother.
Nice try, Tony. Something tells me this is not the first time you’ve used your children as pawns.