Tried With Fire

In the latest round of revelations, Paige Patterson was allowed to retire as President Emeritus from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a retirement package, a house on the grounds, and a stained glass window in the chapel. Just prior to this, the Washington Post broke a story of how a woman was raped while a student and counseled by Patterson to not report it to the police. Anger and tears were my first response. What were they thinking? Does the life of a woman matter so little when it's stacked up against the reputation of seminary? The sick irony is that a seminary is supposed to train pastors to care for the flock of God. Pastors who are supposed to be like their Master in laying down their lives in service. Was that exemplified? Hardly. Pastor Wade Burleson has written a post detailing the back story behind the Washington Post article. Read it and weep. Read it and pray that God will tear down the curtain hiding the spiritual abuse and misogyny in His church...

Thanks to technology, nothing ever goes away. It has come to light that a seminary president - Advised a woman to go back to her abusive husband and to just pray, knowing full well that this would subject her to further abuse. I had a woman who was in a church that I served, and she was being subject to some abuse, and I told her, I said, “All right, what I want you to do is, every evening I want you to get down by your bed just as he goes to sleep, get down by the bed, and when you think he’s just about asleep, you just pray and ask God to intervene, not out loud, quietly,” but I said, “You just pray there.” And I said, “Get ready because he may get a little more violent, you know, when he discovers this.” And sure enough, he did. She came to church one morning with both eyes black. Referred to a minor in sexually objectifying terms. Remarked that everyman should own at least one woman. This sounds more like the misogynistic remarks of Archie Bunker than a Christian leader. ...

I didn't bother following the election returns on social media last night and fully expected to wake up to a Clinton presidency. I am stunned. I voted for an independent candidate rather than casting an anti-vote, so I'm not quite sure how to process my feelings. However, I will say this: America has become even more polarized in the last 8 years, and I fear it is will continue to head in that trajectory. This election has also amplified the fact that American "Christianity" sees itself as political force. Hence all the big names making sure we knew how to vote if we were to be "good evangelicals." Unjust laws should be changed but laws can't change people's hearts. If we put all our eggs in a political/high court basket, we will be sadly disappointed. Things will only change when the church begins to address issues like race, misogyny, poverty, and the sanctity for all life down at the local level. Absolutely preach the gospel, but the gospel app...

Trigger warning: Rape, violence against women, target/victim blaming, objectification. The Bible isn't a book of nice moral stories on how to be a good person. It contains very stark pictures of the sin and the brokenness of mankind after the fall. One of these depictions is in Genesis 34. Jacob's daughter, Dinah, is seen by Shechem, a prince in the city where they are sojourning. He takes her and rapes her. Then he wants to marry her. What follows is mutual deceit on both sides. Shechem's father suggests they strike a bargain and begin to intermarry, which is agreed upon by Simeon and Levi but only if the men are circumcised. The men of Shechem think this is a small price to pay because they will eventually assimilate Jacob's family and his wealth. But Simeon and Levi are plotting to kill them in their weakness and not only that - they have misused and abused a covenant sign from God to exact their revenge. Once the deed is done, Jacob's sons take the property...