Burn Your Plastic Jesus ......Who the frick is this guy?

[Tobias March]

I saw this outside Town Hall in Sydney today. Burn Your Plastic Jesus (http://www.jesus.kcc.org.au/driscoll)

Here's a quote from the site from Mark Driscoll the organiser, said to be an effective Christian communicator -

"In Revelation, Jesus is a prize-fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone BLEED. That is a guy I can worship."

[Cam63]

He's a fuckwit, Irish.

[Paul McEnery]

Oh, do please learn more about the fuckwit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Driscoll

[DavidAllred]

Looks like yet another "clever" way to market Jesus. I'm not going to bash the guy, but I doubt I'd be in line for any tickets to the "show" either.

[Shisho]

"Driscoll caused controversy following revelations that mega-church pastor Ted Haggard used the services of a gay prostitute by remarking on his blog that many pastors fall into sexual sin because their wives let themselves go."

Cam, you're wrong. He's a MEGA fuckwit.

[DavidAllred]

"Driscoll caused controversy following revelations that mega-church pastor Ted Haggard used the services of a gay prostitute by remarking on his blog that many pastors fall into sexual sin because their wives let themselves go."

Cam, you're wrong. He's a MEGA fuckwit.

Nah, I mega fuckwit wouldn't apologize for saying it. I think he would have been more fair to say that clergy in general can be sexually repressed and generally unhealthy people. That goes for their wives -- and more importantly -- for them as the one's running around on them.

[Shisho]

Nah, I mega fuckwit wouldn't apologize for saying it. I think he would have been more fair to say that clergy in general can be sexually repressed and generally unhealthy people. That goes for their wives -- and more importantly -- for them as the one's running around on them.

His apology was almost as bad as the comment. He's basically saying "Well, okay, it wasn't your fault, but by being an ugly cow that won't give up the booty, you're not helping any either. Oh, and if you don't put out, your husband will magically turn gay." What a jackass. I'm sure it didn't occur to him that maybe a relationship goes bad for any number of reasons, communication being the big one. Besides, he knew he was being a jackass when he said it, so his apology (if you can call it that) is worthless.

Sorry, I still think he's a mega fuckwit. Maybe I'm just extra crabby this morning, but I have little tolerance for nuts like him. I've dealt with them my whole life.

[OzBat!]

I don't know which pastor's wives he's been looking at to come to that conclusion. You look around the mega churches these days, which seem to be the ones he's railing against for this hippie jesus, and those women are under constant pressure to always be well dressed, beautiful, confident, assertive etc etc. They're the show ponies for the success doctrinaires.

[ShaunN]

Dear Friends,

This is the kind of Christian who really undermines thoughtful Christianity. This is Christ for hicks.

Sorry, this kind of thing really annoys me.

Sincerely,

Shaun

[Paradox]

I think you do him too much credit labeling him as "Christian".

[scout1279]

But Jesus was a hippie. Has this guy never seen Jesus Christ Superstar? Jesus was a hippie who really hated postcards.

[PatrickG]

But Jesus was a hippie. Has this guy never seen Jesus Christ Superstar? Jesus was a hippie who really hated postcards.

Did you see the full quote from him?


There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.

I think he misses the whole theological point of Jesus being god in human form. The whole point was that he assumed a form that people COULD beat him up in.

This guy sounds like he wants to edit out the crucifixion.

[PatrickG]

Some more choice quotes:


"God hates you... God can't even look at us because he is so disgusted… You have been told that God is loving, gracious, merciful, kind, compassionate, wonderful, and good... That is a lie... God looks down and says 'I hate you, you are my enemy, and I will crush you.'"



The major blind spot of megachurches is that they tend to be very effeminate with aesthetics, music, and preaching perfectly tailored for moms. Manly men are repelled by this, and many of the men who find it appealing are the types to sing prom songs to Jesus and learn about their feelings while sitting in a seafoam green chair drinking herbal tea—the spiritual equivalent of Richard Simmons. A friend of mine calls them "evangellyfish" with no spiritual vertebrae. Statistically, traditional churches are in steep decline, contemporary churches will dominate in the foreseeable future, and emerging churches are just beginning to sort out what the future holds for them.\

Thing is... There actually is a compelling message underneath some of his boneheaded remarks that even the most theologically conservative need a higher degree of cultural literacy and need to create high quality, modern Christian culture rather than blindly bashing everything from the last 20-30 years and relying on two hundred year old hymns.

His views might cause some to label him positively cro-magnon but his attitudes on culture are fascinating. He's not scared of the 60s. He advocates oral sex and experimental sex between married couples (and, well, gives advice on how to do it).

His basic approach is that he can be a fire and brimstone fundamentalist without excluding himself from 21st century culture or labeling anything new as bad.

He's also a pretty blatant homophobe in some ways but has taken a stand against Dobson's anti-gay rallies.

He's a complicated guy but you don't have to look far to find some pretty bonkers quotes and I worry he's too much of a charismatic leader over his congregation.

Then again, I think denominational hierarchy is weird as the churches I grew up in were essentially set up as republics, with elected elders and deacons serving as representatives for set terms and a preacher who is, in many respects, a hired speaker, service manager and groundskeeper. But policy (and to an extent, I suppose, doctrine) was set at the church level democratically. The churches tended to skew pretty conservative but operationally were to the Roman republic what Quakers are to Greek democracy.

I'm a little bit iffy on the idea of a church centered around a preacher.

[Infra-Man]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/740/1191664289385zp9lv3.jpg
"To be on the cross for schmucks like this? Oy vey!"

[Paul McEnery]

I particularly liked the way he prefaced his remarks about the lazy pastor's wives:


At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this.

Hmmmmmm.

[Tobias March]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/740/1191664289385zp9lv3.jpg
"To be on the cross for schmucks like this? Oy vey!"

Yeah why do I get a Jonestown vibe off this guy....

[RachelEvil]

I think he's got Jesus confused with Conan...

[scratchie]

Nah, I mega fuckwit wouldn't apologize for saying it. I must have missed the part where he apologized, unless "I'm sorry you're such a hippie fag" counts as an apology.

[Shisho]

I think he misses the whole theological point of Jesus being god in human form. The whole point was that he assumed a form that people COULD beat him up in.

This guy sounds like he wants to edit out the crucifixion.


I think he's got Jesus confused with Conan...

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