Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill Church

Perhaps not “uncommon or illegal” Pastor Mark Driscoll and elders of Mars Hill Church, but certainly unethical and certainly not what an evangelical Christian leader or his elders should be doing, especially when you’re preaching Christian integrity in all things.

Wouldn’t you say?

At first, I wanted to judge Pastor Mark Driscoll for dipping into church funds, given by people who probably are deeply bothered this morning, and for the last several mornings, to learn how their donations had been used by their pastor. Siphoning over $200,000 of church funds, Pastor Mark hired a company that has learned how to “game” the publishing industry to make it appear (not unlike Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5) that his book on marriage was a virtual overnight bestseller when it was recently released – you can read the story to see how this company does it.

You might also want to read Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property and brought a portion of the proceeds under the pretense of bringing all from the sale of property. Different circumstances. Similar unethical motivation. Both designed to earn recognition, having learned how to play games, charades, doing one thing while pretending to do something else.

So, I found myself thinking of all kinds of things I could say here to “punish” him…as in, “See I told you so. These religious professionals are charlatans!”

I thought better of it, however. And I’m glad I did.

But I am going to weigh in on a couple of points:  One is, I am frankly tired of religious leaders who believe ethics apply to everyone but them.

However, and this is my second point, as an author, I, too, know the lure of finding and using whatever means might be available to get one’s book into the marketplace. What author does not want their book to make the New York Time’s Bestseller list?  Such things feed the hunger of that little me – the ego – inside all of us for recognition, status, notoriety, and fame.  So, his actions, while forgivable and hardly ethical, are at least understood by this author.

Third, I wish evangelical Christians leaders, including Mark Driscoll, but all Christians, including myself…indeed all religious people of whatever persuasion…I wish we would just end the charade of telling other people that we hold the “real” truth…that our “gospel” is the “correct” one…that our beliefs are the right ones…that other beliefs are wrong or, at the least, secondary to our beliefs…that our way is the “right way,” or worse, the “only way” …that we are the saved and those who don’t come to Jesus (or whoever the “savior” may be) are the lost, the sinners, and still in sin.

I wish religious leaders would just stop the charade on Sunday mornings of believing and preaching, as Mark Driscoll does, that your understanding of the way to eternal life is the only way when such persons as this story illustrates cannot even find their own way through simple little matters of what’s right and what’s wrong…ethical and unethical.

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