In light of all the recent craziness regarding Mark Driscoll and his book "Real Marriage" I thought it would be best to conduct my own inquiry into what is being said is true or not. To do this I have gone through the Real Marriage book AND specifically attended his conference at Liberty University to hear him speak on the subject directly. Below are my conclusions.
Let
me say of the bat that I am not a Driscoll devotee or one who adores everything
about him. I am not some young 20 something who is just seeking to follow the
whims of a speaker just because he has a large following. I am a 48 year rural
SBC Pastor in Virginia of a medium to large sized church. With that said, let
me express myself...
I
have just returned from the Real Marriage conference. I went specifically to
hear directly from Driscoll and ascertain if all the accusations against him
were true or not.
1)
It has been stated that, "Driscoll, of course, represents one
extreme. If the Bible doesn’t say its
bad, then God says its okay between a married man and woman. I think that is a fair representation of his
view.” Okay, I've heard all the talk repeating this view, but let's look
at some facts. Coming straight out of the "Real Marriage" book
reveals what Driscoll wrote, and I will use the dreaded chapter 10 as my
reference. Driscoll does not promote the view stated but instead applies 3
criteria to ascertain is something is okay for believers to do. Question 1 is
"Is it lawful" Question 2, "Is it helpful" and Question 3
" Is it enslaving." There is not sufficient room to quote each
section but please read it for yourself on pages 178-179. It clearly refutes
the claims a fore mentioned. Is there is any doubt in your mind, read each section and how he expands upon them individually.
2)
After listening carefully to Driscoll at the conference, he clearly kept his
views in line with what he wrote. He did not teach anything that could even be
misunderstood and kept everything explicitly in line with scripture in all
points. He "did not" teach that if God does not say something is
unlawful then it is permissible and thereby encouraged. on the contrary, he
clearly taught that even if something is not spoken of in scripture, it
"may NOT" be helpful or that such an act could lead to it enslaving
oneself, which in both points would make such an act a sin.
I
have carefully observed all that has been said, and compared that with what he
wrote AND said. It clearly appears that many have never bothered to read the
book in the first place. If that is the case, perhaps choosing to remain quiet
would be best. If you aren't going to "bother" to "check"
the facts for yourself, then you are not helping anyone but chirping in your
comments.
Well,
now that everybody is not ticked at me, I guess let the sparks fly.
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