Little did I know, when I moved to Robbinsdale, Minnesota, that I was relocating to a seedbed of treason. But so it appears. Not one but two jihadist casualties overseas have been identified as former students at Robbinsdale Cooper High School. And it gets closer than that, as I’ll explain.

First, a little orientation. Robbinsdale Cooper High School is not in fact located in Robbinsdale. The historical reasons are convoluted (I don’t actually know them), but enough to say that the school district includes several inner ring suburbs. In any case, it’s close to me.

More than that, early reports (the information seems to have been redacted now; perhaps it was in error) stated that the latest casualty, Douglas McAuthor (sic) McCain, dead in Syria, lived on Oregon Avenue in New Hope.

Before I bought my house, I lived in an apartment building on Oregon Avenue in New Hope. New Hope isn’t that big. Oregon Avenue isn’t that long. We were neighbors. I very likely rubbed shoulders with him at some point.

Even so, I find it hard to generate a lot of sympathy for the young man. He was born in America, and New Hope isn’t a ghetto. He had ample opportunities to respond to the gospel. Instead he joined a death cult to murder infidels and rape women.

Still, after some consideration, I can think of a couple reasons to pity him. Continue reading Who is my neighbor? A terrorist, apparently. →

Job’s Tormenters, by William Blake, 1793.

Thought thunk today: The Book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible, one of the oldest books in the world.

What does it say about humanity that in the 8,000 years since, we haven’t managed to surpass it in terms of wisdom?

Update: Ori, tedious pedant that he is, pointed out that my numbers are off by slight margin of maybe 5,000 years.

I wish I were surprised. I’m always doing that with numbers. A counselor once told me that the problem wasn’t in my brain, but in my emotions. Somewhere along the line I developed a fear of numbers that blossomed into functional innumeracy.

But with education, support, and billions of tax dollars you can make a difference. Give today through the United Fund.

Or just buy one of my books. Or double that and buy three.

The stories out of Seattle regarding Mars Hill Church are one of the reasons this past year has been one of my hardest. I hate this news. Many stories are coming forward through many venues.

This co-founder of the church, who left in 2007, says:

It has been written, spoke of and declared, that in order for a church to be “On Mission” that sometimes people need to be “Run over by the bus” and a large pile of bodies is a good thing. I know where this kind of thinking came from because I believed it to be true and was in full agreement. While it is true that those who desire to lead people astray (the bible calls them wolves) need to be dealt with, I believe we went way too far and responded with anger and self-righteousness’ in throwing people under the bus. I ask your forgiveness for my part in promoting and approving this kind of behavior, it was godless!

Run over by the bus? Is that a line from the Inquisition?

A long article with many stories of spiritual abuse appeared this week on Crosscut.com. It describes Driscoll’s inflammatory language, the congregation’s habit of shunning disgraced members, and narcissism from many leaders. Witnesses claim the church encourages misogyny and sermons are “relevant” at all costs.

Stacey Solie writes, “Driscoll also started to preach more about male privilege and sexual entitlement. This had a damaging impact on many marriages, said Rob Thain Smith, who, with Merle, was acting as an informal marriage counselor to many young couples.

‘He created enormous abuse of wives,’ Smith said. ‘He helped young men objectify women, by his over-emphasis of sexualization of women and subservience.'” Continue reading Bullies on Mars Hill →

To anyone who flirts with the idea that words are meaningless, I ask you about the difference between the words rape and affair.

Did you see the article in Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal several days ago from a convicted rapist who described his crime as a warning to others? He was a youth pastor at the time, and his victim was a minor. This detail wasn’t revealed until the end of a long piece on how hard his temptations were and how badly he feels now. He gave little, if any, time to the pain his victim feels or her family and friends. More than this, he cast his sin in terms of adultery.

“The anonymous article was saturated with a self-pitying tone, some horrifying reframing of his sin (statutory rape is not an ‘affair’), and a stunning lack of concern for the young woman upon whom he preyed,” Michelle Van Loon explains in an article about how sexual abuse is common in places it should be rare.

The editors of Leadership Journal noted at one point: “Some of the language in the article did appear to portray the ‘relationship’ he had with his student as consensual. We regret any implication of that kind and strongly underscore that an adult cannot have a consensual sexual relationship with a minor. This was not an ‘affair.’ It was statutory rape.” They have removed the article completely now and apologized for posting it.

I can’t find the full article now, but it’s probably somewhere. Author Mary DeMuth gives you all the information and response to it you need.

If the convict had taken the full blame for his crime, the article would have been better. If the convict had considered his victims instead of himself, it would have been better. But importantly, if he or his editors had pushed themselves to call things by their proper names, the reaction would not have been as harsh as it was.

In their apology, the editors state, “The post, intended to dissuade future perpetrators, dwelt at length on the losses this criminal sin caused the author, while displaying little or no empathic engagement with the far greater losses caused to the victim of the crime and the wider community around the author. The post adopted a tone that was not appropriate given its failure to document complete repentance and restoration.”

Perhaps if the man had cast his words in terms of how he excused himself at the time, he could have kept half of what he’d written, but on his suffering of consequences, he has no room to complain. No one wants to listen any more.