On Christianity and Humility

I know. Usually those two go hand in hand like water and oil. But weirdly enough, the Bible (them Holy Scriptures that Christians espouse to adhering) says that you can't have one without the other. To be a Christian is to be humble. While many a sermon has been preached on this topic, I wonder if the ones who are preaching it should also preach it to themselves just as much as to their congregation.

Case in point: this whole Jared Wilson brouhaha over this post. He says some pretty outrageous things like this quote he pulled from Douglas Wilson's book Fidelity: What it means to be a one-woman man.

"When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to all egalitarians, and so our culture has rebelled against the concept of authority and submission in marriage. This means that we have sought to suppress the concepts of authority and submission as they relate to the marriage bed." (emphasis mine)

Here's the thing. I'm all about freedom of speech and you can write whatever you want. However, as Christians, we are not supposed to use that freedom to abuse others or be downright offensive. Other Christian bloggers like Rachel Held Evans, Scot McKnight, Matthew Paul Turner, Michael F. Bird, and others wrote various responses to what was generally perceived as a downright horrible and heretical theology that was being espoused about what "biblical marriage" entails.

Just in case you were wondering where I stand on all of this, I would like to quote Matthew Paul Turner when he said

"I find Douglas Wilson’s thoughts about “biblical marriage” to be vile, manipulative, and downright dangerous ... Any time words like power and control and authority and conquers and made-up terms like “true submission” are used in describing the relationship between a husband and wife, you’re not describing God’s ideal. You’re pretty much describing a gateway scenario to emotional, physical, spiritual, sexual, and/or mental abuse inside the confines of a marriage."


So here's the thing, Jared Wilson reacts and writes a follow-up post. I totally understand how sometimes what we intend to say and what others interpret we are saying can be misunderstood. A lot of the negative reaction to the post was the perceived notion that it was basically about the glorification of rape through biblical means. So in his post, he tells them that it was not his intention to do that but he does so with much condescension and arrogance. And it wasn't much of an apology when he criticizes his critics and tells them they are basically idiots who don't understand him. (Ok, he may not have said it exactly like that, but the tone is definitely very scathing and arrogant).

And to think that this post, and the subsequent response, was in The Gospel Coalition blog! Am I the only one who starts singing Alanis Morissette's lyrics "Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" in my head? There's nothing wrong with saying "Wow. I didn't know that what I wrote was a hot mess that got everyone riled up. Sorry about that. Totally not what I meant." Where is the humility that drips from every jot and tittle? Of course, it is easy to say that he is only human and if you were in that same position, would you act any differently? And to that I say, yes, I probably would react in the same way*. We're humans. However, I have Christian friends who remind me of the gospel and that I should act otherwise and a mother who constantly reminds me to love the unloveable. And even if I did act in that way, at the very least I would admit that it was wrong for me to do it and I was being rebellious and not act like I'm all high and mighty and act like I'm the victim.

The macarisms in the Sermon in the Mount begin with this: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." James reminds us that we need to "humble (y)ourselves in the sight of the Lord." (4:10). Before the charges against Jared Wilson turn into a question of complementarianism vs. egalitarianism, or a challenge of what is "proper" and "improper" exegesis and hermeneutics, this is ultimately a question of pride vs. humility.

"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. " - Jesus, Matt. 7:20



and scene...



*I would react like that privately, but definitely NOT publicly. I think some people need to learn what the word "professional" means. But that's another blog post.