Will all the controversy brewing around Mars Hill, I suppose it was only a matter of time for the major news reporters of this great city picked it up. The Seattle Times, being one, wrote an article about everythin’ goin’ down, as did the Stranger. The Stranger intrigues me, so whenever there is something about MH I go check it out.

This weekend, an article was written about the bylaws, the elders and such and the Slog went crazy. There are so many funny things talked about on that thing. Many people referenced the bible in it too, with things like burning cities and Jericho. There were some very good rebuttals to what I think are biased, ignorant comments. One man commented about how he had been through Bible College and worked at a church like MH, and so felt that gave him the right to pass judgment on MH.

People speak of intolerance, how horrible christians are, particularly the ones that are a part of the “fanatical right wing cult” that is MH, and how Pastor Mark should be run out of town.

I agree with a rebuttal post about this – Where is the great tolerance Seattle is supposed to be known for, huh? Everything is to be tolerated, unless you are a Christan or mention the name of Jesus in a way that is not swearing!

Abba, bless this city, do your will in it, and please bring it home to you!

Today, I have come to the re-realization that I am truly and insanely blessed.

I feel like compiling a short list of things I can be thankful for, right now -

1) The fact that I have a computer, the internet, can type and read what I am typing.

2) The fact that I have a roof over my head and family under it that love me too!

3) The fact that I am part of an amazing church, filled with very talented, blessed people who help me to used my talents to serve my awesome God.

4) The fact that I have friends, like one who had coffee with me today, who love me and are willing to put up with me and love me despite my failings.

5) The fact that I live in a country of freedom and education – as a woman I can be educated at a public school and have been given the right to learn, that is a wonderful thing.

6) The fact of motorized vehicles – without the bus to get me to school in the morning, I would be a very depressed person.

7) The fact of a loving Savior, and a jealous God. He refuses to leave me as I am, He loves me and that means he wants me to be better than I am, that He wants me to desire to be like Him.

God is good! All the time!
All the time! God is good!

I was reading a thing about Pastor Mark and the preaching at Mars Hill this morning and I came across this and I just had to laugh.

“Although I have never attended in person, I have long been skeptical about the teaching of Mark Driscoll. I used to frequent Mars Hill’s “Midrash” message board a few years ago, and finally stopped when I could no longer put up with the erroneous theology–specifically in the form of outright misogyny–spewing from Driscoll’s posts. I know it might be an extreme accusation, but I’m not surprised that the student writer mentioned that some think Mars Hill is a cult. The dominating personality of the church leader, the outrageous, my-way-or-the-highway theology, and the extreme devotions of its members are suspicious at best.” – Looking Closer Journal, commenter kate.

I love blogging about bloggers who blogged about Pastor Mark. The quote above is from a page I found when looking for things concerning the West Seattle Baptisms. This next section of quotes and pages are from a blog hunt after a woman at my Starbucks was talking about a pastor she thought was Pastor Mark, but was something I had never heard before. So to become more knowledgeable, like Pastor Mark has joked about in the past, I turned to blogs.

This one I found very interesting. This man, who included Pastor Mark in a book he wrote, quoted Pastor Mark as saying

“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.’”

Now, I’m sure that he said these things, but the funny part is, there is nothing on the page about grace, which Pastor Mark talks about constantly. Jesus does hate us, which Psalm 5 testifies to

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers. – Psalm 5:4-5

But as a good and just God, Jesus came to earth. The man who quoted Pastor Mark above didn’t even get to the grace of God.

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! – Ephesians 2:1-5 (The Message)

Living in Seattle, The Stranger is something I come across all the time, and some of the best bloggers are found chatting it up on the forums of The Stranger’s website.

One thing I noticed is their passion for what they believe. They are set in stone about their beliefs and think we are crazy because of ours. Well, that’s one thing we defiantly agree on. Because of my world view they think I am crazy and their world view makes no sense to me. The only reasoning I can give is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:27-

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

Well, now all I can do is pray for my city and live in a way that glorifies the One who made it, in hopes He will bring it to Himself.