Driscoll: "Men are idiots"

By Josh Reighley on January 4, 2007 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I really wish that Mark Driscoll's critics would listen to more of his sermons. Most of the bloggers who I hear criticizing cherry pick certain quotes taken out of context and paint him to be a raging chauvinist. Any typical point in a Driscoll sermon takes a couple of minutes. He is not the preacher of people with 10 second sound byte attention spans. Here is an example, from this week's audio.

You can get in a lot of danger if you only say one thing that the bible says on a subject and don't clarify that it has other things that it says on that subject as well.
I will give you one example that I deal with frequently. We believe in male headship in the home, we believe in gender roles, and a the submission of the wife to the husband if he is obeying Christ, and all of those things, But for example if the men who are going through Colossians and Ephesians and such only hammer you know, 'wives submit to your husbands' they could miss that very important verse in Genesis 2 which the purpose of the wife for the man is to be what? Helpful. Helpful. So we are not talking just about complete and utter obedience to the little god in the home named husband. We are talking about her respecting him in such a way that she is helpful. So many wives are submissive, but they are not helpful. There are certain women that never say anything, and their husbands are idiots. It would be helpful if they where not disrespectful, but helpful.

I have met with many wives, and they say my husband is doing this, and that, and the other thing, and everything is a mess, he's got this dumb business idea and our finances are sideways, but I am trying to be submissive. Well, also be helpful. Like if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him!

That is my simple illustration of if you just say what it says in one place, but if you don't import some other things that it says, you could end up having an extreme position that isn't mitigated by the rest of what scripture has to say.

My wife and I had this discussion some years ago. There where some things that she saw in my life that she thought I needed to work on and she never said anything. And I said "Why?" She said "I was trying to be submissive." But I said " Your also supposed to be helpful, Now I need you to be helpful, not just submissive. You need to be submissive, but in a helpful way. And if you are a respectful wife, then when you speak to me, I will actually listen, because I know that you are not that dripping faucet that proverbs speaks of, you are this crown on my head like proverbs speaks of."

Now the 10 second sound byte version that gets ratings would be "if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him!", The cliff notes really leave out a good portion of the lesson, don't they?

Comments

You can get in a lot of danger if you only say one thing that the bible says on a subject and don't clarify that it has other things that it says on that subject as well. I will give you one example that I deal with frequently. We believe in male headship in the home, we believe in gender roles, and a the submission of the wife to the husband if he is obeying Christ, and all of those things, But for example if the men who are going through Colossians and Ephesians and such only hammer you know, 'wives submit to your husbands' they could miss that very important verse in Genesis 2 which the purpose of the wife for the man is to be what? Helpful. Helpful. So we are not talking just about complete and utter obedience to the little god in the home named husband. We are talking about her respecting him in such a way that she is helpful. So many wives are submissive, but they are not helpful. There are certain women that never say anything, and their husbands are idiots. It would be helpful if they where not disrespectful, but helpful. I have met with many wives, and they say my husband is doing this, and that, and the other thing, and everything is a mess, he's got this dumb business idea and our finances are sideways, but I am trying to be submissive. Well, also be helpful. Like if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him! That is my simple illustration of if you just say what it says in one place, but if you don't import some other things that it says, you could end up having an extreme position that isn't mitigated by the rest of what scripture has to say. My wife and I had this discussion some years ago. There where some things that she saw in my life that she thought I needed to work on and she never said anything. And I said "Why?" She said "I was trying to be submissive." But I said " Your also supposed to be helpful, Now I need you to be helpful, not just submissive. You need to be submissive, but in a helpful way. And if you are a respectful wife, then when you speak to me, I will actually listen, because I know that you are not that dripping faucet that proverbs speaks of, you are this crown on my head like proverbs speaks of."