<div class="gmail_extra">As a nonbeliever I find all this sort of thing asinine.<br><br>But to a believer with any knowledge of the world, allegedly the Christian God's creation, the diversity of it all is stunning and gives lie to theology of the crackpot bigots like Cultmaster Wilson.<br>
<br>Cultmaster Wilson has created a god that is narrow minded and bigoted. A god created in Wilson's own image. If a god created the universe with all its diversity, would such a god be so ignorant, arrogant, narrow minded, and bigoted? Wilson's theology is a hideous insult to such an alleged god.<br>
<br>Wilson is a believer that the Bible is the inerrant word of his alleged god. Also, that he is the inerrant interpreter of that word.<br><br>Both beliefs are fantastically absurd, the second the height of ridiculously delusional egotism. Both beliefs are knowledge claims which include millions of other knowledge claims without credible evidence for their belief, let alone contrary to billions of well established knowledge claims, and contrary to many other knowledge claims offered by equally superstitious, thoroughly deluded persons.<br>
<br>It is sad that the ovine of his cult have wasted so much of their lives, support, and money for unverifiable causes built on Wilson's personal preferences, but designed to be profitable for him and his family an to feed his unquenchable thirst for power and adulation.<br>
<br>Fools and their money are soon parted, but in the case of the Christ Church Cult of Moscow, Idaho, their bigotry brings much unneeded misery to the world.<br><br>w.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 6:49 PM, keely emerinemix <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kjajmix1@msn.com" target="_blank">kjajmix1@msn.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div dir="ltr">
I'm so grateful for Deco's alerting all of us to this. I usually follow Wilson's blog, but I hadn't checked it yet today.<br><br>I've just finished a blistering commentary on his list, and you can read it at the blog address posted below. <br>
<br>Warning: I was righteously angry when I wrote it, and I take back not a word. Indeed, I'll likely be moved to comment further and just as harshly in days to come . . . <br><br><font color="#8064a2"><font style="font-size:12pt" size="3"><font face="Verdana">Keely<br>
<a href="http://www.keely-prevailingwinds.com" target="_blank">www.keely-prevailingwinds.com</a><br></font></font></font><br><br><div><div></div><hr>Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:19:47 -0700<br>From: <a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
To: <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>Subject: [Vision2020] Christ Church Cult Castration Complex<div><div class="h5"><br><br><div>
<div>
<div>
<font size="6"><span><a href="http://www.christandpopculture.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#A11B1B">Christ</font> and Pop Culture</a></span><br><br> <span>Where The Christian Faith Meets The Common Knowledge of Our Age</span></font>
</div>
<div>
<input value="Search..." type="text">
</div>
</div>
</div><div>
<h1><a href="http://www.christandpopculture.com/asides/sacred-space-doug-wilson-the-church-is-a-bride-bro/" rel="bookmark" target="_blank">Sacred Space: Doug Wilson, the Church Is a Bride, Bro</a></h1><div>
<span>By <address>Brad Williams</address></span> – <abbr title="2012-04-20T07:00:08+00:00">April 20, 2012</abbr></div>
<h4> "If that sort of intimacy makes a man nervous, then he might have forgotten that he is part of the bride of Christ." </h4>
<div>
<i>Every Friday in <a href="http://www.christandpopculture.com/asides/tag/sacred-space/" target="_blank">Sacred Space</a>, Brad Williams explores the place of popular culture in the local church.</i><br>
<div style="width:310px"><img src="" title="Image Credit: Ani's Photography via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)" alt="" height="201" width="300"><p>
This is probably an example of Girlie Worship.</p></div>
Some sections of the evangelical church are so fueled by testosterone
right now that I fear the bride of Christ might become a bearded lady.
Hardly a month goes by where high profile evangelical pastors extol the
virtues of manly combat in MMA or fail to miss an opportunity to make
fun of girly music leaders. This week is no exception. Doug Wilson
decided to put out a post titled “<a href="http://www.dougwils.com/Liturgical-Notes/your-worship-service-might-be-effeminate-if.html" target="_blank">Your Worship Service Might Be Effeminate If..</a>“,
and then he went on to list a plethora of things that are neither
feminine nor unmanly. I find this list ridiculous, and I find the
attitude behind it laughable. How is it that a church culture with
all-male leadership, bearded awesomeness, and a general masculine flair
still has room to lament a sissified church culture? How much manliness
does a church need?<br>
To put my cards right out there on the table, I’m going to confess
that I am a thorough-going complementarian. I believe that the
elders/pastors of the local church should be filled only by qualified
men. (I put that out there so that I will have the opportunity to offend
everyone in this article.) However, I find the type of bravado put out
there concerning the new “manliness” by folks like Mark Driscoll and now
Doug Wilson to be a terrible hindrance to my cause, which I believe is
very important.<br>
First, let me point out that the church’s worship cannot be
effeminate. Nor should it be masculine. Nor should it be feminine. The
worship service should be designed to allow men and women to worship the
Almighty as, well, men and women. What the gathering of the church does
is allow men and women to express their adoration of God for His
offering of His Son Jesus as a propitiation for our sins. So the pastor,
the music leaders, the responsive reading guy, the prayers—these things
are all done to remind us of the glorious truths of the Bible, and
people are free to respond to that however they might best express
themselves. That could include dancing half-naked in front of the ark of
God, or it could include a man getting his ugly cry on because of the
glory of God has broken his heart. Or, he could stand at parade rest and
sing lustily and make battle noises, I guess. Either way, you ought to
leave that dude alone, brother.<br>
So technically, the worship of the church cannot be effeminate. Only
individual men can be effeminate. But what that exactly means is a bit
of a mystery to me. To avoid that, does it mean he has to grow a beard?
Quit wearing preppy cardigans? No gold bracelets? Wilson tries to help
us spot effeminate worship, but things like this only leave me more
confused:<br>
<blockquote><i>Your music minister is more concerned that the choir
trills their r’s correctly than that they fill the sanctuary with loud
sounds of battle</i><br>
<i>The worship music rides particular chord changes hard, with special mention being given to the shift from E Minor to C Major</i><br></blockquote>
I had no idea that music was supposed to sound like the sounds of
battle! I’m quite sure that Douglas Wilson has never seen a real battle,
and if he has, he is mad for thinking the screams of the dead and dying
and bomb blasts are what we are trying to accomplish in the ministry of
music. And key shifts are girly now? This is a shock to me as well. My
favorite, however, is this one: <i>This list is printed out and handed around at your church, and at least three people are mortally offended. </i>Yeah, so if we are offended by the list, then we may be effeminate.<br>
<div style="width:310px"><img src="" title="Image Credit: Symic via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)" alt="" height="199" width="300"><p>
This would be effeminate (no beard, short hair), but his eyes are piercing my soul, so this is an example of Manly Worship.</p></div>
Here’s what is so bad about the list, beside it being nearly non-nonsensical:<br>
First, worship cannot be effeminate, only men can.<br>
Second, how shall we define effeminate worship? As awesome as kilts
and claymores are, they reveal more about Wilson’s fantasy life than
they do the proper conduct of a real man in worship.<br>
Third, the list is probably offensive to women. I don’t want to speak
for them, but the list seems to indicate that feminine worship is
undesirable. It may be undesirable in a man, if we can figure out what
that looks like at church, but surely it is to be commended in women!
Wilson’s manly dreams for the church reach so high that he naturally
assumes that women are happy worshiping in masculine worship.<br>
In the end, I’ll throw Wilson a bone. I don’t like “Jesus is my
Girlfriend” type songs either. It isn’t because they are too mushy; it’s
because they are generally lousy songs and theologically thread-bare.
I’m not nervous about intimacy with God, and I actually enjoy singing
pretty songs to God that demonstrate my desire to know Him more
intimately. And if that sort of intimacy makes a man nervous, then he
might have forgotten that he is part of the <i>bride</i> of Christ.
That’s the same sort of nasty aloofness that keeps men from kissing
their sons and telling them that they love them. It’s the same lie that
makes men think it is unmanly to weep or confess weakness.<br>
If that’s the kind of culture Wilson wants to cultivate, count me out.<br>
<div><ul><li><br></li><li><div><a name="136d297aca769c1d_fb_share" rel="nofollow" type="button" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.christandpopculture.com/asides/sacred-space-doug-wilson-the-church-is-a-bride-bro/&t=Sacred%20Space:%20Doug%20Wilson%2c%20the%20Church%20Is%20a%20Bride%2c%20Bro%20" target="_blank">Share</a></div>
</li><li><br></li></ul></div>
</div>
<div>
<h4>About the Author</h4>
<img src="" alt="" height="48" width="48">
Brad Williams has had a life of adventure that is given only
to those who have no idea what they are doing. Out of high school, he
joined the Army National Guard and served for six years, during that
time he managed to get an English Lit. degree from the University of
Alabama, become a Christian, and log a ridiculous amount of hours on
Final Fantasy. After college, he moved to North Carolina where he got a
Masters of Divinity w/ Biblical Languages and met and married a girl too
good for him. He now lives in Alabama where he pastors a church and
lives with his long-suffering wife, two awesome children, two dogs, and a
cat named Bugs. He recently bought a small farm where he plans to raise
goats and grow watermelons.
Above all, Brad hopes to live and to love in such a manner that he will
not be ashamed at the appearance of Jesus Christ on the Final Day.
</div>
</div>
<a name="136d297aca769c1d_comments"></a>
<h4>13 Comments</h4>
<ol><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite>Frank Turk</cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T08:27:41+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 8:27 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>Oh Brad — when you said this, you should have re-written the whole essay:<br>
<i>“First, worship cannot be effeminate, only men can.”</i><br>
Indeed. Who exactly is superintending worship, or administrating it, or <i>pastoring</i> it?<br>
This, I am afraid, is Doug’s point and ought to be someplace in yours.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://www.alienman.blogspot.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Brad Williams</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T08:51:13+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 8:51 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>If that was Doug’s point, he could
have made it himself. Instead, he made a silly list that has little or
nothing to do with being effeminate. What he has in mind for effeminate
seems to be largely based on his personal construction of what a man
should dress like, what songs a man should like, what he does with his
hands in worship, and whether or not the singing sounds like people are
being slain whilst bombs go off in the background. It’s ridiculous. But
instead of saying it like that, I decided just to make fun of him.<br>
As you know, I live in a corner of the world where manliness is
generally thought to be defined by one’s delight in NASCAR, college
football, and a neatly trimmed mullet. The NASCAR is a little nuanced
though. If you like Jeff Gordon instead of “Dale”, you are probably a
sissy. Also, you would lose five man points from being born north of the
Mason-Dixon.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite>Frank Turk</cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T08:58:44+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 8:58 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>Suit yourself. I think you missed the point of Doug’s list pretty broadly.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite>JMC</cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T09:13:23+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 9:13 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>First of all, I do want to say that
Pastor Wilson has meant a lot to me in the past. Once upon a time I was
just an evangelical kid trying to make sense of being an evangelical kid
in a culture where the 2 options seemed to be “conform to the world” or
“be a goofy fundamentalist reactionary.” Pastor Wilson has had some
very helpful things to say as far as helping many American Christians
find a reasoned, uncompromising voice, and I for one have benefited
from many of those things. So props to him for that.<br>
That being said, I agree that his rhetoric here seems silly. In his
mind, I think he is trying to encourage Christians to embrace a “happy
warrior” mentality. I’m pretty sure he’s not reveling in the glories of
actual armed conflict per se, but trying, by way of biblical analogy, to
encourage Christians to embrace “the joy of the Lord” as their strength
in the battles against principalities and powers.<br>
I think you are spot on that the rhetoric falls short in making light
of “effeminate” traits. In recent years I have gained a deeper respect
for and understanding of the power of the Incarnation. I find it
gloriously ironic (and illuminating) that the Lord God of Angelic Armies
of the OT accomplished His greatest victory in the form of an infant in
a podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Just ponder what that means.
Furthermore, I revel in the “Song of Mary”, the Magnificat, which should
bring any man to tears when contemplated.<br>
It seems to me that the power of Christians resides not in matching
the rhetoric of the world, but in embracing the power of the still small
voice, the Word become helpless flesh. That, in my mind, is the
powerful biblical analogy that our culture, and all cultures, needs.<br>
I could write so much more on this. Thanks for starting this conversation.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://www.fillingmypatchofsky.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Erin Straza</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T09:24:35+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 9:24 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>I honestly thought Wilson’s list was a
joke. Kilts? Trilling Rs? Pink shirts? I have never seen this in any
church service ever. Maybe he was trying to use humor to break down
barriers. It was not helpful because I was so thrown off by the oddities
of it. Perhaps Wilson could develop a description biblical worship
(which would be, by nature, non-effeminate), with Scripture references
and without the humor.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://www.alienman.blogspot.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Brad Williams</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T09:41:04+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 9:41 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>I think it was supposed to be funny,
and I usually like funny. But this approach of making fun of men in a
way that ostracizes men whose besetting sin is being effeminate, I don’t
think you should make light of it. And by effeminate, I don’t mean
metro-sexual dresser. I mean a man who struggles with same-sex
attraction, which is really what 1 Cor. 6:9-10 is really talking about
when the King James translates it ‘effeminate’. Effeminate, in the
Bible, has nothing to do with trilling r’s or dress or pink shirts.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://mffc.bravehost.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Rose Bexar</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T11:05:39+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 11:05 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>Liking hymns on the bagpipe (as I do,
and I’m very definitely female) doesn’t make one’s worship masculine;
it probably just makes one a Scot. Something also tells me that
Wilson’s never been in a choir, because otherwise he wouldn’t be picking
on choristers who <i>encunciate clearly</i>. To put an analogy from 1
Cor. 14 into a slightly different context, what good’s a bugle if you
can’t tell whether it’s playing Reveille or Taps?<br>
Part of the problem with that list, aside from the failure of the
humor (cf. John Scalzi on the failure mode of ‘clever’), is that it
conflates two different problems that can be but are not always
co-morbid: churches going in for the hipster brand of artsy dreck and
churches lacking the courage to stand against sin. Neither is an
inherently gendered failure. In fact, I might be more likely to suspect
the leadership of a self-conciously “masculine” church of failing to
enforce truly Scriptural church discipline than I would the leadership
of a church that’s all cotton candy.<br>
And a huge WORD on your last point, Brad. The “No chick flick moments”
attitude is pernicious enough when dealing with one’s fellow humans; I
can’t imagine what it does to one’s walk with God.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite>Amy</cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T11:12:47+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 11:12 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>What guys like Driscoll and Wilson
don’t quite understand is that the guy who can go into the worship
service in his pink shirt and sing perfect key changes to the glory of
God and feel perfectly comfortable doing it with no thought whatsoever
to what the hairer fellows in the place think of him…well, this guy is
the one who’s got it going on. I get that all this masculinity
obsession comes from these guys growing up in churches where the men
have no backbone. But just like the hokey fundamentalist that they love
to ridicule, they combat it by having a knee jerk reaction to the other
extreme. Some day the blogoshpere will be full of articles<br>
written by the children of the young reformed lamenting all the ways
we’ve screwed up the church. Thank God for grace. We need to show it
to others because we’ll definitely need it shown to us.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://nailtothedoor.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Dan Martin</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T11:32:25+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 11:32 AM</abbr> </div>
<div>Love the post! As a guy who has
fathered three children and is still crazy for his wife, but has been
known to wear a pink shirt with a purple tie to church, AMEN!<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite>Daniel</cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T12:55:58+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 12:55 PM</abbr> </div>
<div>Frankly, the fear of being accused of
being “effeminate” (in society’s terms, not biblical ones) is one of
the greatest fears in “manly” Christianity in the “manly” Evangelical
Church. It is one more example of the Church confusing conservative
culture (Republican politics, NASCAR, Football,
God-bless-the-US-and-damn-the-defeatist-Jeremiahs, etc.) with Biblical
values. And frankly, it smells not just a little of despising
homosexuals. (By that I do not mean despising sin, which is biblical; I
mean despising the sinner. That distinction is often lost in the
heated “manly” rhetoric.)<br>
Biblical manhood had little parallel with either Metrosexual manhood
or NASCAResque manhood. And it more often than not is at loggerheads
with both the throne and the religious establishment, rather than acting
as an enabler of either one.<br>
Wearing kilts? Pink shirts? Chord transitions, for heavens sake?!
What a bunch of claptrap. Frankly, this is incredibly superficial.<br>
Talking about hell, the devil and sin is “manly”? It may be
biblical, it may be vital–but somehow equating not having the correct
percentages of sermons devoted to Satan as being “effeminate” sounds
just plain silly.<br>
And “Jesus is my girlfriend songs”? Would someone please give me an
example? I’ve heard this accusation before, but it never made sense to
me. The only example that comes to my mind, that I have only heard on
“Christian” radio and not in worship, was “Some Kind of Wonderful”
adapted to be a Jesus song (by the original artist, but still quite
cringeworthy.)<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://goodokbad.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Seth T. Hahne</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T13:57:03+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 1:57 PM</abbr> </div>
<div>“Jesus is my girlfriend” songs are
any worship song that could easily be sung in dulcet tones to your
girlfriend while you slip off her bra. Example:<br>
<blockquote>In the secret, in the quiet place<br>
In the stillness you are there<br>
In the secret, in the quiet hour<br>
I wait only for you<br>
Cause I want to know you more<br>
I want to know you<br>
I want to hear your voice<br>
I want to know you more<br>
I want to touch you<br>
I want to see your face<br>
I want to know you more
<br></blockquote>
Sexy!<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite>Daniel</cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T15:58:47+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 3:58 PM</abbr> </div>
<div>@Seth–<br>
Hmmm…pretty tame compared to Song of Solomon…though some would argue
that we’re in danger of role-reversal (being the bride vs. the
bridegroom). Of course, in S of S, sometimes the roles seem a bit
confused, too (paragraph headings do wonders.)<br>
The “sexiness” of that song wouldn’t really bother me too much…it’s a
bit “lite”, but it really wouln’t bug me if I heard it in a worship
service. Not every worship tune needs to be a theological treatise, any
more than every meal has to be (or should be) packed with protein.<br>
Eros is also divine.<br>
</div>
</div>
</li><li>
<div>
<div>
<img src="" alt="" height="32" width="32"> <cite><a href="http://goodokbad.com/" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">Seth T. Hahne</a></cite>
</div>
<div>
Posted <abbr title="2012-04-20T16:04:53+00:00">April 20, 2012 at 4:04 PM</abbr> </div>
<div>I wasn’t critiquing, just letting you
know what people mean by “Jesus is my girlfriend” songs. The general
critique runs that if a song could be sung to a girl you know, then
maybe it’s not theologically turgid enough to be a valuable use of
congregational praise time.<br>
Also, even under the most allegorical readings of SoS, the book is
not viewed as an example of corporate worship, so doesn’t really apply
here. I mean, unless you’re introducing a new interpretation, which is
fair<br></div></div></li></ol><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
<br></div></div>=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<a href="http://www.fsr.net" target="_blank">http://www.fsr.net</a>
mailto:<a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">Vision2020@moscow.com</a>
=======================================================</div> </div></div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
</div>