Before remarking on the latest Driscoll controversy, I'd like to make a general observation. I don't closely follow his ministry, but he has critics on the left and the right. Some of his conservative critics attack him for things like praising Christian tattoos and not wearing a business suit when he preaches. Somehow I can't quite work up a fit of indignation over charges like that.
However, he also has critics who hate him because he's a complementarian. Because he opposes homosexuality.
So it's important to keep in mind that he's made enemies by getting some things right as well as getting some things wrong. Some of the same critics who revile him would be just as quick to revile John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, and The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
The latest controversy involves the revelation that Mars Hill Church contracted with a marketing firm to buy his way onto bestseller lists. And what's wrong with that?
Well, admittedly, it's not as a bad as bribing a technician to advance your name on the transplant waiting list. More like doping a racehorse or bribing a referee to throw the game. The fix is in.
Another issue is the potential misappropriation of church funds. Did parishioners know that their tithes and offerings were going to be put to this use? Is that a proper use of donated money?
I did not know that a marketing firm can do services for money to somehow buy one's way into a best-seller list. How can that even qualify as a real best-seller when it was manipulated?
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