Mars Hill

Mars Hill Church today, I love that place. Every time I'm there I wonder why so many people at SPU love to hate it. Yeah I get that the lights can be bright and the music can be loud, and maybe I don't leave every time feeling like God's gonna send me a Cadillac tomorrow if I read my Bible. What I think, though, is that modern American Christian culture takes ultimate pride in being contrary, in being counter, in seeking out what is least popular. What's our real motivation, though? I don't really care if people like Mars Hill, just like I might not be a huge fan of other churches for this reason or that, but what makes me cringe every time is the way silly young philosophers feel qualified to curse the successful work of God in a congregation because it seems too "commercial." What happened to being all things to all people? What happened to seeking and saving the lost? Why must we spend all our energy avoiding things that have become successful for a reason? It seems to me that the reasons people reject certain churches (size, music, A/V effects, etc.) are all too often hypocritical. "Oh I just think those things distract from the message." Whose fault is that? Are you not, in saying that, ignoring the very message you wish so much to highlight? If the pastor of a church leads and speaks effectively, if he preaches boldly the word of God and shows the character of a Godly leader, then why do you hate the place so much? 

About Mars, I once heard someone say, "Oh I don't like it there because he hates women." I almost puked all over her shoes. We've bought so much into an androgynous culture and a hermaphrodite Jesus that we are unwilling to recognize that scripture has something to say about gender roles within the family. This is not a matter of subjugating or hating women, but honoring God's model of the family. We've grown too content seeking churches that will gloss over scripture in favor of more palatable modern ideology. Christ did not come so that we could ignore God's word but to free us from legalism, and the modern church has been festering with progressive legalism for far too long. Again, I don't care if people like my church, although I'd prefer them to. What I care about is that we as a generation return to scriptures as our ultimate authority for life and Godliness, not some hybrid of modern intellect, disdain for tradition, and the softest pillows of scriptural coddling. We have this certain set of sins that is sexy to claim and hate; pornography, alcoholism, sexual sin, eating disorders, pride, etc. What we don't want is for someone to barge in and say we've focused on all the wrong things in all the wrong ways, we don't want someone to muscle in on our sob-story support groups yelling that this isn't what we were made for. We are to separate sinner from sin, we are to encourage others in the truth, we are not under any circumstances to deny the truth in favor of avoiding society's exposed toes. Let's tear down this progressive idol and serve the God of our fathers.