Nico
This response is to A Parent above:
A Parent says: “Mr. Tripp came across as a gentle, kind, witty man who really loves God, his children and grandchildren, and cares deeply about future generations”
A Parent, I must judge Ted Tripp by his written teachings. His book is his opinions without the veneer of his apparently charming personality. Long after he is gone, parents will be reading and using his book, and you know very well that it is being passed around like candy at Mars Hill.
There are many Christian parenting gurus who come across as folksy, funny, wonderful people. That is how they get a following. Many of these people teach abusive and harmful practices to children, but sweeten up the deal with ideas like “tying heart strings” or “finding your child’s love languages”.
People have testified time and time again that they got involved with a parenting guru based on the “good” parts of the teachings. In no time, they adopt all the dark, punitive practices and they are spanking their kids all day.
A Parent says: “I really wish the protestors would have attended the conference or somehow gone a little deeper on this subject, on the speaker, and Mars Hill.”
Let’s go deeper into Mars Hill and talk about a parenting sermon given by its main teaching pastor.
In the sermon, I heard Mark Driscoll testify to having “disciplined” his toddler son all day. At the end of this, he had a strange session where he held his son and began praying for him and confessing the child’s sins. Finally, his little son “broke”, in Driscoll’s own words. I dread to think what this meant emotionally for his son. This is Trippism at its finest, imposing a deep obsession regarding motivations upon a small child who is developmentally probably not capable of really understanding what is going on.
In the same sermon, I heard Mark Driscoll joke about how his daughter’s buttocks would shrink to “a quarter” of their normal size when he was preparing to spank her. He joked about how this was because of her fear of the oncoming slaps. Again, this is Trippism, with the daughter lying with her pants down across the father’s lap, anticipating pain to be inflicted on her bare skin. Rather than feeling sorrowful about spanking his daughter, Driscoll made jokes about her fear reaction.
This sermon is available on the Mars Hill audio site.
Does that go deep enough into what Mars Hill teaches about disciplining children?
“JoB seems like a very nice person with a big heart, but I disagree with how this was managed, and how my church was portrayed in the process.”
And here is the crux. The church does not want or like negative publicity. My guess is that all the chat on the member boards (and, honestly, the idea of locked down member boards really makes you wonder about the transparency of the church’s practices) has been about the potential harm to the church’s reputation. I’m sure that people like me are regarded as somewhat stupid, or heathen, and certainly not worthy of actually being listened to. Thank heavens that blogging helps me feel heard.
“… your blogs and protests will be a lot more reputable and meaningful.”
Have I been disreputable? Really? How so?
A final word: I have no question that you love your children, and you are trying to do what is best for them. I believe that the parents at Mars Hill love their children deeply. However, if you are sincerely wrong about your parenting practices, your children will pay the price.