Meta-sin in Christian Organizations

Meta-data, as you probably know, is data about data. Meta-sin, then, is sin about sin. This is a story about the meta-sin of some (alas, it may even be many) Christian organizations. It is often said that Satan whispers into the individual believer’s ear: you are far too disgusting to turn to God, he would never have the likes of you. It appears that for organizations, his best lie is to tell them: You must do this, it is for the greater good.¹ The most insidious manifestation of this is outrageous spiritual arrogance and pride² to the point where bullying and/or the cover-up of wrongdoing (often sexual abuse) is justified—for yes, the greater good.

Before discussing some examples, I want to point out what appears to be a law of nature: the No Free Lunch Law. In physics we call it the second law of thermodynamics. But it has a more general application: everything good comes at a cost. The internet has exposed many wrongdoings in organizations; practices that otherwise might have continued unabated. That’s good. The cost is that many of those responsible for the exposure do so in a particularly nasty and ungracious manner. That’s bad. It makes reading about some of these scandals painful not just for the stain on Christianity resulting from the arrogance, bullying, and cover-ups, but difficult also due to the ugliness of those writing about and exposing the scandals.³ (Not always, but more often than I'd like.)

What are some of the modern examples of meta-sin? (You can find many links by googling the name of the person or organization, along with the word “scandal.”)

Sovereign Grace Ministries. The scandal: covering up sexual abuse by the C. J. Mahaney led mega-association. If you are interested go read for yourself. Perhaps start here. And then maybe go to here. I was heartened that finally, after years of support from his celebrity supporters (Dever, Mohler, Akin, Duncan et. al.) Mohler and Akin apologized for their over-extended backing of Mahaney. I was saddened to read, recently, of the crash and burn of Mahaney's heir at SGM, Joshua Harris.⁴

Mars Hill Implosion. This was about the bullying and power-lust of Mark Driscoll that is more often than not a feature of the leadership of a megachurch or organization. If you don't know about it, this is probably a good place to start.

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). If the investigative reports published in major newspapers are to be believed, and they are, in my opinion (start here), we read:

Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News asserting that hundreds of Southern Baptist clergy and staff have been accused of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, including dozens who returned to church duties, while leaving more than 700 victims with little in the way of justice or apologies.

The house-cleaning at the SBC will be (or should be) extensive.

The Association of Reformed Baptists Churches of America (ARBCA). This organization allegedly covered up the child sexual abuse of one of its pastors, Tom Chantry, who was recently convicted and sentenced for his crimes. ARBCA did not report the original abuse to the police, and even arranged for Chantry to have the pulpit of an unaware association church. This coverup is particularly well documented. One of the most telling comments is that of the judge in Chantry's trial who is quoted many places but most poignantly in this facebook post from a missionary who will no longer take money from an ARBCA church. Judge Astrosky stated "If this were a trial of ARBCA, they’d be convicted." ARBCA's recommendation of Chantry to an unsuspecting church is (as it should) causing it to lose member churches. ARBCA has also lost some churches due to alleged doctrinal bullying.

The Founders Ministries. This is the most recent development. This para-church group of Calvinists (Ouch. It is hard to to see a common thread of Calvinist leanings in these reports) appears to be obsessed regarding the Christian social justice movement. To this end they  are making a film, and the trailer (with its weird, grainy negative-campaigning style cutaways)  has received tremendous criticism for using a well-known Christian social justice advocate's image in a disparaging manner and  misrepresenting (out of context quotes, i.e. quote-mining) and angering its own supporters, notably Danny Akin and Al Mohler (who deserve kudos.)

What is sad is not that men sin, for there is no point being sad with the inevitable. What is truly sad is men who, with no biblical mandate, create powerful para-church organizations and mega-associations that create the possibility of sin (particularly the cover-up of sexual abuse and the victim-blaming that is part and parcel) that damages lives on a large scale. I'm sure that these men (if they ever stoop so low as to preach at their local church) warn other men to stay away from temptations like internet pornography, without realizing that they have created their own ecclesiastical porn industry, complete with an amplified potential for destroying lives and wrecking faith.

The bible does not instruct us to form para-church organizations, conventions, political lobbies, overreaching and/or dogmatic associations seeking doctrinal purity⁵, or seminaries. It doesn’t instruct us to fight a culture war with the unbelieving world. It instructs pastors to tend to their local flocks and missionaries to evangelize the lost. As for training new pastors—the biblical model appears to me to be this: future pastors are trained in their local church, and then sent out. Seminaries, by their very nature, tend to create more problems than they solve. ⁶

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¹ Okay, just to be clear I am not attributing the sins of these organizations to Satan. The leaders must take full responsibility.

² Often hand-in-hand with celebrity status.

³ I hope I'm not one of them. I might be.

⁴ Just in the last view days came the sad news that Joshua Harris, C. J. Mahaney's protege and well known in his own right for the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, was seeking a divorce and had renounced his faith. One has to wonder if this fallout from the meteoric crash of SGM. You can google an read about it. I am not going to provide a link because (recall the No Free Lunch Theorem) it is hard to find even a Christian link that is not oozing with schadenfreude.

⁵ I'm not speaking here of Gospel purity—that is sacrosanct. But so-called doctrinal purity. If an association is devoted to insuring the Gospel is taught accurately, then you could argue that there is a biblical model, given Paul's association of churches. If an association is demands absolute adherence to a set of derived doctrines, then it is doing so with no biblical precedent.

⁶ My illustration is always this: you can’t write a Ph.D. thesis or publish a journal article with the premise: You know what? John Calvin pretty much got everything right! But you can publish a peer-reviewed article that attacks traditional orthodoxy. It is the nature of the beast. Seminaries, like universities, exist to rattle the cage of the status-quo, not endorse it. And while, at times, that may be proper, more often than not it is a temptation toward mischievousness in support of the dangerous goals: notoriety and validation. That said, I know I’m tilting at windmills.