Josh Benner

Tag: #metoo

  • Mary too? Professor argues Mary carried Jesus without consent

    Came across a story this morning about a recent Tweet from a college professor at the University of Minnesota Mankato.

    Eric Sprankle talked about the virgin birth of Jesus and said: “The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powrful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays.”

    “There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario?”

    First of all, he’s entirely missing the point. Second of all, he’s wrong. In the Gospel of Luke, Mary actually does say “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

    People have brought that up. But that doesn’t count, according to Dr. Sprankle who says, “The Biblical god regularly punished disobedience. The power difference (deith vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying “no” negates her “yes.”

    Seriously?

    Christians believe that before the conception of Jesus, an angel of God appeared to Mary and told her that she had been chosen for this once in human history task of being able to carry the Lord.

    And this professor is essentially arguing that because of a power imbalance, she didn’t really have a choice?

    His Tweets are incoherent. In the first one, he says that God is all-powerful and all-knowing (both of which are true). But then he argues against the divine plan of an all-knowing God in choosing Mary to give birth to Jesus. She wasn’t chosen at random.

    And God is all-powerful. Men are not all-knowing nor are we all-powerful. We are unworthy of God. We are created for God. There is a power imbalance. We are not equal to God. And when I say the Tweets are incoherent, I mean that it’s incoherent to say that God is all-knowing and then to question his wisdom of morality and his plans.

    Sprankle’s definition of consent is so radical and limited that even giving consent doesn’t count. It’s intellectually dishonest. It’s referring to a once-in-human-history event. Also, this has nothing to do with sexual consent anyway!

    But if you continue to read in the gospel account, Mary continues to be perfectly happy with this situation.

    “My soul magnifies the Lord,
     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

    -Luke 1:46-48

    She didn’t give consent? Mary seems pretty ok with the arrangement. And it was through this act that the savior of the world came into the world to save the world from sin.

    One day we will all be held to account for our lives and actions. And there won’t be equality with God then either. God is awesomely powerful, righteous, and holy. We are not. We are sinful. We are so sinful that the only way we could be redeemed was for God to come into the world. The birth of Christ shows us that from beginning to end, Jesus had a divine ministry. Jesus came into a world that was so sinful that the world killed him. He did that so we could be forgiven. We are sinful and cannot make ourselves right with God. But Jesus came so that we could be with God. Not because we deserved it. Not because we are God’s peers. But out of his goodness and grace.

    Jesus did that to save sinners. Even sinners who mock the gospel and the righteousness of God. But we must repent of our sins and turn to Christ and trust in the life that he promises.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Just because you want evidence, it doesn’t mean you’re apathetic to assault

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    Rape is one of the worst things that a person can do to someone.

    As I consider the allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, there’s something that bothers me. The narrative has been spun as if a person doesn’t care about sexual assault or doesn’t care about women if they want evidence a crime actually happened.

    The penalties for these crimes are sickeningly lenient. It’s a major societal problem.

    But there still needs to be evidence. (more…)

  • Supreme court hearings: the search for truth

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    I spent a few hours watching testimonies from Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. Many will have conclusions that align with what they believed going into today’s hearing.

    It was a lot of political grandstanding. The vote is still tomorrow. Half the country will be happy that Kavanaugh made it through. Half the country will be disgusted. And Saturday will be a new day to debate and argue and tear ourselves apart politically.

    I don’t know what really did or didn’t happen. It doesn’t bother me to acknowledge that. I wasn’t there. I don’t personally know these people. I think some people make the mistakes of inherently dismissing the allegations. I think others make the mistake of taking the allegations as if they’re absolute facts.

    I don’t know. I think we get so committed to wanting to be right that we don’t care about the truth. Truth is inherently good and worth knowing. And the goal of justice should always be to do the absolute best we can to evaluate things based on truth. Because these are real people who have real families and lives.

    I do think that one of the great strengths of our criminal justice system is that people are innocent until proven guilty (I realize the hearing was not a criminal trial). I do think there needed to be some proof of the allegations before potentially destroying a man.

    In the Bible, God is a God of truth. The world spreads a lot of lies and often finds reasons to put an agenda ahead of truth. We often look for confirmation rather than reality.

    Jesus came full of grace and truth (John 1:17). The Word of God is truth (John 17:17). Jesus is called THE truth (John 14:6).

    Truth is true regardless of if we want it to be. Truth is true regardless of if it’s hard. Truth is true regardless of if we don’t want it to be. For the sake of our society, truth needs to be a virtue that we never stop pursuing.

    For all of us, I think that’s important to keep in mind. Not just in this case, but whenever we have an opinion, think critically, have a disagreement. Our love of truth needs to matter more than a desire to “win.”

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Kavanaugh, society, and the #MeToo movement

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    The past week has been a circus with allegations of past sexual abuse levied against Supreme Corut nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

    I don’t know what this man has or hasn’t done.

    I do believe people are fundamentally innocent until proven guilty and that there needs to be evidence.

    Some of the moves that the democrats in congress have taken in this process do make it seem like a bunch of political posturing (for instance, them sitting on Dr. Ford’s allegations for weeks and not revealing them until right before a vote. Was that out of their sincere concern for Dr. Ford and desire for her to be heard? Seems like they were very deliberate with that timing).

    The whole situation is immensely complicated.  (more…)

  • More allegations, more problems for Willow Creek

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    Bill Hybels is one of the most influential Christian leaders of the past generation. Earlier this spring he stepped down from his position at Willow Creek, the church he founded, in the wake of a number of allegations stretching back several years of inappropriate contact between Hybels and women connected to the church and leadership team of Willow Creek.

    From a Chicago Tribune article from March:

    The alleged behavior included suggestive comments, extended hugs, an unwanted kiss, and invitations to hotel rooms. It also included an allegation of a prolonged consensual affair with a married woman who later said her claim about the affair was not true, the Tribune found.

    –Chicago Tribune 

    This week, a story broke in the New York Times about a former secretary who accuses Hybels of inappropriately touching her on multiple occasions in the mid 1980s. Her allegations include mentioning an instance of sexual activity, something that previous accusers had not said.

    In the aftermath of that revelation, Willow’s teaching pastor resigned on Sunday, effectively immediately. Part of Carter’s reasoning is Willow’s handing of the situation.

    Since the first women came forward with their stories, I have been gravely concerned about our church’s official response, and it’s ongoing approach to these painful issues. After many frank conversations with our elders, it became clear that there is a fundamental difference in judgment between what I believe is necessary for Willow Creek to move in a positive direction, and what they think is best.

    –Steve Carter 

    The leadership of Willow had been informed about these allegations four years ago and did very little to take them seriously. They did an internal investigation, but internal investigations can be hard when their is an internally vested interest in clearing someone of wrongdoing.

    Willow Creek was a trail blazing church. Scot McKnight is a New Testament scholar at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in suburban Chicago. He attended Willow Creek for a decade and has responded to these events.

    Earlier this summer, McKnight said in a blog post:

    I believe the women on the basis of what I have learned. I am, as I said at the outset, often asked about the Willow situation and I have done my best to discern the facts. What I do know is this: Bill Hybels and Willow Creek’s leadership have undone forty years of trust for many. A church that has stood valiantly for women in ministry, that has always stood for Christian grace and truth and forgiveness for repenters, that has supported #metoo in various places, that then responds to women as they did to these women unravels the thread Willow has woven for four decades. Many of us are asking why Bill Hybels and Willow Creek’s pastors and Elders slandered the women, calling them liars and colluders, and still refuse to offer them apologies.

    It’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate for the women who were put in uncomfortable situations or approached inappropriately by someone they trusted. It’s unfortunate for this church and the many faithful attendees and people who have given of their time, talents, and treasures to help build this church up as one that has had a positive impact on so many lives. It’s unfortunate to the many young adults who are drawn to Willow Creek who had never previously been to a church that felt like a place where they could belong, and who are now left with more questions than answers as another church leader is brought down by scandal. It’s unfortunate for the Church. The failures of people within the church poorly reflect what the church is supposed to do to an increasingly secular and skeptical society. More ammunition is given.

    May we not lose heart when people fail. People will because all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We are imperfect and willingly sinful. But we have a great savior who came and died so that all who believe in him would never die. So that those who are dead in sin can be made alive to God.

    Aside from Jesus, the prominent people in the Bible all failed. Peter denied the Lord Jesus three times before Jesus was crucified. The Apostle Paul persecuted Christians and had them killed. David cheated on his wife and then had her husband killed to save himself. That’s not to justify any of these things. They were sins. But God still accomplishes his purpose with as sinful as humanity is.

    But there are consequences. McKnight has suggested that Willow Creek will need changes in leadership going forward. That the people who showed poor leadership for the last few years and who made half hearted attempts to investigate the allegations cannot continue leading in the future.

    Will Willow Creek be able to right the ship? Time will tell. If I had to make a prediction: with all of the bad publicity, with the poor leaderships, with the loss of their visionary founder, the ship will keep sinking until it’s swallowed up by the sea.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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