Things I Think…
1. The recent takedown of Calvary Boise shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone.
The churches founder was forced to resign because of sexual immorality and the career of Saeed Abedini was birthed there. There have always been two sets of standards in these churches…one for leadership and one for the pews…and maybe a third, if we count the attitudes toward women.
These, as any long time reader of this blog knows, are endemic to the system, that is, a feature, not a bug…
2. Despite the publicity over the matter, nothing will change in these churches. In 25 years, I’ve yet to see the majority of a congregation demand meaningful change…instead they excuse and continue to support abusive leadership. Until, that is, they become one of the victims…then they email me…
3. The governing body of Calvary Boise is the Calvary Chapel Association…which governs nothing but the dispensing of franchises…with the demand that you be doctrinally in step without any demands on character…
4. One of the reasons that I correctly predicted a Trump triumph in the election was understanding the love of authoritarianism in non denominational churches…and the utter disregard of character in leadership. In American civil religion, charisma is all that counts…
5. Roger Olson has a helpful primer on fascism…
6. One of the big issues in evangelicalism is in understanding what marriage really is. Marriage is a covenant between two people and God…and any spousal abuse is a violation of that covenant. Yes, you should pray for an abusive spouse…from a healthy distance…
7. The problem in these non denomination churches is that pastors are trained by the sects tradition instead of in a seminary…and none of these traditions have biblical views of either women or marriage…in my opinion…
8. Our long time co-worker BrianD mentioned Tim Wildsmith in one of his comments. I went to check him out…and his videos reviewing Bibles are fantastic, though they inspire covetousness if you are a Bible lover like me…
9. Some were asking if I was going to write anything about James Dobson’s death…I’d rather focus on the survivors of his teachings that left all manner of scars on “Christian” families…
10. The deaths of Dobson and John MacArthur point to the fact that the last generation of evangelical leaders is aging out and dying…the question remains over who will replace them and their influences going forward…
Chuck Girard’s obituary in Christianity Today…
Michael,
We both know that it was said that one of the top leaders of the CCA personally enacted this toxic and ruinous doctrine that an abused wife needs to stay with her husband, that was insinuated by another CC pastor/leader in the pulpit at CC Boise and where they are now trying to make it seem like nothing happened. It is truly a systemic issue with some (if not even maybe most or even all) at the top holding the same noxious belief.
This will be confirmed when the CCA chooses to take no action on the CC Boise situation, or if they do, they will only do so to support and protect the CC Boise leaders and this other CC pastor who preached it. A few people in the pews will have had enough and leave. The remaining 98%+ will continue on in their admiration of their
idolspastors.KevinH,
Well said.
It is indeed systemic and historical…and it makes these churches dangerous to women.
That’s a really nice piece about Chuck Girard. I didn’t know most of his story.
I saw him and Larry Norman do an “alternative” concert at Explo 72. Love Song had such great and gentle music.
As for Dobson, I think it is only fair to point out that there are many stories of children who benefitted from his teachings. I am one of them. My father was a much better father than his own who was harsh and abusive, and Dobson is to at least partially credit for that. My pastor has a similar story. And so does John Fea.
So there was definitely some good within his teachings, even as some of them may have gone too far or may not have clearly or effectively delineated between circumstances as to when it was good and proper to apply certain techniques and when it wasn’t. I think his results are a mixed bag.
What I found to be far more unpalatable about Dobson was his fanatical partisan political activism, that grew really bad and extremely hypocritical when Trump came on the scene.
From Roger Olson’s list: Effective one party government.
The one observation that I can make about the Trump administration is that he seems to be accomplishing his goals. If his way of doing things continues to become normalized, and the majority of voters find it viable, we may never recover our former way of government. I hope I am wrong, but Hungary and Russia don’t give me much encouragement.
Linn,
I think you’re speaking prophetically…
I wonder how CCA churches will enjoy living in a Hungarian/Russian type of society?
CK,
They will thrive as the spiritual arm of tyranny…
The recent Bible teaching was deeply concerning, demonstrating a troubling misinterpretation of scripture. I long for my CCA brothers to value sound biblical exposition. We seem quick to criticize those who don’t adhere to specific theological positions like pre-millennial or pre-tribulational rapture views, yet when confronted with truly problematic interpretations—especially from someone in leadership—many retreat to defensive positions rather than pursuing truth and correction.
Abuse in any form is unequivocally wrong. Praying for the abuser is appropriate, as Michael wisely noted, from a distance… it requires appropriate boundaries. True love isn’t permissiveness; it’s holding people accountable. Love means confronting abusers with their actions, reporting to authorities if a crime has been committed, requiring repentance, and transparently warning others to prevent future harm. This approach creates safety for everyone involved.
I’ve watched with a heavy heart as CCA leadership has fallen short of their calling. My earnest prayer is that they would return to their first Love. Scripture poses a profound question we must all consider: If we cannot love our wounded brothers and sisters whom we can see, how can we claim to love the God whom we cannot see? Our treatment of the vulnerable among us reflects the authenticity of our faith.
Finally! A reason to get back to CC bashing, where you shine! I’m tired of Trump! 😜 Seriously, this nonsense telling women to stay with abusers is something I’ve been pushing back against my whole ministry life. And it’s not just Calvary. It’s been the predominant position in evangelicalism for my entire life. I was going to write my doctoral dissertation on it at Talbot but my professor asked me, “Do you want to be the go-to guy concerning divorce for the rest of your life?” and I decided to do it on pastoral succession instead. One of the best things I’ve heard on this came from Pastor Romaine, the first week I was on staff at Costa Mesa. We were counseling people at the front of the church and a guy was crying to Romaine saying, “My wife left me!” Romaine loudly responded, “Good!” to which the shocked man said, “Good? Why is it good?” Romaine’s answer was profound. He said, “Were you loving her like Christ loves the church? Is that what drove her out of the house?!” I miss Romaine!
Peter and Dave,
Nice to read your perspectives on this issue.
All in all, when a church is overly centralized in power, the more abuses seem to take place. That’s why I’d never become a Mormon or Catholic…I believe that through the years, the various Prophets and the Popes take too many liberties of going beyond scripture/ignoring scripture/making stuff up. And the same thing can happen in a church or a denomination.
As to Dave’s comment, I taught Ephesians 5:22-33 yesterday in church. I got a comment from someone that thought I went too easy on the wives and was a bit stern with the men. My comment back was that because God has given husbands a role of responsibility and leadership in the home, there was a strong possibility of the husband abusing that power. The hardest words have to go toward the leaders!
Tim Nickels also is a fantastic Bible reviewer and likely to inspire covetousness in Bible lovers 🙂 One of the Tim’s helped spark my interest in Humble Lamb, a Kentucky based small business which publishes premium Bibles. I got a NKJV Bible from them during their recent sale…I love it even if I had to get over the shock of paying more than $30 for a Bible 🙂
Women can and do leave their husbands for any and every reason. Trying to control them is silly at this point.
Blaming the man for not living up to an impossible standard is awful. By that measure, it would be good for all your wives to leave you. My god. I’m glad I’m out.
How is that not abusive? That’s blaming the leper for not having enough faith to be healed. At best, it is kicking a guy at his lowest point.
From the outside, all of this stuff looks insane.
Agreed Josh
“Romaine loudly responded, “Good!””
What an awful thing to say. Nobody know what goes on between 2 people in a divorce except God. I’m not talking about abuse. I’m talking about between two broken people. Each person, each situation is different. I’ll have to wear the scarlet letter D on my back for the rest of my life and be constantly reminded of it over and over. And that’s fine because we know Jesus is our judge and not “perfect” people.
Have mercy on me, a sinner
if we can judge an interpretation by its fruit, then patriarchy and complementarianism both need to be taken to the woodshed. In my not-so-biased thinking, both need a thorough reexamination especially in view of the new covenant/new testament.
nudgingthehornetsnestfil
josh–I appreciate the recognition of impossibly high expectations, but at the same time, the wives are roundly critiqued about ‘submission’ without any comment about the husband’s flipside of the coin.
Well, if you notice my first sentence – women can get divorced for any reason they like. Stop trying to control them. So yes, all around they are fumbling this issue on every side. I agree with you that it is time for a massive re-think.
I feel like Michael should make a post about that comment. Ghastly. People should know the kind of counsel they are going to receive at Calvary Chapel.
Josh,
I’ve written so many articles about Calvary Chapel and it’s “counseling” ministries over the years that my tank is dry.
Frankly, most pastors, (including myself), do not have the training and expertise necessary to help people through marriage issues. In patriarchal systems, men are usually protected over women, but such is not always the case.
I am a professional theologian, not a psychologist…I refer people to professionals.
That’s a broken man with nothing left to live for. Shows up to church for any shred of hope…and gets that.
And that was “one of the best things he heard”. I don’t think I could bare to hear the worst.
Calvary counseling is for feeding their gossip chain. Confront the pastor about it and expect to be kicked to the curb.
They have a reputation for not helping anyone in need of any assistance and there’s no common ground with other churches. They just don’t give a rip.
Only their narrow interpretation of the Bible is accepted and if anyone disagrees or asks questions they’re shown the door.
Ask me how I know.
Per Josh’s comments, the only way it makes sense for the church to speak into marriage is to both encourage and challenge people. We’ve gotta share the truth, but we also have to provide tools for success. There needs to be grace along with some motivation. My wife and I are getting set to present a 12 week fall series on marriage on Wednesday evenings. We’ll have people all over the map, from couples who’ve fared well over the years, to couples who are hanging by a thread. It’s a huge challenge and responsibility for us.