“Have nothing to do with foolish controversies.”
– The Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 2:23)
“I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.”
– The Apostle Paul (Galatians 2:11-14)
These two passages of Scripture sound like opposites, but they are not. They are compatible. Not only were they written by the same human author, but for nearly two millennia they’ve been affirmed as Christian Scripture—all of which is God-breathed.
I’m thinking about these Scriptures because they kept coming to mind when I was assigned to report on the recent matter of Mark Driscoll being accused of lying and plagiarism. After I posted the report for Crosswalk.com’s Trending Blog, I followed up with this quick post on my blog here at Christianity.com.
Some controversies are foolish. Others are significant. The former are to be avoided. The latter are to be confronted.
Is the Driscoll matter a foolish controversy? Is it gossip? Is it simply more evidence that Christianity in the West is weak and is being torn apart by in-fighting and “tribalism?” Or is Mark Driscoll a highly visible leader being rightly called to conform to basic biblical ethics so that the Christian witness to the truth isn’t compromised?
The audio and video links in this report provide data that lead me to view this as a significant controversy that will test many.
