Mark Driscoll slanders righteous Noah

 This clip came from the sermon Suffering to Learn, part of Mars Hill Church’s Trial series through 1&2 Peter. 8 Apr 2009

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B43OA4y27Zg&feature=related

 Having read the from 1 Peter 3.18-20, Driscoll then asks the question

‘What do we do with Noah? Hi Noah! Genesis 6; let me tell you the story of Noah. Here’s the deal. If you grew up in church you probably don’t know the story, because it gets butchered [this word is shouted]. It freaks me out, this long of things that freak me out this is way up on the list. Every children’s Bible I get, I get white out and I fix this part and I get a sharpy, and my kids all know that dad freaks out on the Noah story [much laughter]. Dad does freak out on the Noah story, because every kids Bible I’ve ever seen preaches a false gospel in the story of Noah. I don’t want my kids to be heretics so I white it out and fix it [laughter].  And the story in every kids Bible is told like this—Noah was a righteous man, he was a good guy. Everybody else was bad, Noah was good, Noah got a boat, everybody else swam for a little while [raucous laughter]. Moral of the story is be a good guy, you get a boat named Jesus, don’t be a bad guy, you’re going to have to swim for it [laughter]. It’s ridiculous, [Driscoll drinks from his cup of coffee]. Alright Genesis 6, Noah, verse 5 ‘The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intension of the though of his heart was only evil continually’ – we call that total depravity. Who was bad – everyone, how bad – totally, when – all the time [much laughter]. That’s pretty all inclusive. Now this is a heart breaking statement [Driscoll again quotes Scripture] ‘And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said I will blot out man from the face of the land. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of heaven for I’m sorry that I made them’ [End of quote]. But, here’s the big idea. Noah found what? Favour, it’s the Hebrew word for grace. Noah found grace or favour in the eyes of the Lord.’ God looked at the earth – everyone’s is only bad all the time—including Noah. And God looked a Noah and said I’m going to love that guy…

Here we should note that Driscoll has purposely omitted Genesis 6.9.

‘These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth’

 So Driscoll, in his coarse jesting manner, and raising great mirth in his audience, teaches that Noah was a bad man. Yet Scripture teaches the opposite. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. A man who walked with God.

 We should note three things about Driscoll’s ministry:

First, note that its all about Driscoll, and how he feels about children’s Bibles, and what he does about it, and how he fixes it. Second, Driscoll teaches Scripture in a flippant way that the turns the Judgement of God against sin and wickedness, exhibited in the Flood, into a light hearted joke that produces much hilarity. His comment: ‘Noah got a boat, everybody else swam –  for a little while’, is foolish jesting with the things of God. Third, Driscoll perverts Scripture, by omitting a crucial text, (Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God), to support his point of view.  Driscoll is not rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2.15), but rather playing games with God’s Word. Also see Driscoll’s jokes in Vintage Jesus.

 Here is a pertinent critique of Driscoll’s treatment of Noah story: