Thread by @hlgriffin

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride I'm glad that @freedomsbride could call on you. I hope we see more men in the days ahead doing everything they can to hold their brothers accountable.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride Part of the reason that abuse is rife in the SBC is b/c the standards that men are expected to meet before they recieve a Maturity Badge are pitifully low. Some men do more than the bare minimum, but they don't have to as a precondition to recieve and maintain power & authority.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride Predators flourish partly because they flatter non-predators who are weak men, offering them the pseudo-dignity of being recieved as a God's Warrior Fighting for the Truth in exchange for continuing to upholde the predator as a worthy leader.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride White men in the SBC are constantly flattered by the fantasy that if they are Sincere, believe the right Bible Facts, and hate liberals, they have Sanctified Common Sense & are able to assess the characters of other men.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride This is why a man like Mike Stone can persuade people to believe his take on just about anything. He has all the gestures & tones that make a performance of Smarmy Sincerity land just right for people trained to recieve the sweet smell of sincerity as a marker of truthiness.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride The longer men buy into this system, the more it would cost them to walk away from it. When men are treated as mature when they are not, there is little incentive to keep growing.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride This means that when big challenges arise, they haven't developed the character and wisdom to meet the demands of complex situations. The threat of shame and failure looms.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride They look around at other trusted men who were also given the pseudo-dignity of a Maturity Badge despite evincing little in the way of substantive character. All their bros who have Measured Themselves by Themselves are also at a loss.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride Surely they cannot all have missed it so badly. Surely the problem must be someone else, perhaps the women Led by Their Feelings Instead of God's Word. Surely God would not fail to ensure that such Godly Sincere men would judge rightly at the Time of Trial.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride Surely their Sanctified Common Sense would make them capable of recognizing a predator instead of seeing a Stand Up Guy Who Just Really has a Heart for the Gospel.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride The threat posed to the security of their self-image by taking seriously the possibility that they not only got it wrong, but every man that they trusted got it wrong about other men who seemed just as sincere as themselves & who ascribed to pure doctrine is massive.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride The potential shame they would have to face is beyond their hope of redemption because decades in to mutually settling for mediocrity, they can point to know one in their communities who has faced a shame that big and come out of it transformed by Jesus.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride And so men who are legitimately quite nice and mean well look the other way or protect predators. Priding themselves on being the only ones who Take Sin Seriously, they make sin small so their small god can save them from it.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride They become more sentimental about the transformative power of their displays of sincerity & also become suckers for the comforting distraction offered by the latest shadow enemy, such as everything labeled "CRT" or "wokeness" by big names who want them to look the other way.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride Facing off against the latest manufactured pseudo-enemy, they can once again LARP as if they were really God's Stalwart Manly Warriors after all, displaying their Heroic & Sincerity by Taking a Stand & declaring that they are Against The Threat to the Gospel.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride All that is required to maintain their pseudo-dignity as Stalwart Men is to sternly be against something with their words, which is a relief b/c after years of putting off growth, they don't actually have the practical wisdom to build something true and real and good.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride This is why pathetic and weak men in the SBC have to demonize women like @freedomsbride & @ThigpenTiffany & @ChristaBrown777. These women have to be bad so weak men can hold on to the fantasy that they themselves are good.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride *point to no one, rather. Homophones are my nemesis.

@jackvelbar @freedomsbride @ThigpenTiffany @ChristaBrown777 @threadreaderapp unroll