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Marissa Franks Burt Profile picture
Marissa Franks Burt
@MBurtwrites
Storybound & Stardust series | The Myth of Good Christian Parenting: How False Promises Betrayed a Gen of Eva Families (2025) | Also find me @lectionaryhome
2 subscribers
Dec 20 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
Let's pick up where we left off.

Look over there at the Mount of Olives. Do you see that company of weeping ppl—barefoot King David, 600 of his men & most of the royal court? The mighty man Ittai? They have left the city before Absalom returns.

That scent on the air? 🧵 Sacrifices, offered by Abiathar the priests as Zadok leads the Levites and the ark after David.

But David sends the ark back. This carries hints of the old David, the one who wouldn't raise his hand against God's anointed Saul.

David doesn't know if his rule is over. 2/
Dec 18 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
Delighted to see responses from ppl being like: I'm going to pick up my Bible again! For real, though, QT thread only captures a sliver of the political intrigue at play.

1/2 Samuel & books of Kings & Chronicles read like a game of thrones. 🧵 David's sons are ofc vying for the throne & 2 Sam weaves these political machinations together in ways we sometimes just read right over.

The storyteller takes us almost directly from Bathsheba/Uriah story to Amnon/Tamar (not coincidentally; this is to show the parallels). 2/
Dec 9 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
I find it so poignant to consider how the same Mary who offers her iconic "yes" to God later comes with Jesus' brothers to take Him home, because they all think He's lost His mind. 🧵 Colors by Brittany Richardson & pencils by Brian Gage Mothers testify: you don't forget the details of birthing a new human being into the world.

We get an abridged version of Mary’s recollections on pgs of gospels—treasured details alongside other mysterious, wonder-full moments: magi & shepherds & aged prophets in the temple. 2/
Nov 19 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Harmful Christian parenting has generational impact.

Where might Doug Wilson have learned that “Discipline must by painful...God has required us to inflict pain on those who are dear to us” (Federal Husband)? 🧵 “When I was a child, my father delivered 3 rules to me...I also remember where I was standing in the front yard when he delivered them to me, & I remember the fond & affectionate demeanor with which he delivered it (he had a fist in front of my face)....” Douglas Wilson 2/
Sep 30 • 25 tweets • 6 min read
If deconstruction is a necessary stage of faith formation 🔗⬇️, why is it that Christian parents (& pastors in faith families) speak so negatively about it?

Probably many reasons, but b/c I've been reading so many Christian parenting resources, I want to talk about one 🧵 Many frameworks give little space for questions/differentiation. Parents cultivate & expect right-away-all-the-way-compliance. This may “work” when children are small but leaves parents uniquely ill-equipped to navigate relationships w/teens & adults. 2/
Aug 6 • 27 tweets • 6 min read
A 🧵on the necessity of deconstruction:

As I analyze various Christian resources, I often think about the ppl who lived them. What was it like to parent according to the suggested principles? To be a child “trained up” by them? A family spiritually formed by them? Recently finished chpt-by-chpt examination of Don’t Make Me Count to Three, a practical application of Shepherding A Child’s Heart. Both offer a nouthetic/ACBC approach to parenting—spiritual micromanagement of thoughts, behaviors, & hearts. 2/youtube.com/playlist?list=…
Jul 12 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I am finishing my reread of Martha Peace’s “The Excellent Wife” today, and as I was describing it to a friend she sent me the song that could’ve been written for it.

Try hard. And then harder. This book is peppered with “should” and “responsibility” and “sinfulness.” 1/5 If it works, your efforts were by grace alone. If it doesn’t work, be satisfied that you were righteous while you suffer needlessly. If you don’t like it, you have a sin issue.

On pg. 150 describes churches teaching “older women how & what to teach the younger women…” 2/5
Jun 21 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Imagine expecting ppl who have been waiting for responses re:@ACNAtoo for 3+yrs to give any ACNA leader the benefit of the doubt at this point.

Stating what a bishop has chosen to do≠malice. 🧵/6 If @The_ACNA leaders don't want ppl to assume an ACNA bishop is silencing survivors & muffling a clergyperson...they should not take actions that silence survivors & muffle clergy. 2/6
Jun 21 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
@GroyperFriend Imagine expecting ppl who have been waiting for responses re: #acnatoo for 3+yrs to give ACNA leaders the benefit of the doubt at this point.

Walls of silence cut both ways. Not issuing public statements leave ppl filling in the blanks. 1/2 @GroyperFriend If ACNA leaders don’t want ppl to assume an @The_ACNA bishop is silencing survivors & muffling clergy ppl, they should not take actions that silence survivors & muffle clergy.+
Jun 19 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
My feed: "women can't be at seminaries" + megachurch knew a pastor molested a girl & "restored" him to ministry.

Christians telling women their femaleness forever disqualifies them while we cannot find the will to tell a man his behavior has permanently disqualified him.

🤔🧐🧵 Among other things, both of these stances are *unbiblical*. First: excluding women.

Guess who didn't have a problem w/women learning & fully participating in the church?

Early church as seen in the New Testament.

Perhaps these Christians had watched the example of Jesus. 2/
Jun 14 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Lack of HR procedures & communication is a problem at every level of @The_ACNA

Several yrs ago a bishop (not mine) berated me over the phone for writing about @ACNAtoo on socials.

Stunningly inappropriate from anyone let alone bishop to layperson. What was I to do?🧵 Well, nothing, really, b/c there aren't processes.

I could reach out to my own bishop & others who thankfully took me seriously.

It's a luxury many don't have. My privileged position as clergy spouse w/20 yrs of connections bought me credibility. 2/12
May 22 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Thinking about this🧵all day today.

I wonder if this dynamic also relates to way (at the risk of overgeneralization) Christian male leaders may expect to walk into a room & be heard, can expect their words to result in action - that is diff from what many women experience. 🧵/9 Reminds me of Helen’s observations 2 yrs ago. ⬇️

Perhaps a reason women show up more as advocates is b/c we know what it is to be unheard. 2/9 acnatoo.org/acna-witnesses…
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May 17 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Survivors continue to wait for responses & basic updates on processes as @The_ACNA procedures drag on

Many reasons why continued silence has always been unacceptable, but I will always be stunned by the *pastoral negligence* & passivity of it, esp in light of ordinal vows. 🧵/8
Image Bishops in @The_ACNA are given shepherd's rods to symbolize how they are entrusted with Christ's flock.

Shepherds are to take action: "hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring back the lapsed, and seek the lost."

Ignoring people is not a pastoral option. 2/8
Mar 25 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
Throughout history & across culture, women are often the ones washing dead bodies, keeping watch before burials, feeding the mourning, ministering in the wake of death.
So too Jesus’ women have, in the hours before dawn, prepared age-old recipes of grief-scented spices. 🧵 They didn’t know how they were going to roll away that heavy stone, but they leave w/the sunrise anyway.
I wonder if, as they hurried through the quiet, ephemeral beauty of early dawn, anticipation threaded their weeping or if they dragged their steps to make time slow down. 2/
Mar 8 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
"Dedicate the youth according to his way.
Even when he grows old he will not depart from it."

⬆️ is how Dr. Bruce Waltke breaks this down in his commentary on the Proverbs.

Note: phrase "he should go" is not in Waltke's rendering. The reason for this: it's not in the text.🧵 Image Let's take a closer look.

I contend that this verse is primarily a sobering observation-intended-to-provoke-action about how the way the lessons received in childhood are formative, how they have long-lasting impact into adulthood & old age. 2/?
Mar 7 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
Final post in a series (linked at end) that uses story-telling/questions to argue against use of corporal punishment:

Part 1: perspective of 3YO child being spanked
Part 2: perspective of a sibling
Part 3: perspective of a parent
**Part 4: 20 yrs later**

🧵/?


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Image These imagined scenarios are far from comprehensive, but I hope they spotlight ways corporal punishment contributes to the shame, inauthentic relationships, & painful estrangement many Christian families experience.

2/?
Mar 4 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
This week I continue making a case against the use of corporal punishment by Christian parents.

I've already argued: it isn't biblical, it's not the way of Jesus, & decades of research show the harm (🔗at end)

This 🧵shows-not-tells a child's perspective of a "spanking" 🧵/13 It is not meant to be comprehensive or to speak for every child's experience, which is varied.

I wrote it for those who so easily claim there is a "right" way to spank young children.

Utilizing a scenario/formula Tripp offers, let's drag it out from behind closed doors: 2/13
Mar 1 • 21 tweets • 5 min read
It can be difficult to evaluate the impact of corporal punishment (exploration of this & linked studies in this 🧵).

That does not mean we cannot make robust conclusions about the harm.

IMO @janetheimlich's thorough work is essential reading: 🧵 a.co/d/1kxVK4l
Image Any research attempting to evaluate CP (either as "working" or "turned out fine" or "harming" or "trauma") must consider the limitations of self-disclosure, the only data source for things happening behind closed doors.

Loyalty, shame, & memory recall all are relevant. 2/?
Feb 27 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Many Christians ardently defending "spanking" again today

Bolstered by (IMO) eisegetical claims & doctrinal interpretations, they insist that God requires adults to hit young children & claim that is what God does for us.

I find this to be profoundly unChristian. 🧵/10 Jesus did not force compliance. He invited ppl & instructed His followers to…follow His example.

He sent them out to do His healing and liberating work, saying, “Freely you have received; freely give.”

Neither did the apostles punish ppl into behaving. 2/10
Feb 27 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The Bible nowhere commands parents to "spank"/hit young children. Nowhere.

Neither does it tell parents that God gives them authority to hit young children.

Direct instruction given to Christian parents (repeated 2X)? *Fathers, do not embitter/provoke your children.* 🧵/4 Before someone proof-texts the Proverbs (a book intended to cultivate wisdom), consider:
✔️Applying "the rod" verses literally=beating young men w/stout rods
✔️We do not apply most Proverbs as imperatives

So ask yourself why those & why in that way? 2/4
Feb 20 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
“Christian parents who wish to sell their concept of God to their children must first sell themselves,” Dobson writes.

“If they are not worthy of respect, then neither is their religion or their morals, or their government, or their country, or any of their values." 🧵/? Image In a moment of reckoning for American evangelicalism, Dobson’s words take on a different tenor.
After I read Fea's article for @theatlantic, I read "Dare to Discipline." Published in 1970, it sold over 2 million copies & launched a parenting empire. 2/?