When Jesus told his followers to remove the beam of wood their eyes before they tried to remove the speck in another person's eye, he was not instructing them to do a quick self-scan to determine whether they were beam-free. The whole point of the beam-in-the-eye image is to illustrate the power of self-deceit. As Jesus explains, people with beams in their eyes "don't notice the beam" (Matt 7:3). If it sounds ludicrous, that's the point. That's how hypocrisy works.

OCD is not primarily about hand-washing, counting, or putting things in order. It is primarily about fear and the desire for certainty. People with OCD want to be sure that the thing(s) they most fear will not happen. 1/4 They do not enjoy the rituals. And the rituals are not always obvious to others. (Avoidance or rumination can be a ritual, for example.) The rituals are their best attempt to quiet the fears they carry with them all day long. 2/4

This was an interesting read. Personally, I hesitate to describe Bethlehem as a cult proper, because cults try to hide their existence. However, I think BBC displays cult-like features: special knowledge, isolationism, a charismatic leader, etc. thedailybeast.com/why-do-people-… It also diminishes people’s agency with an authoritarian leadership style, reinforced by a theology that erodes individuals’ inherent worth.

To me, the best part of the article was its observation that cultishness is more of a spectrum than a box you’re either in or out of.

In the poem I wrote, I talk about a “‘god-centered’ gun” and say that Piper’s view of God “cut us deep.” Here’s what I mean. I’m not the only one to make this observation, but Piper has consistently proclaimed a God who is a divine narcissist.

https://twitter.com/johnathonbowers/status/1524017107612098563

He would deny this, of course. His response has been that it’s wrong for humans to be narcissists—to seek their own glory—because they aren’t the greatest Being. But since God *is* the greatest Being, it is right for him to seek his own praise.

I wrote a poem to help me process my emotions about everything that happened at Bethlehem. It’s raw at points. I wanted to give myself permission to really feel my feelings without worrying about footnotes and nuance.

There’s no neat resolution to the poem. No idyllic ending. It ends with a lot left unresolved. That’s okay, because that’s how I feel right now. Maybe you do, too. If so, I hope this poem helps put language to your grief. It switches between my voice and the voice of BBC/BCS’s leaders. The leaders’ voice is marked off by quotation marks.

Gather 'round, friends, and I'll tell you the story of how I *almost* graduated with a PhD from Southern Seminary (@SBTS). If you can't stay for the whole story, the short version is that white supremacy kept me from finishing a dissertation on white supremacy. It all started back in 2014, when I was accepted into Southern's PhD program in Christian Philosophy. Southern offered the degree in a modular format, which allowed me to continue teaching at Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis.

Huh. Interesting. Did you know, @JohnPiper , that after I submitted my resignation letter in September 2020, BCS offered to let me finish teaching immediately and still pay me through the end of the semester? Did you know my wife and I turned down that offer? Did you know that we chose to resign in October 2020 so that we wouldn’t be pressured financially to sign a non-disparagement clause? Did you know we gave up our benefits and income that day and stepped out into uncertainty because we couldn’t take BCS’s hypocrisy any longer?

It was a year ago today that I resigned from teaching at Bethlehem College & Seminary (BCS). If you want to read more about the backstory, I’ll link to some tweet threads at the end of this thread. I don’t regret my decision to leave. At all. However, I would never want to go through that experience again.

After I announced my immediate resignation at a meeting of the faculty and staff, Brian Tabb, the academic dean, asked another faculty member if he would pray.

In his response to my resignation, Piper mentioned an investigation that the BCS Board of Trustees conducted into concerns that I and three other individuals raised about the institution. He writes that the Board “engaged an independent law firm with expertise in such institutional allegations to do a thorough and impartial investigation.”

I was going to wait to share this until I could provide some more backstory, but given Piper's tweet this morning, I think it's as good a time as any to show you Piper's response to my resignation. On October 7, Brian Tabb, BCS's academic dean, emailed me to let me know that he would be announcing my and a colleague's resignations the next day at a faculty and staff meeting.

Since it has already been quoted from in the CT article, I'd like to share the resignation letter that I sent to the Bethlehem College & Seminary (BCS) administration last September. I’ll share additional material in the coming days. I resigned for five reasons:
1) Spiritual and emotional abuse coming from certain members of the BCS Board, administration, and faculty.
2) Institutional apathy toward racial justice.
3) Mistreatment of women.