15 January 2019

As a Dog Returns to His Vomit


The Gospel Coalition doesn't disappoint, it continues to put out a stream of Dominionist filth, glorying in what should be a mark of shame.
In the name of the so-called Cultural Mandate the organisation celebrates the Christian defection of Frank Reich. This man, famous in the NFL for one of the biggest comeback games in history... incidentally it was the last NFL game I ever watched. I had turned it off at halftime and only later discovered what had happened. Not too long after I became a Christian and my interest in the NFL (and many other things) all but evaporated. I had wasted too much of my life on such things which I immediately realised were worthless and a waste of time.


Anyway, this football star laudably left the fame and fortune of the NFL and attended seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) earning a Master of Divinity degree (M.Div) and then eventually become president of the seminary.
Of course one can't help but wonder if his celebrity status didn't play a role in his selection to be head of the seminary. In terms of Christian leadership he certainly wouldn't have been considered qualified and if someone wants to appeal to his coaching and leadership expertise... one, that shouldn't apply to the realm of the Church and two, he didn't start his coaching career until he left seminary leadership in 2006.
One has to ask how someone that had a relatively new degree, had never pastored or been a professor ends up as seminary president? It has to be celebrity. What else could it be? I guarantee you even the most brilliant student with a managerial background wouldn't be able to pull that off and if he did there would be considerable resistance within the bureaucracy. And yet the Evangelical and even Confessional worlds are dazzled by celebrity and eager for the world's attention and praise.
Since his 2006 departure from Reformed Theological Seminary he's become a well known coach and has experienced considerable 'success' and this is praised by Evangelicals. They want to 'impact' the culture and believe that such cultural accolades are somehow beneficial to the Church.
The truth is that Reich demonstrates a marked immaturity and confusion regarding his faith. Under the aegis of eliminating that old 'sacred and secular' divide he has been deluded into thinking he can build the Kingdom of Christ and serve God by functioning with the NFL.
What is the NFL but one of the most extreme expressions of cultural decadence? It's harmful to the family, certainly to the Church and is a great distraction for many men across the land. It is a corrupt organisation and corrupts those within it. It's premised on the fact that millions of adoring and foolish fans will invest massive quantities of time and money into something that doesn't matter in the least. It doesn't matter in terms of the Eternal Kingdom but even culturally, were the NFL to evaporate tomorrow, seriously what difference would it make to the world?
In fact the world would probably be a better place.
Oh, I'll admit the economic impact would be significant but again that only testifies to the decadent nature of US society and its sham economy.
Reich's victories are not to be celebrated. His humility while perhaps real on one level is on another level patently false. Seminary presidents do well enough... shamefully so in most cases and yet for Reich the fame and fortune and the 'glory' of the NFL are what really called to him and so like a dog returning to its vomit, he proved a fool returning to his folly.
Reich would have better served Christ in denouncing the NFL, coming out against it and warning Christians about not only being part of its culture but urging them to turn it off and get it out of their homes and their lives. The players are some of the worst elements in society, a bunch of spoiled prima donnas and in many cases dressed up thugs. I don't want to hear about locker room Bible studies. I am not impressed and I'm not impressed with Frank Reich.
What is his standing with God? Who's to say? I certainly cannot. But I don't respect him and he's not someone to be looked up to. I view his 'career' trajectory as a lesson and a sad one at that, a demonstration of foolishness.
But who's the greater fool? Reich or the blind guides of the Christian Church who celebrate it? The seminary system reveals its corruption and the misnamed Gospel Coalition once again demonstrates its fundamental flaw. It's a Dominionist organisation with 'another gospel' that teaches the Church to turn away from the true Kingdom under the delusion that vomit can somehow be transformed into something beautiful.

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