To be honest, when I heard that Doug Phillips had stepped down from Vision Forum Ministries, I was startled. Even saddened.
I was even more surprised when I found out why.
Phillips acknowledged what he called a lengthy, inappropriate relationship with a woman who was not his wife. He described it as romantic and affectionate while denying that the relationship became sexual.
Whatever details eventually become known, what he has already admitted is serious. Adultery of the heart is not somehow harmless because a particular physical line may not have been crossed. His wife, family and the woman involved are not supporting characters in a theological debate about a prominent Christian leader.
They are people who have been hurt by his actions.
His entire platform of having a multigenerational vision for your family rests on, and assumes, the existence of a strong marriage and each spouse’s faithfulness to it.
As people began reacting publicly, I also found myself troubled by some of the ways Christians were processing the situation.
So here are my thoughts on four types of reactions I have seen and why they concern me.
1. Invalidating the Vision
There are camps in the Body of Christ. Even within denominations.
Recently, the term “tribes” has been making the rounds to describe the same thing. Regardless of whether that is right or wrong, there are camps in the Body of Christ.
Doug Phillips is one of the leaders of one of these so-called camps.
I’ve heard his camp referred to as the homeschooling movement. Other terms thrown around include biblical patriarchy, dominion-oriented, family-integrated and quiverfull.
Love it or hate it, this camp continues to produce brilliant, noticeably mature, countercultural and strategically equipped children. Meanwhile, the church as a whole continues to struggle with losing its youth.
Some people who identify with camps that oppose Phillips have used this situation to try to invalidate both him and every idea associated with his camp.
That does not mean those ideas should escape scrutiny. They should stand or fall on whether they are true, biblical and good, not on whether Doug Phillips personally defended them.
There will always be opportunists when someone else falls into sin. Ironically, some will sin themselves in the process.
One of the great reminders in all of this is that none of us is above this.
Apart from Jesus, none of us possesses some special ability to avoid certain sins.
Truth Does Not Rise or Fall With Its Messenger
I even read one person who went so far as to claim Phillips’ sin was the logical conclusion of what his camp teaches.
Perhaps specific teachings deserve examination. But that examination should involve Scripture, evidence and careful reasoning rather than simply using one man’s admitted sin as a shortcut to the conclusion.
There are certainly doctrinal differences among Christian camps. Still, I would hope one of our fundamental agreements is that sin originated in the Garden of Eden. We have all been born into it and affected by it ever since.
Not because I think so, but because the Bible tells me so.
Those inside Phillips’ camp and those outside it should agree that this sin, and all sin, is rooted in the history outlined in Genesis 3.
It is worth remembering how far we fell when sin entered the world.
Part of what makes the cross so glorious is understanding the depth of our depravity.
That’s right. Not someone else’s depravity.
Our depravity.
But recognizing universal human sinfulness should never become a way of minimizing a particular person’s wrongdoing.
Phillips bears responsibility for what Phillips did.
If we invalidated everything a leader stood for whenever he or she fell or behaved hypocritically, we would eventually have nothing left to stand on.
No theology would be safe.
How many Christians have committed adultery while also believing in justification by faith?
This would be a classic example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Should we also throw out the Psalms David wrote?
As Christians, we understand that truth remains truth regardless of who teaches it or how faithfully that person lives it.
Truth is transcendent. It does not depend on the character of the people delivering it.
Thank God.
2. The Theological Beatdown
When people are confused and hurt, it is a great time to explain how terrible they are for being confused and hurt.
Said no one ever.
Judging from some of the responses I have read, however, some Christians apparently believe the beatings should continue until morale improves.
It is OK to be shocked by this situation.
It is also OK if processing the information takes time.
Sadness is not an inherently sinful reaction. In fact, though God is not surprised by our sin, He is grieved by it.
We are made in the image of God, complete with emotions.
Different pieces of information, received in different contexts, will provoke different emotions in different people.
Praise God for His design.
After watching the theological browbeating aimed at people who were saddened and chose to say so, I was encouraged to read David Murray’s response to Phillips’ resignation.
Here was a theologically serious man willing to articulate the emotions he experienced when he heard the news. His reaction lined up closely with my own.
If you enter the virtual room merely to tell everyone how awesome and smart you are, and naturally how dumb everyone else is, you are falling into another kind of pride.
No matter your education or the camp you belong to, it is grievous when any man falls into serious sin.
It is more grievous still because other people bear the consequences.
Quit wasting time and get on your knees.
3. Throwing in the Towel
I think I have made it clear that I understand sadness as a response, possibly even temporary devastation.
What I do not understand is giving up.
This is terrible, but it is not the end of the world.
Christians are uniquely equipped with a framework for processing a situation like this.
Our worldview explains why humans mess up, why leaders become hypocrites and why evil exists in the world.
We are also the people who have hope.
None of us will ever perfectly live out even our own teaching. Yet Someone already lived perfectly for us.
Christ’s grace is not permission to treat Phillips’ actions lightly. Grace calls sin what it is, demands repentance and offers forgiveness that none of us deserves.
The same Christ who bore the punishment sinners deserve also commands us to pursue truth, justice and restoration.
That means forgiveness and accountability are not enemies.
Neither are grace and concern for people who were harmed.
The best thing we can do is leave ultimate judgment in the hands of the only Judge who has ever been, and will always remain, perfectly just.
At the same time, Christians should take earthly wrongdoing, consequences and accountability seriously.
4. Turning It Into Breaking News
I suppose this is news.
And I suppose it was breaking when it first became public.
Still, this tendency to pass around information as though it were a commodity bothers me.
If you have ever watched a news story about someone you personally know, unfortunately I have on more than one occasion, you probably understand what I mean.
We become distanced from the humanity of real people trapped in some of the most painful moments of their lives.
The word dehumanizing seems especially appropriate for situations like this.
That concern applies especially to the people harmed by someone else’s sin. They should not become anonymous props while the internet argues about the reputation, theology or future of a well-known man.
Whether inside Christendom or outside it, we are prone to gossip.
I hate seeing a situation like this reduced to ear-tickle candy while we miss the opportunity to pray for everyone involved and take seriously what has happened.
Handle this information with care.
Handle this information with prayer.
Do not confuse compassion with minimizing sin.
Do not confuse forgiveness with freedom from consequences.
And do not let our concern about gossip become an excuse to silence people who have genuinely been wronged.
The Internet Is Still Not Your Church
This also seems like a good time to revisit some observations I made in an earlier article about Christian hip-hop, the internet and our reactions to one another:
- The internet is not your church.
- Submit yourself to godly elders and sit under gospel-centered teaching.
- Develop relationships with real people.
- The local church is your greatest tool. It is the most advanced system for giving and receiving the mentorship and discipline necessary to navigate and safely steward a platform.
This situation should not merely give us something new to argue about online.
It should remind us how badly we need grace, accountability, repentance and people who know us somewhere other than a comment section.
It should also remind leaders that influence increases responsibility rather than reducing it.
And when someone abuses that responsibility, our first instinct should not be protecting a movement, a ministry or a reputation at the expense of people who have been harmed.
Now it’s your turn.
How will you respond?