Ingrid Schlueter = 666 in Blogger Numerology

Bob Stevens sent me a link to a Christianity Today story about Cedarville University canceling a Shane Claiborne event due to a certain blogger's campaign to rid the world of mushy Christianity. Ingrid "My Jesus Carries an Uzi" Schlueter over at Slice of Laodicea wrote an entry decrying the caving in of the Baptist school in the face of emergent/liberal Christians and then sent links to her entry to pastors and alumni. (Is self-promotion a virtue in Ingrid's Christian framework? One would think it falls under the category of pride...) The alumni and pastors who were gullible enough to listen to anything that comes out of the mouth of that antichrist promptly called the school. The school caved and canceled the engagement.

Now, I don't care about Shane Claiborne; I'm not caught up in his Birkenstock revolution, or whatever it's called, but he seems like a nice enough guy, very sincere, trying to make Christianity work for people on the margins, etc. I am sorry that his event was canceled, but I'm more sorry that anyone listens to anything she writes. Full disclosure: an entry on Ingrid's blog was forwarded to muckety-mucks in the Nazarene Church leading to my disinvitation to professor at Southern Nazarene University 18 months ago. (No. I'm not bitter. I'm far happier teaching at a state school outside the domain of fundamentalists.) Ingrid is trying to purify the faith such that it conforms to her uber-legalistic version of what Christianity is about. She is the hypertext version of a Jack Chick tract. She will of course toss out dozens of Scriptures to back up all her points, and I'm sure she feels vindicated because Jesus called Herod a fox and Paul withstood Peter to his face and blah, blah, blah. However, she is nothing less than hateful, mean-spirited, judgmental, hypocritical, ignorant, and incredibly vain. Who in their right mind believes they have a calling to purify the faith? The ego attached to that endeavor must be huge.

Now that I'm outside the camp, so to speak, I'm unconcerned about what the Ingrids of the world say. However, I'm confused as to why anyone listens. Seriously. Haven't we seen dozens of Ingrids in our lives? Hasn't the Church listened to enough venomous apologists and heresy hunters that they have learned their lesson? Can't they recognize a wolf in sheep's clothing, to borrow from the erstwhile apostle. How is it that a lunatic antichrist sends links to her own blog, people click on it, read the pabulum that pretends to be insightful apologetics, and makes a phone call based on that entry? Are Christians so lazy that they prefer to be told what to think? Are they so dishonest they won't check out the source? Are they so ignorant of Scripture that they don't realize what she is doing has nothing to do with any sort of Biblical model of confrontation? Do they not realize that anyone who makes it a mission to identify the Laodiceans among us is someone who is desperately angry, vindictive, and so full of hubris she can't see her own hypocrisy? Pitiful. For those of you who will at some point be victimized by Ingrid, I'm genuinely sorry. The shitstorm she created for me has ended well, but there was collateral damage in relationships due to her judgments and assumptions. But for those of you who actually believe a word she writes, what the hell is wrong with you?

Comments

[Ken Silva]

Feel better now?

"Are Christians so lazy that they prefer to be told what to think?"

Yeah, it's a real good thing you're not doing that here.

[Dallas Tim]

Greg,

You answered your own question.

You ended by asking,

"But for those of you who actually believe a word she writes, what the hell is wrong with you?"

You alluded to much of the answer by asking earlier in your comment...

"Are they so ignorant of Scripture that they don't realize what she is doing has nothing to do with any sort of Biblical model of confrontation?"

Because the answer to your earlier question is "yes," then the reason(s) for much or what led you to ask the last one is/should be obvious.

When people claim to follow and obey God, while being ignorant of what He's said, then the results are "Ingrid-esque."

I'm glad things worked out for you and I hope that in the future, the collateral damage you mentioned is also repaired. If those relationships were/are based on true Christianity, then I have a feeling they will be.

Peace.

[michael]

Heard an NPR piece not too long ago about the Huckabee campaign. They grabbed people at random standing around the Washington monument and read clips of his speeches to them and asked if anyone could identify his biblical references. The two references were to the widow's mite and to the breaking of the loaves and fishes. No one around the monument could get either reference.*

NPR then went on to talk about how Huckabee *thinks* this rhetoric strengthens his base - fundangelicals - but that even among that group, only roughly 50% are biblically literate in any meaningful sense at all.

Obviously this makes for a dangerous group. 50% of people who think that one book has final authority on everything in their lives don't know what the book says. Someone has to tell them what it says, and they don't even have to be that convincing...

*They did finally find one woman who knew both references, as well as the "bonus" reference to Samuel picking David. And, yes, she was a Huckabee supporter. I wish I had been at the monument that day - ace the quiz - and then say, "Support him? No, every Christian I talk to thinks he's crazy. Most of my friends are voting for Obama."

[Dallas Tim]

..."Obviously this makes for a dangerous group. 50% of people who think that one book has final authority on everything in their lives don't know what the book says..."

They are quite possibly the MOST dangerous group of people...

[sepherim]

Obviously the powers-that-be at Cedarville know what they are doing. They let Brad Kallenburg, who only talks about emergent theology speak in chapel three times but they cancel Shane Claiborne who is trying to do something out of his understanding of Christianity. They are obvious proponents of that familiar bible verse, "Be ye hearers of the word and not does only."

[greg]

For those of you who don't recognize the first name in this thread, Ken Silva is the director, chief apolgist, mean guy at Apprising Ministries. I've often thought he and Ingrid should bone like Canaanites just to get in touch with their lighter sides.

[greg]

Dear Ken,

Not sure you'll be back, but you might notice that I have open comments here: anyone can post. I've deleted a total of three comments in four years, not counting the ones I deleted at the poster's request. Ingrid, on the other hand, doesn't allow commenting on her blog. Why allow input if you already know the truth? Ack!

[Zossima]

I think we have a human tendency to perpetually justify ourselves through negative evaluations of others. Some of the recovering addicts that I know are some of the harshest critics of those in addiction. Some of the fundamentalists I know who no longer think they're fundamentalist because they decided it was okay to drink beer or listen to CCM are the most judgmental of those who don't think those things are okay. Some of my harshest criticisms of my own kids come from the beliefs I hold about my own weaknesses.

Anyway, Ingrid is the Ann Coulter of fundamentalism, self-righteous, venemous, hypocritical, constantly assuming the worst possible about everyone... And no fun at parties.

C'mon, swing baby!

[Amanda Fortney]

Oh my gosh...I just went to her blog. Is she insane? Obviously she is.

[Antje]

The thing that scares me is that people think that the words "liberal" and "conservative" are synonymous with "heathen" and "Christian" (or vice versa).

I'd proudly consider myself a liberal, but I sure hope (and believe) that God is much, much bigger than conservatism and/or liberalism.

[Dallas Tim]

You might be a liberal if...

[Adam Smithee]

So now all recommended reading of the Old Testament should be accompanied by Pink Floyd's, "Dark Side of the Moon"?

[Zossima]

I just wish the Bible had literally spelled out the recipe from the acacia wood.

[Dallas Tim]

Don't you know if Moses really was high, all of the commandments would have started with "Dude...Thou shalt not..." (Jeff Spicoli accent)