Spanky Sproul 3: Rationality Is NOT in the Mix

[Emilycharlotte]

4 hours ago, refugee said:

Maybe the writing style has to do with all the 18th- and 19th-century books he and his ilk used to tout for “wholesome reading.”

Sounds like a possibility—I’m also wondering if there is a correlation between an over-inflated ego and over-inflated prose.

[Howl]

Here's the link the the "Our Beliefs - Pine Hills Church"

The usual: 

• God, Trinity
• Biblical  inerrancy
• Sin! 
• Believers baptism (full immersion!)
• Lord's Supper limited to believers
• Sexual activity between man/woman married couples only 

And a couple other things, yada yada, but you get the idea. 

6 hours ago, older than allosaurs said:

I’ve been thinking the RC Jr is not well positioned for a side trip into the hip and happenin’ or any other photogenic role.

He’s not all trim and sparkly,

Heh! Pine Hills has a "Seasoned Adults" ministry, which is perfect for Lisa and the Spanx!  

Spoiler

 

Pine Hills Church is blessed with a great number of Seasoned Adults within our church family. The Seasoned Adult Ministry at PHC is designed for those who want to finish strong. The Seasoned Adults of PHC are integrated into the entire church and can be found serving in every area of ministry. They bring years of experience and wisdom to the ministries of Pine Hills Church.

There are many opportunities for fellowship through various activities, living life together and building authentic community, while serving the Lord together at PHC. At Pine Hills Church, we embrace our Seasoned Adults and are blessed to serve with them as they finish the second half strong.

 

Reading about Seasoned Adults "finishing strong" in the "second half" makes me want to punch out whichever 30-something perky pastor came up with those phrases.  

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by Howl

[ophelia]

16 hours ago, Howl said:

Just dropped by the RC-Lisa Sproul Jr fb page.  Lots of  "This content isn't available right now" but there's a photo montage of Sunday's Pine Hills Church service, featuring hip white preacher men (there must be a recommended look including big smile and jacket brand) and a rock band with congregational swaying and hand waving.  Here 

  Hide contents

 

 

and here

  Hide contents

 

 

FB page WORK section:  RC SPROUL JR MINISTRIES

October 14, 2016 to present · Fort Wayne, Indiana

 

What is it with these hipster preachers ALWAYS wearing this kind of jackets? Do they get them on discount?

[ViolaSebastian]

RE: The purple writing style, I typically see this as the hallmark of someone who has been told he or she is a good writer throughout their youth and never felt the need to continue to work on their writing as a teenager or adult. Someone with natural talent, but who failed to put in the hard work it takes to become a more advanced and concise wordsmith. I think 19th-century reading material comes into play as well. If a person has been brought up on the classics, particularly if they're told such books are the epitome of writing, then I think that's reflected in their products. 

I also tend to see that writing style is people who would rather express what they, in their great wisdom, have to say, rather than communicate it effectively to the reader in a way that is easily understood. I think there's a tendency for such writers to think that if readers fail to understand, it's because their too dull to glean the message, rather than the fault lying with the writer ineffectively conveying the message.

 

[MamaJunebug]

6 hours ago, ophelia said:

What is it with these hipster preachers ALWAYS wearing this kind of jackets? Do they get them on discount?

In its own way, the boxy jacket probably is taking on its own symbology. In liturgical churches we see the pastor’s stole and alb as indicators that he/she is conducting the worship. In Spankisa’s new church home, it’s the jacket, $90 t-shirt & big toothy grin.

15 hours ago, Emilycharlotte said:

Sounds like a possibility—I’m also wondering if there is a correlation between an over-inflated ego and over-inflated prose.

I absolutely think so. The reasoning [sic] process is along these lines: “everything I say is astonishing, so why edit? “ Writing down one’s stream-of-consciousness results. And that’s all I have to say about that. 

[hoipolloi]

7 hours ago, ViolaSebastian said:

Someone with natural talent, but who failed to put in the hard work it takes to become a more advanced and concise wordsmith. ...I think there's a tendency for such writers to think that if readers fail to understand, it's because their too dull to glean the message, rather than the fault lying with the writer ineffectively conveying the message.

In my experience, these are almost always people who also flat out reject any advice from an editor, often seeing it as an insult.

Chances are good that Spanky has encountered an editor somewhere at some time who worked on his stuff & probably made it better. Chances are more than good that he also refused to accept any of the edits, insisting that he knew far better because he is so brilliant.

[Banyan]

Looks like Spanky has abandoned his religion.

RC Sproul Jr Abandons Reformed Faith?

Quote

How could this happen? What motivated him to do this? Surely there's a back story. We believe much of it centers around RC Jr's remarriage on October 14, 2016 to Lisa Ringel. Sproul's first wife Denise, the mother of his six biological children, passed away from cancer in 2011. Because of Denise's passing RC Jr had biblical justification to remarry, provided his fiance was also biblically unhindered to remarry. RC Sproul Jr was at the time an ordained minister in the Covenant Presbyterian Church. So the determination of whether or not his remarriage would be biblical would need to be made by the elders of the Presbytery who'd ordained him. It's interesting to note that one of the founders of the CPC is James McDonald. He and his wife Stacy had both been divorcees prior to marrying one another. As such the CPC was not inherently opposed to remarriage, provided it met the biblical criteria.

It's alleged RC Jr's Presbytery wouldn't give their blessing to his remarriage due to Lisa divorcing three prior husbands, none of which were allegedly deemed to be for biblical causes (e.g. adultery, physical abuse, etc.). Rather than submitting to the will of his Presbytery RC Jr demitted his ordination, which the CPC accepted on October 4, 2016. Sproul fled the authority of his Presbytery to marry Lisa Ringel. Since demitting his ordination RC Sproul Jr has had no ordination, license, or authority granted to him by any church or denomination to serve as Pastor, Minister, Teacher, Theologian, or otherwise.

 

 

[DomWackTroll]

Spanky's now hangin' with a guy who describes himself in his Twitter profile as a "grace addict," LOL. Oh, Spanks, how you would have mocked this "evanjellyfish" just a few years ago... 

 

Also, "Preston Sprinkle" is my favorite fundie name ever. 

[lilith]

39 minutes ago, DomWackTroll said:

Spanky's now hangin' with a guy who describes himself in his Twitter profile as a "grace addict," LOL. Oh, Spanks, how you would have mocked this "evanjellyfish" just a few years ago... 

 

Also, "Preston Sprinkle" is my favorite fundie name ever. 

Oh the shade his kids and their spouses must be throwing at Spanky and Lisa. They were raised to be oh so proud of their superior reformed faith and they took the lessons well. I can just imagine Chris Stouffer and Joshua Titus sniggering about Spanky’s newfound low church tastes over a cigar and an aged Scottish whiskey while their wives hug their pedobaptised babies in the kitchen and marvel at the crassness of a believers baptism.

[DomWackTroll]

13 minutes ago, lilith said:

...while their wives hug their pedobaptised babies in the kitchen and marvel at the crassness of a believers baptism.

You'd think the surname "Sprinkle" would give Spanky panic attacks, reminding him of how he's turning his back on all those innocent babies who need baptizing. 

[Howl]

Heh: 

On 4/9/2019 at 8:18 PM, DomWackTroll said:

Oh, Spanks, how you would have mocked this "evanjellyfish" just a few years ago... 

It would be the Reformed version of divine intervention if Machiavellian gas bag Doug Wilson weighed in on this. 

[Lisafer]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Heh: 

It would be the Reformed version of divine intervention if Machiavellian gas bag Doug Wilson weighed in on this. 

Doug Wilson is so gross, but that would be hysterical!

[MamaJunebug]

Needed a little punch to my blood pressure,  so watched a bit of Spanky’s Bible Class O’ The Web Avis Facebook from a week ago.

Takeaway 1: He’s gained back quite a few pounds. 

Takeaway 2: He needs to start taking Zyrtec or something else for his runny nose. Or just blow his nose, for crying out loud, and be done with it. 

Takeaway 3: His style of teaching is not my style of learning. Guess I’m spoiled by the clergy whose classes I attend. They’re prepared, start with minimal asides and speak ... how shall I say it? ... as if they have organized their thoughts before convening class. 

Oh - and they start with a brief prayer for a blessed study. Which maybe he did, and I missed it, FF’ing through.  

Anybody else out there give it a look? At 1-1/4 hours I certainly don’t expect anyone to do the whole thing. 

[Howl]

Thanks for taking one for the team, @MamaJunebug! You're a strong woman. 

I saw the beginning pic of him lounging in his chair, marinating in self regard and oozing unctuousness  and just couldn't press the "start" button.

Also, quite a bit of the content posted on the RC-Lisa Spanky fb page is "Content not available right now."  This would be something that RC-Lisa posted with a very positive comment.  One can see their comment, but not what they posted. 

Lisa's oldest daughter and infant are apparently now living with them. 

[DomWackTroll]

5 hours ago, Howl said:

I saw the beginning pic of him lounging in his chair, marinating in self regard and oozing unctuousness  and just couldn't press the "start" button.

He thinks he's C.S. Lewis. I tried watching once, but I only made it through a few minutes. 

[older than allosaurs]

"Marinating in self-regard" is a description to cherish. I try to stay away from criticizing people's appearance and general demeanor (If you knew me in person you'd see that it would be a pot/kettle proposition.) But could he rouse himself to at least raise his head off the back of the chair? I was on a televised panel a while back, and you had better believe I was conscious about my posture the entire time.

Meantime Lisa is posting every old family photo she can find. I'm guessing she someone persuaded her that it's not great pr for a family ministry to excoriate your kids online. She also has a new bestie in Stacie Tchividian, her "sweet sister and dear friend." Lisa cozying up to Stacie kind of reminds me of Jill R stalking the Duggars.

 

[Howl]

1 hour ago, older than allosaurs said:

I was on a televised panel a while back, and you had better believe I was conscious about my posture the entire time.

Hubs records and watches a lot of shows with guests, like Seth Myers and Kelly and Ryan (!) and I've noticed the women guests in particular typically exhibit perfect posture. 

1 hour ago, older than allosaurs said:

She also has a new bestie in Stacie Tchividian, her "sweet sister and dear friend."

This is a riot.  Two women who married disgraced men! To be a fly on the wall...bet they discuss how mean people can be for wanting to hold their disgraced but still arrogant  husbands to account. 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Howl

[hoipolloi]

Hard to tell if Lisa's blitz of FB photos are posted out of defiance or desperation -- sure looks like she's trying for an updated version of Happy Families.

Don't think it's going to fool anyone.

[Soulhuntress]

3 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

Hard to tell if Lisa's blitz of FB photos are posted out of defiance or desperation -- sure looks like she's trying for an updated version of Happy Families.

Don't think it's going to fool anyone.

Noting her eldest female child and grandchild have moved in with mama.   Hmmm.

[LydiaAnn]

 

1 hour ago, Soulhuntress said:

Noting her eldest female child and grandchild have moved in with mama.   Hmmm.

It does scream desperation. Of note, for a "mother of 13 and a grandmother of 8", she has no pictures of Denise's "older" kids -the ones who are over 18. There are NO pictures of any of Denise's kids' children. I only counted 3-4 grandkids, all appear to be Lisa's daughters' kids.  For the poor remaining kids who are stuck/trapped with RC and Lisa...there are barely any of them. 

The lack of pictures of the Denise's adult kids and their children....just bolsters my suspicion Denise's kids are estranged from their father. 

[MamaJunebug]

Phew, just when I thought Tullian Of The Roided Biceps couldn’t get any more repugnant, he does!

He’s heading for heresy with a borrowed soundbite — here’s the linky but for those who are fine with the Reader’s Digest version:   he’s close to diminishing the idea that Jesus has saved us from sin.  That’s fairly GINORMOUS in its enormity as far as Christ-centered Christianity goes. 

And so, I’m not really surprised. Tullian seems firmly Tullian-centered. But Spanks & The QOTSH really really really aren’t doing their ministry any favors by aligning with Tullian & Stacie.

Just had a thought: Tullian in his buffosity, standing next to RCjr in his rotundity. Betting that’s not a publicity shot we’ll see anytime soon. 

[lilith]

5 hours ago, LydiaAnn said:

 

The lack of pictures of the Denise's adult kids and their children....just bolsters my suspicion Denise's kids are estranged from their father. 

It’s more than a suspicion - Darby has confirmed the estrangement and Spanky and his First Lady didn’t even attend the Phillips/Sproul wedding. I always wonder what Doug Phillips thought of that and whether he spoke to RC Jr about it. 

[Howl]

15 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

Tullian Of The Roided Biceps

Don't forget those tats! Thanks for the Reader's Digest summary; us Buddhists have trouble with any kind of dive into the dendritic branching of Christian theology.  

[MamaJunebug]

Kinda pitiful, the Easter basket hunt video on FB. Three or four grown young men looking for hidden eggs / baskets. One younger child (middle school?) and one momma with a babe in arms. Oh and then a slender young woman at the end. Embarrassing to watch so I focused instead on glimpses of the neighborhood. Perfectly nice, but quite a step down, I imagine, from the manse that Senior built in Florida. 

[Howl]

On 4/9/2019 at 8:18 PM, DomWackTroll said:

Oh, Spanks, how you would have mocked this "evanjellyfish" just a few years ago... 

I know this makes me a bad person, but from this moment forward,  I'll think of Doug Wilson as an evanjellydouche. 

Edited April 24, 2019 by Howl