Date: Tue, 9 Aug 94 12:46 CDT Subject: Promise Keepers +gt;Who is David Mclaughlin and wha

Date:    Tue, 9 Aug 94 12:46 CDT
From:    eldridge@spg.amdahl.com (Michael Eldridge)
Subject: Promise Keepers

>Who is David Mclaughlin and what scary things does he say?
>Caleb Miller

  David McLaughlin produced a series of tapes called "The Role of a Man" which
the men from my church who went to the Promise Keepers convention in LA had
heard or seen there. I have to be careful what I say, because I don't want
to add to the already huge pile of innuendo about Promise Keepers. The scary
part is not what McLaughlin says on the tapes, but the reaction it produces
in the listeners. McLaughlin says that he is providing principles, not
activities, for men to be in biblical relationships. The problem is that he
takes short passages and extrapolates huge principles. For example, because
Adam was commanded in Gen 2:15ff to take care of the garden, and the woman
was brought as a helper, one "role of a man" is to be provider. If the role
is reversed in a marriage there are problems, its not natural, .... 

  McLaughlin is a forceful and persuasive speaker. I watch men listen to these
tapes and they come away feeling they now know what the Bible says about the 
role of a man. Well, what a surprise - the Bible says what I wanted it to say! 
That is the scary part. Never mind what Gen 1:28ff says. Never mind that it is
not the intent of the story to describe male/female rules. I find it scary that
a forceful dynamic speaker can cause men to forget to think. The content of 
the tapes is good, helpful stuff, but one should keep in mind that it is not
the Bible, it is a man sharing a philosophy which he uses the Bible to support.