A Few Thoughts on The Doctrine Behind John Mark Comer’s Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. part 1 of 2
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:11-16
What happens when the shepherds and teachers begin to be tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine? I think we can answer this question by looking into a very popular book, written by a former pastor who has, I believe, been carried away by the doctrine of Spiritual Formation.
*Before we dive in, I want to make clear my intention in this critique. This is not a shot at an individual, it is a flare shot straight up to light the surroundings. Spiritual Formation is a broad subject as such it incorporates a great many people and a great many ideas. Critiquing this book and talking about the subject through the lens of John Mark Comers authorship is the best way that I have found to communicate my concerns with aspects of this doctrine that a great many Christians might never consider the implications of. *
(1) The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
For the sake of brevity, I will here address three main observations about REOH (from here on).
1. The individuals referenced, endorsed, and introduced to the audience.
2. The push for a new way to be Christian: Contemplative “Christianity”
3. The practices/ disciplines that blur the lines between Christianity and Pagan Religions
1. The Introductions
The way John Mark Comer (JMC from here on) references his sources is concerning because they are essentially invitations to the audience to learn from these sources themselves. This point sounds pedantic, but hear me out, it’s relevant. He points his audience to the writings/work of a great range of different individuals. There are philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists, mystics, contemplatives, Christians, and non-Christians. Now, there’s nothing the matter with making a reference to an individuals’ work in any one of these categories, but what matters is the manner of credit given to the reference. JMC namedrops over 50 times. 50+ individuals are referenced, and yet only one time, does he make the effort to point out that a particular reference is not a Christian: “The poet Mary Oliver, not a Christian but a lifelong spiritual seeker.” (Pg 53, REOH)
Why do his references have to be Christian? They don’t. That’s not my point. My point is: by making sure that the audience is aware that this one person is NOT a Christian, he is throwing cold water on the affiliations of his other references. He sets a precedent that he will let the audience know who is a likeminded Christian and who is not; a precedent that he does not uphold. It’s frustrating for a reader who is paying close attention, and it’s deceiving for a reader who isn’t. Particularly where a reference is described as a Christian or it is implied that they are, when in real life, that distinction necessitates clarification, or is altogether invalid. Our culture has a hard time calling a spade a spade. The Apostles did not have that problem. If a member of the body of Christ was out of line with Christ and His teaching, they called it out. We should too. The health of the body depends upon it.
It is good and right for Christians to make judgment calls on the work of other Christians who are in positions of influence i.e. teachers, if we refuse to judge whether a teacher has proven to bend their knee in obedience to the Word of God then we are ourselves refusing to bend in obedience to it. We are not the judge of human souls, but we are given the responsibility to judge the fruit of human labor. If we do not make a judgment call on the soundness of the teachings of the people we trust to teach us then we are liable to be crushed with them when their foundations give way. (2) Luke 6:43-49
Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton are two examples from these problematic references. JMC honors Nouwen (A Catholic Priest) as one of “the master teachers of the way of Jesus” (Pg 135, REOH) as well as “one of the greatest followers of Jesus of the twentieth century” (Pg 136, REOH). However, this man, a year before his death wrote a book called Sabbatical Journey (basically a diary of his last days), in which he makes this statement:
(3) “Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.”
In case there is any confusion, this man whom JMC honors as being a master teacher of the way of Jesus, did not even know who Jesus is. The LORD Jesus Christ said this about Himself:
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” John 10:9
i.e. Jesus is not a bellhop who opens the door to anyone who has found a way that they are comfortable with to seek God. He IS the door. That means that the only way to God in is through Him, there is no other way. Why is He the only way? Because He is fully God (the Creator of humanity) and fully human. He is the only one with the authority to usher mankind into the presence of Himself (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). No other spiritual power has the same authority. There are indeed spiritual powers that can affect the human mind and heart and offer experiences with “the divine”,
BUT because those spiritual powers cannot give you access to the Most High, it is not communion with God that they offer but communion with themselves, and ultimately a share in their own condemnation as they reject the authority of the Lord and incite their followers to do the same.
Like Nouwen, Thomas Merton (A Catholic Monk, referenced on pg52 of REOH) was whole heartedly sold out to (4) syncretism by the end of his life; his contemplative practices having ensnared him to Hinduism, Buddhism, and (5) Sufiism. Here is a quote from a speech given by Merton less than 2 months before his death:
(6) “I think we have now reached a stage of (long- overdue) religious maturity at which it may be possible for someone to remain perfectly faithful to a Christian and Western monastic commitment, and yet learn in depth from, say, a Buddhist or Hindu discipline and experience.”
JMC, is pointing his readers to ‘leaders of the faith’ who have, in reality, either abandoned the faith or never truly confessed it to begin with, without acknowledging a single contradiction.
2. The push towards a new way to be Christian: Contemplative “Christianity”
If I were to simplify the message of this book it would be this: “in our hurry, here in the Western world, we have fallen so far from living the abundant life offered to us in Christ, that we have lost our souls. This book is a beginning primer on how to find and effectively keep them (our souls), specifically through redefining ourselves as apprentices to Jesus and re-orienting our lives to model His.”
Considering this summation, the first question that begs to be asked is: is it the Christians’ responsibility to keep their own soul?
On Pg 56-57 of REOH, JMC says:
“Cue the haunting line from Jesus of Nazareth: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” “Have you lost your soul? Or at least part of it? Want to get it back? Keep reading.”
Of course, no one who is serious about their faith in Christ wants to keep the world and lose their soul, but is Jesus saying that letting go of the hustle of the world is the way to keep your soul? Let’s look at this verse in context. Here is Matthew 16:24-26 (Both Matthew 16 and Mark 6 contain this quote from Jesus.)
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
It is obvious that what Jesus is saying is that trying to keep one’s life as they would have it will cause them to not only lose their life but also their eternal life i.e. their soul, and on the contrary, laying down one’s life as they would have it in order to live in obedience to Jesus will lead to life and therefore not losing out on eternal life. What is in contrast here is temporal life and eternal life, not healthy/ satisfying life, and unhealthy/unsatisfying life. Therefore, if we want to have eternal life then we must die to ourselves and follow Jesus during this life.
Doing this will likely feel unhealthy and unsatisfying at times.
It’s as if JMC diagnosing Christians with a sickness that doesn’t actually exist, and then offering to them his own “world famous and time tested” *ironic quotation marks* remedy. JMC’s Rx to find your soul and keep it from being lost again is to:
“1. Be with Jesus 2. Become like Jesus 3. Do what Jesus would do if he were you.” (Pg 77 REOH)
The rest of what he teaches in this book is all based on this one paradigm:
“If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.” (Pg82 REOH)
But does Jesus Himself ever command us to adopt His lifestyle? (this being differentiated from His living out obedience to His own standards and the command upon us to also live by those same standards.)
Here’s what Jesus commanded His disciples just before He ascended into heaven and set them in motion for their ministry of teaching and preaching everything that He had taught them:
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
He tells them to observe His commands/ to obey His teachings; He doesn’t tell them to copy His lifestyle.
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” John 6:63
Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:48-51). For us who are dying in the flesh, He is the remedy for our condition. We are corrupt, but in His body He carries our healing, by His blood we are made whole. We look to Him and put our hope and our trust in His wounds on our behalf and His words to us being true. We don’t need His lifestyle to realign ourselves, we need His blood to reanimate us from the inside out.
The second question is: Why does following Jesus need to be re-defined?
“Jesus had apprentices. In Hebrew the word is talmidim. It’s usually translated as “disciples,” and that’s just fine, but I think an even better word to capture the idea behind talmidim is “apprentices.”” (Pg77 REOH)
So, for no good reason, JMC is going to re-define what Christians call themselves. Call me skeptical but perhaps the easiest way to get Christians to shift into believing a different gospel is to get them to first accept a new identification for themselves. So, poof, we’re apprentices now.
(Nevermind, that when I think of an apprentice what readily comes to mind is Mickey Mouse in a sorcerer’s hat. (Fantasia, Disney 1940)
Still on pg 77… after giving Christians a new name, he defines our new objective:
“The whole point of apprenticeship is to model all of your life after Jesus. And in doing so to recover your soul. To have the warped part of you put back into shape. To experience what Jesus called ‘life…to the full.’ What the New Testament writers call “salvation.”
He goes on to say that “salvation” is the same word as “healing” in Greek, and that salvation = healing. I don’t disagree that salvation and healing are synonymous. What I DO disagree with is the notion that people are simply warped out of shape and that anyone who will commit to living their life the same way that Jesus lived His, will be put back into shape. Because the Word of God tells me that I was not a warped person bent out of shape by the world and its distractions, I was DEAD.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Not only was I healed and brought back to life by faith in the work of Christ and no work of my own, but I am only truly a disciple (going back old school here) of Jesus, if I abide in His word. That means that I live by His word, and I trust what He says about Himself and myself over and above what any human or human tradition proposes.
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’.” (John 8:31-32)
Where does this idea come from that we need a new way to be Christian? It is the natural outcome of embracing contemplative spirituality. For one cannot both hold fast to the word of God and practice contemplative spirituality. For in order to embrace contemplative spirituality one must eventually ignore or reconstruct certain commands and warnings found in scripture. This is true even of Contemplative Christianity, because Christianity is not inherently contemplative. (If it was, Jesus and His disciples would have actually taught these practices to their followers. The idea that they did teach these practices is fabrication.)
Contemplative Spirituality is an addition to Christian faith, it is not the natural fruit of it. How do we know this is true? Because contemplative spirituality can be practiced within any spiritual framework. I.e. the same fruit grows no matter the spiritual soil. We are told time and again throughout scripture that the fruit a thing produces is the proof of whether it is good or not. If a spiritual practice yields the same kind of spiritual experience whether you are Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu, or Neoplatonist it can’t be truly Christian because Christ is not in agreement with other gods and neither should we be.
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing;’” 2 Corinthians 6:16-17
What about the faithful Christian who has begun these practices and experienced (in their perspective) nothing but closeness and intimate communion with Christ? How then could these experiences be labeled bad fruit or deceptive? [Stick with me here as this will take a few sentences to explain.] Remember (7) Paul’s warning from 2 Corinthians? Paul warns that there are spirits who are more than willing to impose themselves upon Christians.
To the receptive Christian, they would not present themselves as anything other than what those Christians were seeking. Because, if they presented themselves as a spirit other than the spirit of Christ, the Christian would rightly and readily reject them. But what happens if they come to the Christian, in the moment that that Christian has postured themselves expectant to meet with their Lord, and they manifest themselves as an Angel of light, or even as Christ? The very same Christian who would outrightly reject a spirit contrary to Christ would rejoice at having been given a holy encounter.
Worse yet, for the Christian/ playing perfectly into the hand of the enemy, their experience would supersede their desire to read and study the Word of God in order to commune with Him. Why would they spend the time in arduous cognitive work when they could just relax in the presence of their God and get to know Him experientially? That makes sense right? But how would that even happen anyway? Spirits don’t just pop-up during prayer and worship and say “Behold Christian, I am your Christ!”. That is true… unless of course the practice of your prayer and worship postures you in receptiveness and agreement with those spirits. The truth of the matter is that Contemplative practices (regardless of intent) are designed to open your mind and your spirit to the spiritual realm.
Every human mind is capable of interacting on the spiritual plane, but not everything that we are capable of is beneficial for us. The Lord gives believers His Holy Spirit as a seal and a shield. However, if we so desire, we are capable of bypassing the sober mind that the Holy Spirit provides and sustains in us. When we bypass the sober mind, we enter an altered state of consciousness. This is spiritual territory. (8) Ray Yungen explains this reality in his book (9) A Time of Departing. First he makes the point that it is known among contemplatives that their forms of prayer are a “bridge” to the spirituality of Pagans. Then Yungen says this:
“This means that, regardless of intent, Western mysticism [read, contemplative tradition], due to its common practices with the East, produces a passage into the understanding of Eastern spiritual concepts. Thus, if you practice Western yoga or pray the mantra, you go into the same trance as the East; if you open yourself, through this trance, to the Western spirit world, you end up in the same demonic realm or with gods of the East; then, if you open yourself to the demonic realm, you enter into the same realm of consciousness as the East where all is One and everyone and everything is seen as God- hence panentheism; finally if you embrace panentheism, the Gospel loses its significance, and each individual feels persuaded to find his or her own way to God. What begins as a seemingly innocent “Jesus Prayer” becomes a rejection of the Gospel. In other words, you can call a practice by any other name, but it is the same practice, hence the same results.”
As a Christian I often consider what my life in the physical world would look like without the power of the Holy Spirit within me to enable me to make wise choices and to steer me from danger, it’s frightening to think of what I could have become without Him. How much more frightening to think that I could choose even today, to participate in a practice that bypasses His covering and plunges me into the spiritual world!
3. The practices/ disciplines that blur the lines between Christianity and Pagan Religions (brief intro… brief(ish))
The current popularity of Spiritual Formation is not the work of the Holy Spirit, but it is the fruit of seeds planted in the hearts of men and women who sacrificed the Word of God on the altar of personal spiritual experience many centuries ago (look for yourself, with discernment, into the writings of the Gnostics and the Desert Fathers and Mothers). The writings of these “Saints” captivated (10) men like Thomas Merton who were inspired to pilgrimage to temples, monasteries, and ashrams where they learned new methods of prayer then incorporated those into their Christianity and were compelled to lead other Christians into the same compromise.
Take into consideration more of this (6) message that Thomas Merton gave in Calcutta in 1968. He goes through great pains here (and elsewhere) to give the impression that submitting to the teaching of religious teachers from other faiths is the mark of true humility. As if deep down all are truly Christians, and those who profess Christ and Christ alone are missing some kind of fellowship that Buddhists and Hindus have to offer. There is a true and beautiful brotherhood among those who belong to Christ, a unity that transcends culture and spans the hemispheres; for the gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of redemption of the Human race. Therefore, Christianity is and should be diverse in obedient expression. Yet, never should it be permissible to conflate diverse expression with obedience. However, this conflation is exactly what Thomas Merton built his ministry upon. Spiritually speaking, the only fellowship that Hindus, Buddhists etc have to offer the Christian is fellowship with demons. It is the responsibility of the Christian to, with (11)gentleness and respect, present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are spiritually enslaved, not to agree with the perceived comforts of their bondage. The following are Merton’s words (emphasis mine):
“I am convinced that communication in depth, across the lines that have hitherto divided religious and monastic traditions, is now not only possible and desirable, but most important for the destinies of Twentieth- Century Man. …I am convinced that this exchange must take place under the true monastic conditions of quiet, tranquility, sobriety, leisureliness, reverence, meditation, and cloistered peace. I am convinced that what one might call typically “Asian” conditions of non-hurrying and of patient waiting must prevail over the Western passion for immediate visible results. For this reason I think it is above all important for Westerners like myself to learn what little they can from Asia, in Asia. I think we must seek not merely to make superficial reports about the Asian traditions, but to live and share those traditions, as far as we can, by living them in their traditional milieu.
I need not add that I think we have now reached a stage of (long- overdue) religious maturity at which it may be possible for someone to remain perfectly faithful to a Christian and Western monastic commitment, and yet learn in depth from, say, a Buddhist or Hindu discipline and experience. I believe that some of us need to do this in order to improve the quality of our own monastic life and even to help in the task of monastic renewal which has been undertaken within the Western Church.”
The process by which to achieve this monastic renewal that he is referring to is described earlier in this same message. This process bears striking resemblance to the Spiritual Formation movement. (Again, I have taken the liberty to underline certain points that I think relate directly to the Spiritual Formation movement.)
a. “A certain distance or detachment from the “ordinary” and “secular” concerns of worldly life; a monastic solitude, whether partial or total, temporary or permanent.
b. A preoccupation with the radical inner depth of one’s religious and philosophical beliefs, the inner and experimental “ground” of those beliefs, and their outstanding spiritual implications.
c. A special concern with inner transformation, a deepening of consciousness toward an eventual breakthrough and discovery of a transcendent dimension of life beyond that of the ordinary empirical self and of ethical and pious observance.
This monastic “work” or “discipline” is not merely an individual affair. It is at once personal and communal. … Transcending the limits that separate subject from object and self from not-self, this development achieves a wholeness which is described in various ways by the different religions; a self-realization of atman, of Void, of life in Christ, of fana and baqa (annihilation and reintegration according to Sufism) etc.
This is not necessarily a matter of personal charismata (special divine illuminations or prophetic tasks), but it is usually expected to follow from discipline and initiation into a “traditional religious way,” that is to say a social mode of life and consciousness which meets certain unwritten, indeed inexpressible conditions. The special formation requited to meet these conditions is imparted by experienced persons, or judged by a community that has shared something of the traditional consciousness we may call mystical, contemplative, enlightened, or spiritually transformed.
a. Even in the highly active “West” there is nevertheless a monastic tradition which is primarily contemplative, and this tradition is being renewed even in the Protestant milieu which was originally hostile to it.”
My hope is that this digression into Thomas Merton’s 56yr old blueprint for spiritual maturity will shed light on what we are contending with here. This is what I referred to in the (12) footnote on Dallas Willard in my previous post: “A Christian profession based on Spiritual Formation is more solidly rooted on the scaffolding of philosophy and psychology and spiritual practice that built up the movement than in the solid foundation of obedience to Christ and His Word.”
What happens when the shepherds and teachers begin to be tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine?
Ironically, we get the answer from John Mark Comer, himself, in the form of a quote he gives in the opening pages of this very book. “As go the leaders, so goes the church.” (Pg 5 REOH)
Where is it that we are all going? If the teachers that JMC promotes are to be followed, we are on the heels of (10)Sue Monk Kidd headed straight for the waiting open arms of contemplative spirituality. What’s more, is that these teachers, including JMC, have specific practices, often referred to as the Spiritual Disciplines, that are presented as the obvious way to abide in Christ, but in reality, are whitewashed (4)syncretism. …
We will discuss the Disciplines in Part 2, but before we get there, remember, this is a flare. Take a look around in the light of it, is there anything that you are believing is obedience to the Holy Spirit that might just be a doctrine of men, or even a crafty scheme of an intelligent enemy?
…
*Hey!
**Don’t skip these footnotes!
1 The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry – John Mark Comer (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2019) The first of 3 books intended to introduce the doctrine of Spiritual Formation to the Church. The next two books are Live no Lies (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2021) and Practicing the Way (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2024)
2 Luke 6:43-49
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
3 Sabbatical Journey- Henry Nouwen, The Sabbatical Journey: The Diary of His Final Year (New York: Crossroad, 2000), Pg 51.
4 syncretism- the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought. "interfaith dialogue can easily slip into syncretism" – Oxford Languages (languages.oup.com) *the Coexist bumper sticker pretty well sums this up
5 Sufiism- Mystical branch of Islam
6 quote taken from Thomas Merton’s address titled Monastic Experience and East-West Dialogue given in Calcutta 1968. This talk was given at the first “Spiritual Summit Conference” put on by The Temple of Understanding: an organization with a world-wide membership of religious leaders and concerned laymen, established in Washington DC in 1960 “to foster education, communication and understanding among the world religions…” The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (New York: New Directions, 1975) (quote here in footnote is located in reference 21 from the chapter: Calcutta/October 19-27)
7 Pauls Warning: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 11:2-4, 12-15 (footnote 2)
8 Ray Yungen -Christian researcher, author, speaker
9 A Time of Departing- Ray Yungen (Montana: Lighthouse Trails, 2002), Pg 86.
10 men, and also women: Sue Monk Kidd, an acclaimed author, was a Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher who pursued contemplative spirituality. “When the Heart Waits tells the story of a course change at midlife when my Christian faith tradition, my marriage, my mothering, and my orientation to myself and the world began to undergo a deep shift. It recounts the classic workings of the human soul as it wriggles out of overgrown places and morphs into new selves.”/ “I had been raised in the Southern Baptist Church, and I was still a rather exemplary member of one, but beginning in my early thirties I’d become immersed in a journey that was rooted in contemplative spirituality.”/ “I’d read many of the classics of Christian contemplative literature, the church fathers and the great mystics of the church. For years I’d studied Thomas Merton, John of the Cross, Augustine, Bernard, Bonaventure, Ignatius, Eckhart, Luther, Teilhard de Chardin, The Cloud of Unknowing, and others.”/ “I was going to a Baptist Church- not just on Sunday mornings, but also on Sunday and Wednesday evenings- where the emphasis was not on symbol and silence and God in the soul but on evangelizing and preaching and God in the word. I was a contemplative in an evangelical church, which is sort of like trying to squeeze a round soul into a square slot.” – Sue Monk Kidd, The Sue Monk Kidd Spiritual Sampler: A letter to readers from Sue Monk Kidd and excerpts from The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and When the Heart Waits (New York: Harper-Collins, 2016) (quotes from her letter)
11 “gentleness and respect” 1 Peter 3:15
12 footnote: footnote 7 from: An Open Letter to the Church