Speculation on motives for Dobson's new ministry
although Dobson could have remained with Focus on the Family, he’s splitting off on his own “because I have felt since the turn of the century that I needed to begin passing along the leadership of the ministry to a younger generation.”
Translation: Dobson wants to pass the torch to his son, Ryan, and couldn’t do it at Focus because Ryan Dobson went through a divorce in 2001. Ryan Dobson, 39, is reputed to be quite a skateboarder and surfer, with tattoos from here to there — not the sort of fellow who normally ascends the organizational chart at Focus on the Family.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to pass on the torch to your children, but I see torches passed on all too often to undeserving and unqualified offspring. Skateboarding and surfing don’t disqualify someone for ministry, but the implication here is that Ryan Dobson leads a lifestyle not consistent with Focus on the Family values.
Must be some of that “Tough Love” James wrote about. ;)
This situation would read a whole lot different if Dr. Dobson weren’t doing a Xerox of FotF and calling it “James Dobson on the Family”. That ain’t even subtle IMO.
Substituting “James Dobson” for “Focus”? So…does that mean that “James Dobson” = “Focus”? All about him these days? And how many folks from Focus are going to this new startup? Sounds to me like he doesn’t like how things are going at Focus and plans to gut it and start over rather than getting rid of whoever or whatever he doesn’t like…unless Focus is board-run and he doesn’t have a majority. Anyone know if Focus has a board? If so, is he trying to do something the board wouldn’t let him? Either that or he’s trying to create a legacy - something he can keep in the family and he’s willing to run roughshod over his current organization to get it before it’s too late.
Who knows. But if this organization is rooted in shady, cut-throat business ethics, it won’t last.
Who knows. But if this organization is rooted in shady, cut-throat business ethics, it won’t last.
Dr. Dobson resigned as the chairman of the board of FotF in February 2009. I think it was supposed that he was going to retire, but the fact that [URL=http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=james+dobson&init=quick#/pages/James-…] he is starting up a new non-prof just like FotF[/URL] is apparently leading some people to think that there is more to the story. One article speculates that he was forced out, that there is displeasure over FotF spending a bazillion dollars on an anti-abortion Super Bowl commercial right after they laid off/let go of over 100 employees, or that Dobson wants to work with his son, who would not fit in at FotF.
Who knows. Any large organization is going to be put under a microscope, and not many can withstand that kind of scrutiny. People are involved, and people goof, make emotional decisions, or sometimes folks just make stuff up.
Who knows. Any large organization is going to be put under a microscope, and not many can withstand that kind of scrutiny. People are involved, and people goof, make emotional decisions, or sometimes folks just make stuff up.
Begs the question of whether the very “focus on the family” emphasis was ever Biblical, especially in the context of the New Testament church, to begin with. A key example is how ecumenical so many of these “family oriented” organizations are … they will work with Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jews, anybody. Well that’s not true … anybody except Muslims that is. Why? Because unlike Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jews and evangelicals, Muslims aren’t “western.” That’s why instead of learning from and co-opting the often very family centered socially conservative Muslims - who are as against homosexuality, radical feminism, pornography and abortion as anyone - these “family” organizations depict them as threats while willingly walking hand-in-hand with Jews, Catholics and Mormons who reject the true gospel every bit as much as Muslims do. (Dobson himself even endorsed Mitt Romney in the latter stages of the GOP primary, and he was far from the only one.) The reason is that these “family” groups are cultural groups with a political agenda front and center and the gospel of Jesus Christ off to the side, if they even get to it at all.
Even in the conservative western cultural and political context (and by the way, most Christians now live in the third world, and the third world church is growing rapidly while the western church is declining, it is getting to the point where third world Christians are now sending missionaries to the west, including America, just wanted to point that out), this “family” emphasis is flawed, because it is geared towards the sort of upper middle class (and, yes, white, as Dobson did wed himself to the 90% white GOP machine) types who are likely to patronize a guy who has a Ph.D. in child psychology from the elite SECULAR University of Southern California (that’s right, Dobson is a psychologist by training and trade, he has formal no theological, divinity or seminary related training whatsoever). The poor, downtrodden and oppressed people at the margins of society, the likes of which that Jesus Christ and the early church ministered to are more likely to be railed against by Dobson’s powerful friends on Fox News and talk radio than to be a major focus of Focus On The Family, which primarily seemed to be about making upper class, suburban families feel better about themselves.
For instance, while I agreed fully with Dobson’s sentiments that Christians should pray for and support single mothers, the point is that Dobson only made that statement because of Sarah Palin’s daughter. During the 1980s and 1990s, when teen pregnancy and single motherhood was seen as more of an urban/minority/low income problem and really did need to be addressed in the same positive manner as Jesus Christ modeled, rather than urging evangelicals to pray for and help these women/girls and their children, Dobson and his fellow travelers were more interested in using the issue as rhetorical and political bait, and in claiming that unless Christians came out and elected waves of Republicans to office, the illegitimacy problem would move from the inner cities and barrios to the suburbs, from “those people” (and, er, forget about the fact that a huge percentage of them are evangelical Christian!) to “our people.”
Look, being against homosexuality, abortion, extramarital sex, pornography, divorce etc. is the proper Biblical position, but it isn’t the gospel. Apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, Dobson’s moralism becomes a law that only causes death, see Romans 2:14 and similar. It can only convict a person of sin, not save him from it. Even if you argue that Dobson’s focus is on born-again Christians as some sort of discipleship ministry … first off then why seek such a large secular influence if you are dealing only with Christians? Second, what is the Biblical command or example to center your ministry efforts around family or culture? Especially since - as far as we know - so few of the apostles had wives or children, and the few references to family issues in the New Testament are hard sayings that would challenge so much of Dobson’s affluent suburban audience that Dobson reaches using many of the same methods as corporate target marketers?
Have to ask the question if Dobson and Focus On The Family were ever legitimate expressions of what the New Testament requires of a minister and of ministries.
Even in the conservative western cultural and political context (and by the way, most Christians now live in the third world, and the third world church is growing rapidly while the western church is declining, it is getting to the point where third world Christians are now sending missionaries to the west, including America, just wanted to point that out), this “family” emphasis is flawed, because it is geared towards the sort of upper middle class (and, yes, white, as Dobson did wed himself to the 90% white GOP machine) types who are likely to patronize a guy who has a Ph.D. in child psychology from the elite SECULAR University of Southern California (that’s right, Dobson is a psychologist by training and trade, he has formal no theological, divinity or seminary related training whatsoever). The poor, downtrodden and oppressed people at the margins of society, the likes of which that Jesus Christ and the early church ministered to are more likely to be railed against by Dobson’s powerful friends on Fox News and talk radio than to be a major focus of Focus On The Family, which primarily seemed to be about making upper class, suburban families feel better about themselves.
For instance, while I agreed fully with Dobson’s sentiments that Christians should pray for and support single mothers, the point is that Dobson only made that statement because of Sarah Palin’s daughter. During the 1980s and 1990s, when teen pregnancy and single motherhood was seen as more of an urban/minority/low income problem and really did need to be addressed in the same positive manner as Jesus Christ modeled, rather than urging evangelicals to pray for and help these women/girls and their children, Dobson and his fellow travelers were more interested in using the issue as rhetorical and political bait, and in claiming that unless Christians came out and elected waves of Republicans to office, the illegitimacy problem would move from the inner cities and barrios to the suburbs, from “those people” (and, er, forget about the fact that a huge percentage of them are evangelical Christian!) to “our people.”
Look, being against homosexuality, abortion, extramarital sex, pornography, divorce etc. is the proper Biblical position, but it isn’t the gospel. Apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, Dobson’s moralism becomes a law that only causes death, see Romans 2:14 and similar. It can only convict a person of sin, not save him from it. Even if you argue that Dobson’s focus is on born-again Christians as some sort of discipleship ministry … first off then why seek such a large secular influence if you are dealing only with Christians? Second, what is the Biblical command or example to center your ministry efforts around family or culture? Especially since - as far as we know - so few of the apostles had wives or children, and the few references to family issues in the New Testament are hard sayings that would challenge so much of Dobson’s affluent suburban audience that Dobson reaches using many of the same methods as corporate target marketers?
Have to ask the question if Dobson and Focus On The Family were ever legitimate expressions of what the New Testament requires of a minister and of ministries.
Solo Christo, Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura http://healtheland.wordpress.com
JobK, you covered alot of ground there. Too much to answer in one post, but I’ll go as far as saying that there is some I agree with there but moral is always better than immoral and ministries that promote clean living are always on my “good guys” list. There are boatloads of reasons why it doesn’t follow that if moral behavior doesn’t merit salvation it doesn’t matter at all.
(The common objection I hear is “What about the Pharisees?” but Matt.25 is clear that they were right to promote clean living to the degree they did, but they were hypocrites and did not actually practice clean living themselves. Of course, even if they had, it would not have gotten them a millimeter closer to heaven. But it would have given them a better life in the mean time and made them much better neighbors.)
(The common objection I hear is “What about the Pharisees?” but Matt.25 is clear that they were right to promote clean living to the degree they did, but they were hypocrites and did not actually practice clean living themselves. Of course, even if they had, it would not have gotten them a millimeter closer to heaven. But it would have given them a better life in the mean time and made them much better neighbors.)
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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