Oh how sad. What an amazing pioneer, in so many ways...

I became a regular reader of InternetMonk about 2 years ago, and since that time have come to love Michael Spencer. He was a thinker and a lover of Jesus Christ and of His grace and communicated his thoughts in such a way that you couldn't help but question the status quo of ones denomination, that being, any denomination. His was pure Christianity, transcending any religious group. His death is a great loss to the Christian Community at large. He said the things that one dare not say and wrote them in such a way that made one dig deeper and love Jesus more. His archives are a treasure trove. I would encourage anyone to browse them. He has written a book soon to be released.

The Monk served as such a example to many of us. His wit, his thoughtful handling of issues, and his provocation of the status quo religious way of thinking will all be missed.

His ability to punch holes through the veil of ignorance was profound and I will miss him.

David Rupert
Red Letter Believers
"Salt and Light"
http://www.redletterbelievers.com

I thought he was terribly disappointing. The best analogy is to the Great Oz behind the curtain. He put himself out as a "Post Evangelical" who seemed to have a third way for those of similar inclinations. Yet, it was not true. He was more an Evangelical who could not tear himself away from being such even though his otherwise liberal understanding of the Bible would demand he not be.
He could also be quite arrogant and dismissive of differing opinions which meant he was not the open to truth debater he liked to present himself as. In the end he died destitute and begging on the internet because he was dismissed from his long time "Christian" employer who terminated benefits after 30 days. He only maintained his COBRA through begging. It was all just pathetic.

I feel sad for you, David. He was someone's father, someone's husband and a brother in Christ.

I checked into BHT & IM almost daily for the last few years and read perhaps the most down-to-earth voice for Christ I've seen on the Net. God love Michael Spencer, and comfort his family.

mick, that was Gary, not David, who made those graceless comments (The Posted by labels are confusing if you don't look closely)
Gary, I think you defined pathetic by your post. Our departed brother, St. Michael Spencer pray for you.

Michael Spencer and his blog was and is a great help in sustaining my faith over the past two years. The loss of his voice, compassion, spiritedness, insight and discernment surely is a blow to the body of Christ. He was also Christlike until the end.

Gary, shame on you. your comments were cruel and beyond the pale. Michael was a brother in Christ and I look forward to fellowshiping with him in Heaven whenever I get there.

David, I can tell by your post that you did not know Michael Spencer at all. First you refer to him as "arrogant and dismissive of differing opinions." One conversation with him, one sermon of his, one essay of his and you would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that was not true. He based his beliefs on scripture and scripture alone. If he pointed out the flaws in an opposing view, he did so using scripture to back it up. He didn't just pull it out of the air. Second, the fact that you would use any connotation of the word "liberal" to describe any part of his views tells me you may have read the titles to some of his works and possibly skimmed over them, but you did not truly delve into them and hear what he was really saying. For eight years, I listened to his sermons, sat across the lunch table from him, and accepted his wise counsel. Even when I did not agree with him, I respected him, because he always spoke from scripture without tainting it with mere opinion. He was the first minister I'd ever heard say out loud from the pulpit that the woman the Pharisees brought to Jesus because she'd been caught in the very act of adultery was not the only one who had sinned in that situation. He pointed out the sin of the man involved, as well as the sin of the "Peeping Toms" who caught her -- and had probably set her up to be caught to start with! Maybe that's a "liberal" viewpoint, but what does the label matter if it's correct? I respect your right to your opinion, but I pray that you repent of speaking ill words about a man whose family is still facing the raw reality that they no longer have him with them.

Cynthia: Gary was the one who made the acerbic comments not David. The name of the poster occurs after their comments and not before. I mention this because I have also fallen victim to the same kind of confusion. Maybe the admins at CT can change this by placing the border line after the posters name and not before.

Oops! Sorry, David! Thanks for clearing that up, Basil! My post stands, but is addressed to Gary instead of David.

Gary, Michael didn't merely die destitute, he lived for 18 years on a subsistence salary because he cared more about giving to those kids at Oneida than he did about landing a big church salary. It is so easy to criticize someone who cannot defend himself, but those of us who knew and loved Michael know the truth. He was a flawed man who made no secret of those flaws. You would be fortunate to ever be half the man he was. And in the spirit of the BHT, I'll just say -- you're an idiot.

I don't mind the comments about me at all. I do mind people setting themselves up to have answers when they really don't. This causes far more harm than these commenters know.
I still say that it was pathetic that this so called "Christian" school released him from employment and he had to beg for money so he could maintain his cobra benefits. I have no reason to apologize for saying so. It was simply pathetic. Why are you not calling Oneida worse names?
His wife left for the Catholic Church which is interesting. She seems not to have been impressed by his arguments.
Death does not elevate him to sainthood. The one good thing I will say about him is that he had the sense to appreciate the broader tradition of the Christian faith.
Another interesting facit of Mr. Spencer was that the pastorate made him ill and he had to find refuge at a tiny school in rural Ky where he worked for a salary they could not live on. What does this say about the state of Southern Baptist churches and how they treat Pastors? Having gone through the SBC minister mill the same time Spencer did, I have great empathy for what he experienced.
Myself and all my fellow college and seminary friends left the SBC for "greener" pastures in mainline churches. Eventually I left even that. I think Mr. Spencer wanted to do the same but for some odd reason did not. If you had the notion to suggest this obvious solution to Mr. Spencer you found yourself deleted.
Being deleted was a common experience for visitors to his blog.
Mr. Spencer was emblematic of a denomination in turmoil with the damage it caused to it's adherants. He was trained in the most liberal seminary in the SBC and as a consequence knew that his old fundementalist outlook was unteneble. He describes the pull from both spectrums of right and left and for whatever reason stayed with the right even though he knew he could not support inerrancy. (I am with him on this one) He was generally unsettled on his theology for many years. First he was a typical SBC semi arminian, then he was a full on Calvinist, then he went back to arminianism, then he seemed to want to go liberal but could only edge over to it through convoluted processes of thought. He was flirting with any number of ideas on theology from various traditions which was his strength. I laud him for that. Yet in the end he really was fundementally unsettled and confused. When the SBC convention last year had all the talk about "evangelism" and "outreach" he had the typical SBC reaction. He seems to have lost his thought process and surrendered to his emotions. You would have to have been in the SBC in the 70's to understand this.
Mr. Spencer is an interesting footnote to the upheaval of the SBC after the fundementalist takeover and what happened to one of the graduates of it's most liberal seminaries. I actually have a great deal of empathy for him. I walked in many of the same paths.
I just don't think he offered any valid answers for anyone who hoped there was a third way as a "Post Evangelical" The excercise is a dead end.

Hi Gary, I have been following Michael's writings for more than a decade (I think it was the late 90's when I first came across internet monk). Some of your comments ring true, I too don't like the way his employee handled his sickness, they were pathetic, not Michael. I think he was being pulled between fundamentalism, liberal christianity, catholicism, and and post modern Christianity and he always retreated to his baptist evangelical roots - I sensed his pain at his wife's conversion and sensed he wanted to go in that direction but kept pulling back, unwilling to let go of his past. Whether this is good or bad is up to God. I don't fault him for it, he himself admitted his own stubborness, and that was part of the honesty you could find on his weblog. He had opponents or critics on every side: reformed, catholic, etc and that's why he deleted posts often - there were just some opinions that he had no patience for, things would get sidetracked and the reformed bloggers would get on his case, etc. I still grieve his passing, I felt I had lost a close friend..

Oh, no! I am so sorry to learn of Michael's death. I have been having trouble with my computer and have been off-line for a while and when it was all fixed, I checked in with iMonk and learned the sad news.

I read the blog frequently and I loved how he challened his readers with his opinions, calls to action. I will so miss him!

Interacted closesly with Michael's posts some time ago. Hadn't visited the site in a year or so...maybe more. Began thinking about him as I worked in my sunny vegetable garden recently. Just minutes ago, he came onto my heart again. So I stopped what I was doing online and typed 'internetmonk.' I was greeted with the news that his heart, his voice, his thoughts...can no longer be shared. While absolutely shocked....at the news....my heart is grieved for his family. I read that he died not long after being diagnosed with cancer. Praise God for the brevity of Michael's suffering. To his wife and children....the 'web' seems a little more solemn since Michael Spencer is absent from it. But to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Carolyn (internetelias.wordpress.com)

As someone who posted a few times on the internet monk and even had some posts deleted by Michael, I can say that Michael was a very honest guy, that is the only reason I followed his blog for even a brief time as I can't stand blogs. One of the reasons I can't stand blogs is exampled in some of posts about Michael here. I'm just about done reading his book. I got to tell you that when someone like Michael writes a book and then the Lord takes hin, well, I'm going to read the book. Michael has put in that book things that I have felt for a long time and thngs that I was aware of growing up in a christian home. I don't know that I completely agree but I do know that Micheal is articulating something that I thought couldn't be articulated.

I will miss the internet Monk.

The Summer before I was to enter the 9th grade in the Fall of 1982, my family joined Highland Baptist Church, where Michael Spencer was the youth leader at the time before he & Denise moved to Oneida. As I had recently started with Facebook, I was running names in my head of people I remembered back then, especially people from the youth group, including leaders, which made me remember Michael Spencer, and his wife, Denise, as he was the youth leader. I was saddened to find out from her that he had passed away.

R.I.P. Mike, you're in God's hands, and not suffering anymore.