Tossing aside lessons like “love your enemies” and “turn the other cheek” a number of evangelical churches are using mixed martial arts to recruit young people and spread the word that “Jesus was a fighter.”

This article in the New York Times contains the following:

The outreach is part of a larger and more longstanding effort on the part of some ministers who fear that their churches have become too feminized, promoting kindness and compassion at the expense of strength and responsibility.

“The man should be the overall leader of the household,” said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group. “We’ve raised a generation of little boys.”

And then there’s this quote during a fight from John Renken, pastor at Xtreme Ministries:

“Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!”

I can’t remember if he got that line from Matthew or Luke.