CNN Interview Fallout, with a Few Happy Letters at the End
As result of the interview with CNN, I was introduced to a number of new acquaintances. Not all of them were enchanted.
Shame. Shame on you for wicked beliefs. Women deserve the same rights as men. I will pray that God may soften your heart so you may see his creation as equal.Audrey
Audrey, I believe that women have the right to keep and bear arms . . .
I am a Jew and I find your view and purpose to be antisemitic and deplorable. Oh I am also a gay woman and my mission is to get rid of any man who thinks like you. You are disgusting. !!!!!Bonnie
Bonnie, five exclamation points is overdoing it.
The title referenced . . . all of them. I see your views are that of a misogynist piece of s***. I note that you cannot hold a candle to any female because you feel afraid of their power. I note that you are scared, pathetic human being. I note that I am better than you and higher than you because of the way you speak about women. I note that you are hateful human being for way you have treated women and I am simply calling you out. I note that you are not an intelligent human being. Women are equal, not inferior and definitely not submissive. If you don’t like that, you are the one with the problem. Go to hell. You serve some old-fashioned words that only try to elevate men. Those words were written by self-serving men. How does it feel having a small d***?Dana
Dana, but if women are all that intimidating, why do they write letters like this?
Remember Doug,
You share 99.9% DNA with folks from Africa, Middle East, Malaysia etc.
Doug, you’re a Bubble Boy with very limited life experiences and zero cultural experiences. So, play God, Mr. Fraud!Al Capone
Al, when undertaking to refute non sequiturs, it is hard to know which direction to go.
You getting very close to the end, dear. . . tic tic tic toc . . . . It’s apparent you don’t really believe in religion, you don’t care at all about your soul . . . My wish for you is a long and excruciatingly painful end . . . I wanna watch you suffer . . . Myself, and millions of other women are manifesting this every day . . . . tic tic tic toc.
Zizzie
Zizzie, the skulls were an especially scary touch.
I think you should set down shut up and listen for one you say your a pastor well let’s take it back to the adam and eve when God took Adam’s rib and made eve now God didn’t make eve to submit to Adam when you have wife you build a marriage your wife can have different opinions and do what they want so maybe you should they Before you speak because you came from a woman.Ethan
Ethan . . . well, okay then.
I don’t think your ideology is right for me. I think you’re a radical group that believes there should be only one religion. I believe every religion should have their own beliefs as long as they don’t interfere or discriminate against anyone else’s.
I’ve been reading your comments on government and there was a reason for separation of church and state. Why should anyone who doesn’t believe in your God be subjected to praying to them?Michael
Michael, what religion teaches that it is wrong to interfere with or discriminate against the religions of others? And why I am being forced to support it?
CNN segment
You can’t be serious. What is your payoff for spewing such vile ideas? Are the republicans offering you status, position?
This is dangerous speak for all women
If God is a women you are in serious trouble.Donna
Donna, if God is a woman, we are all in serious trouble.
Thank goodness we have a Second Amendment to make sure we keep the First Amendment intact. You know the part about Govt. establishing no religions and such.
Remember that, preacher man.Buddy
Buddy, I think that way more people in my corner are thankful for the Second Amendment than can perhaps be rustled up in yours.
You are a f****** lunatic.
Also a money grubbing religious nut.Billy
Billy, that’s a point of view, certainly.
SHAME ON YOUR BELIEF. GOD SEES ALL OF US EQUALLY YOU AS A MAN CANT DISGRACE ANY SOUL OF A HUMAN ESPECIALLY A WOMAN. REMEMBER THAT. STAY HUMBLE OR GIVE UP YOUR FOUL TALK TO A PERSON THAT JUDGES. GOD IS EVERYTHING.Me Me
Me Me, if God sees all of us equally, then why should I accept your shaming?
Dear Mr. Wilson, I have just recently heard about and learned about some of your beliefs and views.
It is very apparent to anyone with even a smidge of reasoning ability that you sir are a complete nut. I’m sorry if the truth hurts, but so be it.
And if God does exist (highly unlikely or Trump would be in prison where he belongs, not the White House), then I’m certain that He is highly displeased with you.
Yours sincerely,Robert
Robert, ah, yes. But if there is no God, then there is no downside to being a complete nut. And there would be no such thing as truth, and consequently it couldn’t hurt me. And why should I be worried about the censures of a hypothetical Deity?
Regarding household voting in secular government elections: We will need to legally determine what constitutes a household. At what point, is a single woman independent of her parent’s authority? If the wife is a citizen and her husband isn’t, does she vote? These are some things that will need to be worked out in advance.Zeph
Zeph, yes. Reasonable points, and they would all need to be worked out in advance.
Just watched your segment on CNN about Christian Nationalism and thought it was terrific. Well done brother. Keep doing what you’re doing!Tony
Tony, thanks very much.
Books for Young Men
What would you list as the top five (or so) books for a mature young man of 16, specifically aimed at further developing a robust faith alongside a sense of place and purpose in life? Subject matter could be practical, theological, or biographical. (Bonus points given for each title available as an audiobook on Canon.)Collin
Collin, the books I would recommend along this line would be God at Work by Gene Veith, Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey, Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and my book Ploductivity.
Reject Scapegoating
There is no truly, faithfully Christian version of My-World-Is-Bad-Because-of-Them theory, neither the leftist version nor the rightist version. For the left, Them is capitalists, the patriarchy, white people, Randian figures, and sometimes the Jews. For the right, Them is the establishment, disloyal leaders, academia, Hollywood, and also, somehow, the Jews.
Moshe can’t catch a break; the Jew really is Emmanuel Goldstein forever and always. Orwell was a prophet, if an impious one.
But this is all syncretism.
The Christian truth is that my world is bad because of people like me. I’m a sinner. Perhaps you’ve heard of us. We’re everywhere. We do wrong all the time, and not just because we are short-sighted and incompetent; we authentically prefer doing wrong to doing right. It’s not just Jews who are like that. Gentiles are like that, too. Sinners aren’t Them. Sinners are Us. We’re all broken so badly we cannot fix ourselves.
But there is one who can fix us—a Jew, actually. The most famous one ever. In fact, He was called the King of the Jews during His earthly ministry. You may have heard of Him. He did the funniest thing ever. He actually came back from the dead after everyone, everywhere killed Him for no good reason! (Their reason wasn’t good. His reason was to sacrifice Himself for our redemption.)
And you can come back from the dead with Him and in Him. So come, and welcome to Lord JesusDaniel
Daniel, thanks.
On Postmill Worship
Re “Postmillenial Worship”: so far so good, but worship, and worshipers, are either humble before God, or self-satisfied which is pride which is sin. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of (triune) Jehovah. He’s perfect, we’re not; the best of us, in church services run (unlike much human activity) by the best of us, are not. So we need to keep improving. “Every man that has this hope in him is purifying himself as He is pure” (I John); if you’re not a puritan, you’re not a Christian. We thank God that we are not as those idolaters, nor as those baptists, nor even as those other presbyterians; but are we pressing on to take a hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us? Say someone quotes “every man hath a Psalm” and suggests a church sing a new (or old) piece of music, not satisfied with its current reverence and beauty and vigor but adding some. Can it happen? What does it take? God is perfect. We are not. He has done plenty about it (Christ died for our sins, etc.) What does He want us to do? Are we doing it?Andrew
Andrew, that is always the question. Are we doing it? And the follow up is “how can we know?” Back to the Word.
A Parenting Question
On no post in particular, but about some of your parenting books:
I will start off by saying I’m a bit slow, so please forgive me if the answer to this question is obvious. I am a product of public education.
In your books on parenting, you emphasize the importance of using the rod. I took this originally to mean use it for every offense when they are little; but then I also read about times when you would have “little reigns of terror” where EVERY infraction would bring out the rod. Can you help me understand what this should look like on a regular basis, particularly when you aren’t going after every infraction? Thanks.
In Christ,Confused with a Wooden Spoon
CWAWS, it runs like this. In a household where things are basically stable and healthy, you will have a kid come in from the back yard whining about something. Mom stops him, and says something like, “Now go outside and come back in. Try again, sport.” He does so. When things are running like that, there is no need to crack down on every infraction with swats. But when this becomes a raggedy pattern with all the kids, you call a family meeting, and tell them that there will be a reign of terror for a few days until things are buttoned up again.
Not Yet
Don’t need my question posted ner nuthin’, but is the dedication service of your new church building available anywhere?David
David, not yet. It is in the works.
This letter is not in response to any particular post, but rather the concept of theonomy and how it would regard the freedom of religion. The main question is under a Christian government, which would be guided by Divine Law, how would other religions be treated? Would they be outright outlawed or would an Islamic style jizya type tax be levied against other religions or would you allow other religions to practice their beliefs and just simply deny them any office in government? I’d rather not assume totalitarianism in the name of Christ would be established, but I never truly know. So, perhaps a little more clarification would be in order before jumping to any conclusion. Thanks in advance!Chris
Chris, I would suggest something like this be added to the Westminster Confession:
“In a Christian nation, adherents of non-Christian religions, or those who claim to have no religion at all, are to be secure in their persons and property. Neither are they to be molested on account of their convictions, privately held and privately expressed. They may be residents in limited numbers, but not citizens, and all public offices and functions are open only to citizens.”
“In a Christian nation, adherents of non-Christian religions, or those who claim to have no religion at all, are to be secure in their persons and property. Neither are they to be molested on account of their convictions, privately held and privately expressed. They may be residents in limited numbers, but not citizens, and all public offices and functions are open only to citizens.”
Kuyperians
I recently heard a comment that the two most Kuyperian theologians/pastors of the last few decades were you and Tim Keller. By this I think they meant applying theology to all of life—think Keller’s emphasis on work and culture. I thought this was an interesting comment and I think I agree. If you think that has any merit, do you see any watershed differences between you that would lead to pretty different approaches and conclusions? One that stands out to me might be a different view of common grace. He often emphasizes things like “non-Christians could be way better at your job than Christians” and you often emphasize “Christ or chaos.” Thoughts?Cole
Cole, no, I don’t think we would differ on the structure of common grace. I think that we would differ on what sorts of things should be categorized as common grace. We would agree that there is such a thing as common grace, and that non-Christian scientists could be better at a particular field than a scientist who was a Christian. But he would say that an evolutionary biologist would be an example of that, and I would deny it.
Communion at Summer Camp
This is in response to your response to (ah, the internet . . . ) a fellow asking about communion at seminary chapel services in the Aug. 5th letters. I’ve been working at a Christian camp this summer, and this whole time I’ve had a very similar question about sacraments at camp (communion in chapel services with campers present with a barely-or un-fenced table, baptisms by camp counselors with mere parental permission). I came to a similar conclusion as you, namely that I can’t dogmatically exclude these things as unlawful because Scripture doesn’t define such rigid boundaries but that a greater connection with and oversight from a local church would be greatly preferred.
My question would be, what does “under the authority” of “the church” mean? Being an interdenominational camp, I’m sure they’d reply “but we are The Church!” which I imagine misses your point. I’m much more familiar with Baptist polity; are you saying e.g. that the teaching contained within the services should be approved by some High Council of Presbyterians, or that those running such a service should themselves be clergy in a particular nearby local church, or something else entirely?
While I don’t imagine the specifics of your answer will matter much for appraising our camp (women preach on occasion, etc. etc.), I also have a desire to pursue hospitality ministry in the future, and I’m curious about the propriety of communion (and other liturgical elements like preaching) at, say, a dinner party, esp. considering your Scripture reference about breaking bread in homes. It’s easy enough for someone like Rosaria Butterfield’s husband Kent to deliver a sermon to neighbors in their home because he is a pastor, but what about a layman? Appreciate your thoughts.
P.S. I should note that my sacramentology could be adequately described as “Gavin Ortlund fanboy” (spiritual-presence credobaptist with a sympathetic view toward young conversions), if that helps in tailoring your answer.Nicolas
Nicolas, the parachurch summer camp system is an excellent place to point when trying to explain why the whole thing gives me the willies. The central thing I would want to avoid is people just taking the honor to themselves. The elders of the church are responsible to see that the teaching that accompanies baptism and the Supper is sound and orthodox. I would say that a camp that wants accountability should go to an area church or churches and submit an outline of what they say and do, and ask for a blessing on it. That would be the minimum . . . and still not ideal.
A Tough One
My husband wants our family going to a Church of Christ congregation, and in short, they hold that children are not born sinful, and that in order to be saved you must choose Christ and “put Christ on in baptism.” I was baptized as an infant and so were my children. I know I am saved, but the church would consider me and my kids unsaved due to our infant baptism. I want to submit to my husband, but this has been very difficult. My oldest child now wants to be re-baptized due to the teachings at this church, although we know she has saving faith already. My husband is all good with her doing so. How ought a wife submit in a circumstance like this one?Caroline
Caroline, this really is going to be challenge for you. I believe that you are not in a position to prevent your husband from leading your children into the Church of Christ, baptism and all. The most you can do, and I think it would be significant, is refuse to accept their baptism yourself. If you clearly love the Lord, your “unbaptized” presence will be a walking refutation of that whole system. And I don’t believe a husband has the authority to require you to accept a spurious baptism.
Sign of the Cross
In your response to a recent letter asking about Protestants making the sign of the cross, you said, “As a public act, it is communication. And if a Protestant batter gets up to bat, and crosses himself, he just told thousands of spectators something erroneous. He just said, ‘I’m a Catholic,’ when he isn’t.”
Wouldn’t this also apply to the wearing of clerical collars—especially at the grocery store and other public places?Seth
Seth, yes. And that is part of the reason I don’t wear a collar.
A Course on Envy
Do you have any books, articles, resourses, etc. that explain more thoroughly about what you said about the insidious, hidden nature of envy?
You made some intriguing remarks about this, but I’m in the dark as to exactly what this looks like in the heart, etc.
I think I might have some of this envy in me, and by God’s grace I would like to see it and root it out of myself.
Thanks,Robert
Robert, I would recommend I See Satan Fall Like Lightning by Girard, and I believe there is a Girard anthology published as well. Also try his Theater of Envy. I can’t give Girard a full-throated endorsement because he takes it too far, but there are some invaluable insights there. If you want to know what my qualifications would be regarding his outlook on mimetic envy, look on this blog for any posts that have the tag It’s All in Girard, Man.
Caroline, as a Reformed credobaptist here are a couple of thoughts that may help you. The act of baptism is an act of obedience, The question is not when the child is baptized or if they are baptized twice. The question is, ARE THEY SAVED? I grew up in the church but I was never saved as a kid. A pastor pulled me aside and flat out told me, the well behaved member of a respectable church, that I was not saved and he was right. I wasn’t saved until my forties. Voddie Baucham has some good teaching on this.… Read more »
I’d ask people who believe in the Christ Church theology and approach to ask themselves; how did we get here? Is this really where we were meant to end up? Is it possible we took a wrong turn? Why have we made ourselves known for controversial and historically dubious views of southern slavery, for debating just how bad a wife has to be at doing the dishes before she is not a good wife, running through our theories of which precise laws we would or wouldn’t pass and what the rules of voting would be if we were put in… Read more »
I think this is a most impressive post, and I hope will garner equally thoughtful replies.
Hope so too (no time right now), but what if it gets the kind of replies Doug quoted at the beginning of this section?
Apart from the foul language which to me indicates the absence of an argument what struck me was criticism of male lust for power by women who wish to claim an equal right to lust for power!
It is impressive to those outside the circle, but those inside chose to be there over all other choices they could possibly have made. Remember that no one over the age of about 30 was born into any of these “covenantal” churches, they all chose them purposefully, mostly in adulthood. All of these issues with Doug were known this entire time, it is what attracted certain types of men — eg Pete Hegseth types, ie drunken abusers of women — in the first place. This type of man responds very positively when told that he should be more powerful than… Read more »
I really always enjoy your sales pitch for your position Buster. Its quite a marvel.
“Can’t you horrible evil selfish power hungry heretical monsters see that if you weren’t such awful pieces of garbage that you would be nice and kind and gentle like me!”
The pinnacle of niceness, kindness, and gentleness being, “I absolutely loathe, detest, hate, and wish death upon Trump, his entire administration, and everyone who voted for him!”
This is what happens when dead actors try their hand at armchair psychology rather than running locomotives off cliffs in Cottage Grove.
What happened to Buster’s “I’m almost done posting here. Then my work here will be complete and it will be clear what my purpose was” (not an exact quote–something like that).
That was like 3 weeks and 87 comments ago.
At least his comments have substance:)
Are you so sure? The early Christians were “known” for cannibalism, incest, and athiesm among the Gentiles and “known” for being unclean and rejecting Moses and the Law among the Jews. These were true servants, people on the right path, who did not misunderstand Jesus. As for Jesus, he was “known” for being a troublemaker, a glutton, a drunkard, a bastard, a friend of prostitutes and tax collectors, one who cast out demons by demonic authority, and worst, a blasphemer who made himself equal with God. We were warned by Jesus, Peter, Paul, and more that the world would misunderstand… Read more »
What if you are in Moscow and close to CREC churches and their members and still see the same thing? I have close proximity to each and can vouch for much of what was said, seeing my beautiful home, Moscow, overrun by these “Christians” and causing division rather than harmony with its community. They want to rule, to dominate. If you’re in Moscow, have you seen the Forged construction sign? proverbs 12:24 – the hand of the diligent will rule; but the lazy will be put to forced labor. Not something I want to “lord” over my non-Christian neighbors. Your… Read more »
“Why have we made ourselves known for controversial and historically dubious views of southern slavery, for debating just how bad a wife has to be at doing the dishes before she is not a good wife, running through our theories of which precise laws we would or wouldn’t pass and what the rules of voting would be if we were put in charge of a Christian government for this or that situation, parsing whether the things our pastor told courts were in fact the whole truth and nothing but it, putting out clever defences of foul speech, thinking that it’s… Read more »
Why CREC? Well, if the comments here are typical of CREC, and the comments quoted by Doug at the beginning of this letters post are typical of anti-CREC, would you agree there’s something to be said for CREC? /// Let pastor Wilson tell you how he got here. I think his theological growth had something to do with it. /// Me, I grew up fundamental baptist MK: Jesus saves and no other saves; the Bible is inerrant. I went to Covenant College and became Presbyterian; kept seeing other things pointed out in Scripture, which of course I’m reading myself too… Read more »
Hopefully, you received more than one letter like Tony’s. I, for one, took no issue with the Christ Church representatives in the CNN segment.
I figured at least part of this week’s letters would be, as the kids say, “lit.” I was not disappointed. Some of the nonsense seems to have spilled over into the comments as well.
Thanks a lot for answering my question about envy, pastor Wilson.
I’m going to (re)read that post you linked to, and plan to buy/read beginning with the first of the books you mentioned.
“And if a Protestant batter gets up to bat, and crosses himself, he just told thousands of spectators something erroneous. He just said, ‘I’m a Catholic,’ when he isn’t.””
What?? Luther commended the sign of the cross before prayers and before communion. It has also held a place of honor among some strands of Anglicanism since the 16th century. It was a common practice of the church at least as far back as the 3rd century.
There is much more to protestantism than Geneva.