Letters in the Dregs of June

Doug, do you have anything like a Spotify playlist for Christian hymns/music? The work I do allows me to listen to earbuds so a long playlist of Christian music would be really edifying during this time. Also I see that you have many hymns on the ChristKirk website, have you considered putting these on Spotify as a playlist?

Tony

To the esteemed Editor,

I was thrilled to see your debate with Redeemed Zoomer pop up on my feed but was disappointed by the time it finished for one simple reason . . . debates suck. They suck because they’re about winning, and trying to win under time pressure, i.e. not a conducive environment for productive conversation. Your debate with RZ as well as Joe Heschmeyer were both clear examples of this; especially in the cross examinations. In my opinion, nobody ‘won’ in either debate because there wasn’t sufficient space for nuance, clarification, or understanding. I would think all of Christendom’s public intellectual interactions going forward ought to favour conversations rather than the hasty back n’ forths we’ve been getting. Gavin Ortlund seems to me to be the leading example of this right now.
You have always held your own in the debates you’ve chosen, most prominently against Hitchens, but I’d have much rather seen you and RZ talk it over than do rapid fire questions. It is real shame when you can have a more productive interaction with an atheist (Sam Harris) than a fellow Christian brother (RZ) largely due to the choice of format.
Thanks for reading my two cents,
P.S. I assume the Q&A with RZ is behind a paywall?
P.P.S. I’m also curious for a translation of Selden College’s motto; Google translate left me puzzled…

Jonathan

Thanks for your helpful response on my query about ‘seed’ in Galatians! I’ve got a tough question in a different vein that I would like to know your thoughts on. From the time that he came on the scene in the 2016 election, even though I was just a kid at the time, I was enamored with Trump. Although others in my family were not so enthusiastic about him, I admired him quite a lot. As I got older and the horror of the Biden years unfolded, I became even more dedicated to ‘Big Don’ and my MAGA fever reached a pitch with the events leading up to the Fall ’24 Election. I was so elated at Trump’s victory that I finally ordered myself a genuine MAGA hat, which I wore with pride on Inauguration Day. I have since worn it out on a couple occasions and was really looking forward to donning it on the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States. This gets down to the crux of my dilemma. It seems, at least according to some talking heads (Tucker, et. al.), that the policies and values that all of us who are part of MAGA believed the Trump Administration were going to pursue and promote have not been given the attention we thought they were if not even being outright neglected. The Iran War and the whole Jesus-meme conundrum particularly come to mind. So my question is two pronged: First, in your opinion, has the Trump Administration held true to its promise to promote the basic America First values (non-Fuentes use of that word, of course!!!) that it was elected on? Second, and not to sound too Puritanical, but can a Christian in good-conscience still support the President after the whole Jesus-meme thing? I was hesitant to even write this because whenever I have doubted Trump in the past, he has always proved my suspicions wrong. However, I want to be wise about this matter, and who better to ask than ‘Uncle Doug’. Thanks, God Bless, and Happy Independence Day!!!

Caleb

I am involved in a few conversations on bioethics and biotechnology with policymakers, and I long to see a world where Christians have a say in how cutting edge technologies are studied and implemented. We must understand our Telos to ethically approach these issues.
Psalm 8 recounts the Dominion Mandate as putting “the works of [God’s] hands” under man’s (and Christ’s) dominion. Genesis 1 explicitly lists living things as being under man’s dominion, and Psalm 8 repeats that list. Is this list describing all that man is lawfully allowed dominion over, or is it just describing what man is directly responsible to care for?
Is it lawful, say, to modify the weather for the good of the things man has dominion over (or even to enjoy the Olympics)? How about asteroid mining?
There’s disagreement about “the earth” meaning the literal planet or all physical creation, as well, if you have anything to say about that.
Finally, I’m struggling to find Christians who talk about bioethics in particular without being either gnostic or depressingly pessimistic. Do you have any recommended authors or resources? Thanks in advance!
In Christ,

Meridith

I have 2 questions, please…
Would you please explain what you meant, in a reply to a recent letter, about John MacArthur: “. . . sometimes a bit too concerned about the aorist imperative.”?
Would you please point me to any of your resources about how to be a good grandparent (similar to your books, etc. on marriage and husbands and wives)?
and . . . and if it doesn’t already exist, would you consider writing such a book?
Thank you and best regards,

Robert

I would like to pose a situation to get your feedback. Put it in your “letters to hypothetical people” category. Say a couple has been married around 15 years with 3 kids entering teenage years. They were devout Christians seeking to live a life pleasing to God including church, Bible, extended family, mom stays home, home school, frugal, etc. However over the years something akin to death by a thousand cuts seems to have occurred. The husband has struggles with anger and lust. The wife struggles with submission, emotional outburst, and a lack of self examination (its easy to talk about another’s sin, but not her own). Due largely to 2020 shenanigans, they are always on the back foot financially, and have some legit issues like a car that always breaks down, among others. They want to seek a faithful church, but no glaring winners are in the area and so attend but are not currently members at one. Maybe most of all, there has been a palpable degradation in the marriage. The husband is intentional but always comes off as critical, and the wife seems to desire to change but defers to emotional sabotage. Finally, after a biblical counseling session, the wife says she thinks she is done trying to be a Christian. The husband is heart broken, but genuinely at a loss at what to do. He’s previously attempted books, counseling, prayer, and appeals to family with seeming little result in many of the areas above. What might you say to him, and tell him to say to her, in this situation?

Anon O’Muss

I am a Christian living in the heart of Utah. Our family moved from the great state of Florida, in hopes to live among the few Christians in the state of Utah to be of encouragement to them, to dwell among them, and to aid in the ministry work that is taking place here. One of the difficulties I have is navigating the waters with the brothers in Ogden, you have interacted with them as well. On one hand, there are things that are said amongst them that I agree with. Then there are times in which I think they are out of bounds, specifically when it comes to race, ethnicity, and what I would consider an extreme view and take on Christian Nationalism. I have listened to your work for quite some time, and my family has greatly benefited from the resources that come from Cannon Press. While I may not agree 100% on everything, I tend to think that your position on Christian Nationalism takes a very logical and biblical approach, where as the Ogden boys have taken it a few steps further. Would you be so kind and gracious to help me navigate these waters? I am not so much as worried as being called a Nazi for being a Christian Nationalist, but I also don’t want to actually be a Nazi. Thanks and God Bless

Tyler

Our family has been greatly blessed by your family. Thank you and Praise God for that.
We live in the Netherlands. We have a Judeo/ Christian constitution. It often feels like we are 2 steps behind VS in political terms and then especially the woke left view. We see this trend in the whole of Europe. But do we, as Dutch Christians in a Judeo/Christian founded country have something to fight for in regards of that constitution. We are often lingering to move to Moscow, Idaho. But as we have been called by this church in Heiloo (which is called Christ Church btw) we want to and need to, bring the Moscow mood here. Do you have any thoughts and maybe some tips?
Thank you,
Sincerely

Naomi

Interesting. I have seen that push-me-pull-you dynamic, which you describe in your letter to Ehud, in Gentile non-Christians as well. “I’m not a Christian, I don’t want to be a Christian, I think you guys have big problems, I am a Gnostic/neopagan, why are you excluding me?”

Jennifer

Re “By the Rivers of . . . Babylon,” side note to one line: Christians selling their Jerusalem real estate (Acts 4:34) contrasted with triune Jehovah having Jeremiah BUY real estate even when Babylon was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah showed that God was not yet done with the Jerusalem/Temple/OT priesthood system. The Jerusalem church showed that He was, now that Messiah had come. Not exactly insider trading; I’m sure they made Jesus’ prophecy known. (My minority guess is Matthew published it within a few months of Pentecost, in his blatantly Jewish gospel with unique Jerusalem ephemera.) You may, of course—pastor Wilson—have published this elsewhere.

Andrew

I hope you’re doing well on the eve of the Repairing the Ruins conference. I’m writing a story which takes place in an orthodox, predominant culture, but is now only nominally so. And so doing, I have to utilize orthodox resources, materials, and even listen to some orthodox people to sort of get the feel or the general ideology and thought process he is. Now mind you, I’m not in danger of converting to orthodoxy; quite the contrary. In the process of writing this story, I think I’ve become more staunchly Protestant. While writing this novel, however, I am witnessing a lot of people, men and women, moving towards orthodoxy. I understand that applying the label “Eastern Orthodox” does unintentionally create a monolith, which does not exist, since each expression of “EO” would disagree with each other doctrinally, as well as culturally (ask the Orthodox Ukrainians what they think of Orthodox Russians at this moment, for example).
With the skyrocketing popularity of eastern orthodoxy, as well as some of the more “famous faces” like Jonathan Pageau (whose works I admire), Richard Rohlin, and Paul Kingsnorth, it begs the question: what does this look like for the future? Do you think this is something that will last, or do you think these new converts will move on? If they stay in Eastern Orthodoxy, what does that look like for the United States and the West as a whole?

ON

Two things.
The event center at my university has one of these silly land acknowledgements. My favorite phrase in there is “As an active first step toward decolonization, we encourage you to learn more about the Native Nations whose homelands [my university] now resides on and the Indigenous homelands on which you live and work.” Of course, by decolonization, they don’t mean to leave and give the land back.
Pulling Israel into the discussion, I followed the history you laid out, but it wasn’t clear to me what you think Israel’s current approach to Gaza/West Bank should be. Are you arguing that Gaza/West Bank are aggressors, so Israel must respond, and if they happen to win the war, well, I guess the land is rightfully theirs?

JPH