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Early Church Communism?

Some say that Karl Marx’s statement “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!” sounds similar to Acts 4:34-35. How do you respond to someone who’s trying to make Marx the 14th Apostle?

Thank you for your ministry.

Shimar

Shimar, the issue that distinguishes the two is not the amount, or where it goes. The issue is whether it is given or taken. The Christians give, and the commies take.

Feminism Flattens

Interacting with “Conflicted Feminism,” “Feminism Rips off Women,” and Future Men.

Hello Pastor,

When it comes to feminism, you have written about how feminism hates both men and women. In Future Men, you show how feminism degrades women by exhorting men to treat women dishonorably. I agree; that’s a cruel hatred. I’m wondering about the extent of that hatred, and so my question is in regards to the quantity of feminism’s hatred of women. Does feminism hate women entirely? Or maybe a better way to ask: does feminism hate womanhood entirely?

I don’t ask as if I’m trying to find some good in feminism. I’m trying to link feminism’s exhortation to men to dishonor women in/with their bodies as a mechanism in a much bigger hatred machine.

Regards,

Charles

Charlies, I think the culprit is egalitarianism, of which feminism is simply a subset. And I think that the central object of the egalitarian’s hatred is the fact that the universe is hierarchical, and that we are assigned a role or station within that hierarchy.

Calvinism in Mississippi

I am a 23 year old Non-denominational Christian from the great state of Mississippi. I started my discipleship for Christ a year and 1 month ago. I have been listening to Pastor Wilson and Canon+ for a while now and the platform has helped me through the thick and thin of the transition from spiritual infant, to more of a whiny toddler.

When I learned that Pastor Wilson and his church were Calvinist (from my understanding) I became intrigued and looked into it and it has since sent me down the rabbit hole that is church history. Anyways, let me get to the point. I don’t know how I feel on predestination. From my readings, there is more that points to it (Eph.1, Rom. 8) than doesn’t. But, I grew up in a more “freewill” side of the country. I see God as a loving, inviting, all are welcomed God. The more hardcore side of predestination makes it seem that he’s already picked his flock and the rest are damned. I thought it was more of the fact that he already knows who will accept him since he is all knowing. In that case, would any of my actions really matter when it comes to other’s salvation? Since the people that are predestined to go to heaven already picked out, what is the need for missionaries, or at least me to go since it’ll happen anyways? I am not trying to disprove it, just trying to see where the logic in it all fits. It is a new concept that me and my fiancé don’t know where we would like to stand on. I also understand that my opinion vs that of God’s on what truth is, is ever so slightly insignificant. I would love to hear ya’ll’s take on it and to advise me through this theological speedbump of mine.

Thank you for your time,

Ethan

Ethan, first let me reccommend a book for you, and then give you a short answer. The book is Easy Chairs, Hard Words. The brief answer is that God ordains the means as well as the end. He doesn’t just predestine Smith’s conversion in some detached way, He predestines Smith’s conversion because Murphy prayed for him, and Jones witnessed to him.

Porn Ensnares

I’m writing to you from Nigeria. Life has been hard in the past 2 years. I am a pastor’s kid like you with a few differences;

1. I am younger.

2. My Father passed in 2021.

I do have a longing to be pastor. I have always had since I was young. And with my father’s passing my longing has been mixed with urgency.

But pastor Doug, I struggle with porn. I love the Lord so much and my struggle with porn is affecting my fellowship with God.

I really need help sir.

AT

AT, it is good to recognize that you need help. The crucial thing is to seek out the help where God says to get it. Find a church to join, and then ask the pastors to help you with this struggle, and to help you find a godly wife. I would shelve the idea of being a pastor until you get this resolved.

More on Antisemitism

Where are you finding reformed gentile Christians who are jealous of unbelieving Jews? Also where are you finding Jews that have so called Deuteronomic blessing?

Dale

Dale, I think you have misunderstood my argument. It is that the Jews are not receiving any Deuteronomic blessing, having been cut out of the olive tree. Detached from grace, they have accomplished remarkable things through the dint of sheer effort. But it is law, not grace. And the jealousy of professing Christians for the accomplishments of Jews comes out in virtually every comment thread on this blog when the subject comes up. But the people don’t say “oh, how I hate the Jews for being better than I am.” They can’t hide it, but they hide it better than that.

Successive Waves

As a long time Christian, I have recently began listening to your podcasts which I highly enjoy. Regarding Revelation, I tend to hold a preterist view. However, I was curious what your belief is about the breaking of the seals, the 4 horsemen and the trumpets. Thanks!

Judd

Judd, I believe that they are all portents of the successive waves of judgment that fell on Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Thanks from Canada

I’m not interacting with any particular post, except inasmuch as I am commending one of the “Canadian pastors” mentioned in your post “The Changing of the Guard” from August 9, 2021.

This is to encourage you and all your readers. Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary is moving into a larger facility at the end of May to accommodate a growing congregation and to see the Gospel go forth. Here is a call to prayer from our beloved under-shepherd, Tim Stephens:

God bless you and thank you for asking the Lord to act on our behalf!

CR

CR, thanks for the letter, and thank you all for standing fast.

Unorthodox Views

I have a question regarding church membership and unorthodox views. If a member of your church were to advocate for an unorthodox position, such as universalism, but was otherwise a respectful member in good standing, what would the response of the elders be? If they are unrepentant in this view, is this grounds for excommunication?

Thanks,

David

David, someone in that position would be allowed to remain a member, but would be required not to promulgate his views at all within the body.

Extreme Theonomy

For the past several years, I have been reading many things pertaining to God’s Law and Christian ethics, and have been shaped by many of the books and articles you’ve written.

I would be very interested in knowing your thoughts of a new book written by Luke Saint called “The Sound Doctrine of Theocracy” I found it very thought provoking and controversial (in a good way).

For instance, he speaks of the positive effects of stoning as opposed to other forms of capital punishment, that we might think of in the modern age.

Keep up the good work brother,

Blessings in Christ,

Henry

Henry, I tend to think of works like this as sort of a poison pill that gets included with mainstream theonomy in order to scare people away from the central idea.

Masculinity Questions

I want to start by expressing deep gratitude for the brilliant legacy you have been carving out for decades. Your ripples will no doubt be felt by generations to come and I consider myself blessed to have found your work.

I have two questions I want to throw on your lap—first, I have been consuming a ton of the masculinity books and talks on Canon+ and learning so much about my calling as a husband and a man in general and seriously loving it. However, my upbringing was totally secular and liberal/feminist. I was raised mostly by women—the men in my family generally did their work and kept their opinions to themselves and the ladies ran the show. This obviously influenced me heavily, and while I totally disagree with the broken worldview I was raised with now, I still see parts of it in myself. Particularly, the sin of niceness/impressionability and in contrast the masculine virtues to be bold, fiercely loving and confrontational when necessary are challenging for me. I want to be the type of man that can take heat and confront evil and not succumb to fear of offending others. I wonder if you have any advice for a young man (28) that desires this tenacity in his leadership?

Secondly, I’m in BC in Canada (back and forth between Vancouver and Prince George). Do you have any thoughts or insights on the Canadian church and where it’s headed? Any churches to keep on my radar?

Thanks so much!

Colin

Colin, your last question I will just open up to our readers. Any church recommendations, folks? For the former, I would start praying that God would give you situations, one at a time, in which you might practice between decisive. Just look for one at a time.

Full Preterism

I know that you signed the letter to Gary DeMar. Are you planning on interacting with any of his responses in future blogs or podcasts?

Aaron

Aaron, yes. See yesterday’s blog post, the one right before this one.

Cheer Up, It’s Worse Than That

I am struggling to see a bright future regarding the state of the world. I know of postmillennialism, but I just cannot seem to be able to accept it. The world only seems to be getting worse with the decline of the church, authoritarianism and communism rising, sexual depravity increasing, cultural decline, the looming threat of WW3, etc. I do not see the world improving. I feel too demoralized to start a family and if I did would be in a constant state of worry for them. I feel like the only thing left for us is to leave the world and be with God because we have no hope here in this life. (I am not depressed or do not have any desire to off myself, I just cannot see any good outcome for the current situation).

X

X, I would encourage you to start reading church histories. Things have been this bad many times before. God does this so that we might not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

Reading Canon Material Under the Covers With a Flashlight

Thank you very much for all of your plodding and your occasional(?) pyromania. First, some context. I am currently a junior mechanical engineering major at a large private Baptist college. This college has a local PCA congregation with an RUF chapter (I know, not ideal, but you sometimes you have to go with the grain of what is around you.) that I have been able to plant roots in during my three years here. When the Tim Keller fans weren’t looking, I snuck off and read some of your stuff and that began a journey to the Postmill dark side. Mwahah.

My question has to do with ordering priorities.

I am currently single, with no kids. I am 21, so I am currently very much driven to aim for those things in the next three years or so. In theory, this should make it very easy to complete my degree. In practice, I often feel like I am sacrificing time in community because I am constantly grinding out engineering assignments, to make sure they are of good quality, so I can get out of here in four years and get in a position where I would be able to provide and protect. That reality is around a year or two in the future, but I feel like I am also burning daylight when it comes to planning to start a family. Is there a way to rightly order these two responsibilities?

A bit more context: I did not grow up in the church, or in a churchgoing family at all, and became a Gospel-trusting Christian around 3 years ago, so a lot of this stuff is very fresh to me, and I have been playing very much by ear most of my short time with the Lord. The fact that I somehow stumbled my way from agnostic to Christian to slight deranged Calvinistic Baptist to less deranged Presby in that time is both concerning and proof of His working in ways higher than mine.

What advice would you give to a young man in my situation?

RB

RB, I would prioritize your time in such a way as to enable you to marry as soon as possible. Time at church should be worshiping faithfully on the Lord’s Day, at a minimum, and then participating in any church events where you believe she might be.

Sabbath Question

In relation to your response to a previous question about the 4th command (sabbath keeping) being binding for Christians, I have another question. There are a lot of evangelicals who hold that keeping the sabbath is not binding because of passages like Rom. 14:5-6, Col. 2:16-17, and Heb. 4:9-11. How significant of an error is this in your mind, given that it is one of the 10 commandments? Would you discipline a member of your church who was working on Sunday? Would you want to avoid partnering with a church that didn’t believe keeping the 4th commandment was necessary? And how would you distinguish between professing Christians who differ on the 4th commandment, and those who differ on a commandment regarding something like “loving, monogamous homosexual relationships”? It seems to me most evangelicals are happy to let Christians make up their own minds about the sabbath, but draw a pretty hard and quick line when it comes to differences regarding sexual ethics.

Nick

Nick, it would depend on whether it was a conscientious sabbath difference, or simply sabbath laziness. I would not team up with anybody who simply did not care. And if a businessman owned a business that he ran 24-7 (not an emergency care center), he would not be considered for church office.

Regulative Principle

I recently finished your work “A Primer on Worship and Reformation.” I found it very well structured; it resonated with many of my own sentiments , particularly on liturgy and the Christian Calendar. Full disclosure, I lean more towards Reformed Anglicanism than Presbyterian in my liturgical understandings.

I have found that a strict adherence to the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) does not work. There are always things churches do that are not in Scripture, and the Scriptures themselves show someone like David adding things to the worship of God not directly commanded by Him (i.e. music).

Would I be right in saying that you do not hold to a strict view of the Regulative Principle of Worship à la John Frame? If so, how do you determine what the boundary markers are? For example, is drama an appropriate means of communication in church?

In Christ,

James

James, I hold to the formulation of the regulative principle as articulated by Hughes Oliphant Old, which is that “worship must be according to Scripture.” If anybody asks why we “do that,” we should be able to show them in Scripture how that thing (psalms, Scripture reading, communion, etc.) is part of Christian worship. So then, no drama.

How should we understand the raising of hands in times of singing during our worship service? Is it a commanded practice or a matter of preference? Is there a time when it is right or wrong? I have often wondered about this question and usually just arrive at “It is a matter of preference and/or culture.” However, I think I might be missing something. I have personally avoided raising my own hands in worship for the sake of not being one who tries in his own strength to muster up some emotional response to the music. Our own church culture is a mixed bag when it comes to how one interacts in the worship singing, but I assume good intentions on the part of each person and trust they are doing what they believe is right.

I appreciate whatever clarity you can provide, and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Tyler

Tyler, we raise our hands all together at the conclusion of the service, during the doxology. Keeping in mind the answer to the previous question, if asked about it, we would point to 1 Tim. 2:8. We do it all together as a liturgical act in order to avoid people using it as their own spiritual cocoon.

A Couple of Talks

Regarding two of your recent posts: 1) David French & the Vapors of Civic Virtue Escaping from a Mystery Box, and 2) This Carnival of Claptrap. I have given a couple of talks at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. One of these is entitled “The Cost of the Enlightenment”—text and video. It focuses directly on the loss of liberty that has come with forgetting God. It was the Lou Church Memorial Lecture, intended to consider the overlap of libertarianism with religion.

Thank you

Daniel

Daniel, thanks for sharing.

The Spirit in the OT

I recently read/listened to Against the Church, and I found it very insightful and thought-provoking. I don’t recall much attention being given to Old Covenant conversion, and I wondered if you had developed that somewhere else. What do you make of Saul’s changed heart and his filling with the Spirit (1 Sam. 10)? More broadly, what do you see as the major difference(s) in the conversion of Old Covenant and New Covenant saints? Thanks,

Jimmy

Jimmy, I haven’t developed this anywhere, although I probably should. I think we are going to see Saul in Heaven, although he was a spiritually weak man. I believe that the Spirit departing from him had to do with God’s allowing his dynasty to collapse, and not his personal salvation. David knew that in just the same way he had forfeited God’s blessing on his rule (take not thy Spirit from me), although he was still saved (restore unto me the joy of thy salvation).

Early Stage Christian Nationalism

I was wondering what your advice/strategy would be in the wake of persecution of the sort we face in India where several people are being thrown into jail for having simply shared the Gospel with an unbeliever. What kind of post-mil strategy would you apply here?

How would you envision the bringing about of Christian nationalism in this country?

I’m sure things will be different but I really need help. The Indian churches are asleep. We kill 6-10 times more babies in a year than the USA and have been doing that even before your country ever thought of such a thing. Yet, the Church has done absolutely nothing because we are all afraid that we will lose our life and our near and dear ones if we take a step.

How would you deal with this situation?

Sam

Sam, the first step toward Christian nationalism, which in your case is a long way off, is the establishment of a multitude of churches where the gospel is preached, and Word and sacrament honored.

If the Whole Thing is Canceled . . .

Should Josh Butler (who was for years before he moved, a personal friend whose quality, intellect, and faith i will happily vouch for) lose any publishing deals or struggle, I would hope Canon Press would make him an offer. It would grieve me to hear of any success in deplatforming him.

Nathan

Nathan, if his book deal gets canceled, he should certainly send the manuscript to Canon.

Upcoming Release

I’m wondering if the Darla letters are ever coming to a paperback book format? You’ve got a buyer here waiting to purchase it (and I suspect many more buyers are hiding around the corners hereabouts too).

Thank you!

Annie

Annie, it is on the Canon publication schedule for May/June.

Arminian Friends

God bless, thankful for your work. During the COVID-craze I had several Arminian friends bring up this type of verse to me:

It is He who changes the times and the periods;

He removes kings and appoints kings;

He gives wisdom to wise men,

And knowledge to people of understanding (Daniel 2:21)

They would say, why are you talking about Romans 13, and trying to reform the political system for Christ, if according to the Reformed perspective, it was God who put these evil rulers in their positions. You should not complain! I have my thoughts on this, but would still love to hear yours.

Pro Rege!

Benjamin

Benjamin, I say, as I said above in an earlier response, the sovereign God uses means. So if we resist tyranny, and we succeed, it was God who changed the time and the period.

Response Video?

Thoroughly enjoy your videos – particularly the Doug Wilson reacts installments. Would like to suggest a response to Dr. Taylor Marshall on YouTube:

Which could use some annotation from an evangelistic perspective . . .

Perhaps you and Dr. White could tackle together . . .

Might be fun…

Thanks

David

David, thanks for the idea.

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Laura
Laura
1 year ago

Pastor Doug often talks about Rene Girard. I have read some Girard and found it to be quite a slog. Curious if anyone has read Wanting: the Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis and found it to be helpful?

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
1 year ago
Reply to  Laura

Yes. It’s great. The author is not quite the student of the Bible we would like but he’s devoted to RG.

James
James
1 year ago

The question of envy as a motive for disliking Jews needs to be questioned. Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and India Indians are all wealthy and intelligent people, the former three are among the smartest in the world. Except for Koreans, all four of those people are overwhelmingly non-Christian. No one hates Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, except as a security threat, and while Indians have been accused, rightly or wrongly I do not know, of being sexually predatory or greedy, no one says that Japanese promote transgenderism or that Indians or Chinese are leading a conspiracy to destroy the white race. I… Read more »

James
James
1 year ago
Reply to  James

I meant to say: this of course, does not mean all Jews are bad (they aren’t) but that their religion certainly is.

Nathan James
Nathan James
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Not so long ago Doug wrote up an explanation of why he calls it envy when sinners complain about other sinners. It was something of a rhetorical jiu-jitsu. I tried to find the post, but couldn’t. The gist of it was that when anyone whose heart isn’t in submission to God complains about the abuses committed by another person, since they’re not truly longing for the righteousness of God, they are really just mad that they didn’t get to commit the abuses themselves. Lots of people will complain about tyranny when they’re under it, but would go silent as soon… Read more »

Cherrera
Cherrera
1 year ago
Reply to  James

They also have a disproportionate representation among global elites (Soros and Yuval Harari types) and finance, including Bernie Madoff and Sam Bankman-Fried. (You can’t make up last names like “Made Off (with client money)” and “Bank Man Fried.”) There’s also this.
A MASSIVE % of LEX FRIDMAN’S Guests Have This in Common | Media Representation Series – YouTube

I’m not drawing any conclusions or making accusations, but no one should be called names for pattern recognition.

Mike Freeman
Mike Freeman
1 year ago
Reply to  James

James, today’s Jews are the product of centuries of fairly vicious persecution — pogroms, the Inquisition, expulsion from one country after another, and finally culminating in the Holocaust. So the reason they tend to be socially liberal is that their natural tendencies, given that history, is to support people who are marginalized, people who are different, people who are minorities (racial and religious) and people who are bullied for not being strong. And the friction between them and Christian nationalists is that Christian nationalists want to suppress people different from themselves, especially with religious and ideological differences, but also different… Read more »

Cherrera
Cherrera
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Freeman

“Christian nationalists want to suppress people different from themselves, especially with religious and ideological differences, but also different sexual orientations, people with different views of what family life should look like, people with different world views…Jews, on the other hand, think that people who aren’t bothering other people should generally be left alone to live their own lives as they see fit, and without the state preferring one worldview over another.” So the Biden Administration, the LGBTQ+ mafia and DEI cult are all Christian nationalists? They’ve been the perfect example of using state power and bullying through censoring, cancelling, doxxing,… Read more »

Mike Freeman
Mike Freeman
1 year ago
Reply to  Cherrera

Cherrera, your post is an example of the logical fallacy of undistributed middle. That aside, do you dispute that under a Christian nationalist government, life would be fairly unpleasant for gays, Jews, and anyone else who didn’t conform? I have the same opinion of leftist cancel culture that you do, but that doesn’t mean I can’t point out the Christian nationalists would do plenty of canceling of their own given the chance. Or that conservative Christians were indeed doing plenty of canceling when they had the political muscle to do so. What you’re living under now is essentially what gay… Read more »

Ken B
Ken B
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Freeman

I have been rather shocked fairly recently as to just what some of the followers of the pope of Geneva have got up to historically, including the judicial murder of those who didn’t agree with them. They did not get free from medieval Catholicism in this regard.

Cherrera
Cherrera
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Freeman

Mike, I know it may sound cool to throw around a few fancy fallacy names, but that’s not what I did. And not being able to marry someone of the same sex (which people in the 50s correctly thought was as nutty as marrying a horse, your mother or a bar of soap) isn’t cancelling anyone. I’ve talked to family members who lived in the 40s-50s. They knew closeted Sodomites and areas where they could find plenty of their own and be left alone for the most part. This is also clear based on literature from that era. As for… Read more »

DEI.jpg
Mike Freeman
Mike Freeman
1 year ago
Reply to  Cherrera

Where to start. First of all, we don’t have to guess what a Christian nationalist country would look like because the Christian nationalists have told us, over and over again. As Maya Angelou said, when people show you who they are, believe them. Christian nationalists openly say that when they have succeeded in making America a Christian nation, nobody else will have any rights. Choose to ignore them if you like, but I take them at their word. Second, cancel culture is bad whether the left or the right does it and for most of American history the cancelling was… Read more »

Dave
Dave
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Freeman

Yes, Mike, I do dispute your thoughts on Christian nationalist government. The Bible tells us differently: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.  Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.  Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Freeman

Another reason for their tendency to get involved in progressive movements is part of their religious heritage. Tikkun olam, an ethical duty incumbent on the observant, means “repairing the world.”

Cherrera
Cherrera
1 year ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Burning down cities and aligning yourselves with those who do is an odd way to repair things. It reminds me of those videos of purple-haired lesbians and others saying white males contribute nothing to society…all the while using enjoying roads, bridges, buildings and inventions that were almost exclusively built by those they hate. Gonzalo Lira on Twitter: “White men built the cities and infrastructure, the technology and communications systems, that these muppets enjoy. If I were a white man in the West, I’d tell them, “You hate me so much? Fine, I’m leaving—best of luck keeping everything running.” https://t.co/rx0AL0Gumr” /… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Cherrera

I doubt that very few religiously observant Jews engage in rioting or looting; nor do they parade with placards saying EAT THE RICH. I think the difficulty arises when zeal to “reform the world” is divorced from its religious and ethical moorings. For the religious, the emphasis is on private philanthropy and political change through the democratic process; no one is authorized to loot the neighborhood liquor store in order to feed the poor. Depending on which branch of Judaism to which a Jew belongs, tikkun olam can look very different.The Orthodox in the US believe that political and social… Read more »

James
James
1 year ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

If you look at the affiliation of the US Senate, there are many Catholics who are quite conservative, including on immigration and LGBT issues. All Jewish senators today are socially liberal, more so, probably, than the two United Church of Christ (a very liberal Christian denomination) senators, Maggie Hassan and Amy Klobuchar, the later who has indicated that she wants alternatives for abortion (though she is very pro-choice) and who was fairly conservative on immigration until pressured to be otherwise, she probably is still conservative for a democrat on that matter. Schumer is pro-life–but only in Israel. The Reform and… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  James

I have spent most of my life either in Vancouver or Los Angeles, and you would probably be startled by the amount of envy and spite directed at hard-working, intelligent, affluent Asians. Those who open shops in poorer areas (where the supermarkets don’t like to open stores) are resented for high prices, refusal to give credit,and stringent loss prevention measures.The complaints from all levels of society except the very rich are strikingly similar to the accusations traditionally made against Jews. (1) They are clannish as if they think they’re too good to hang out with the rest of us. (2)… Read more »

Cherrera
Cherrera
1 year ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Speaking of despicable things done to Asians…
WATCH: TX Woman Paralyzed When Alleged Robber Body Slams Her (breitbart.com)

The odds of someone of the victim’s ancestry doing something similar to her assailant are extremely low…probably the most skewed racial crime statistics in the U.S.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Cherrera

It is a serious problem. There is also a problem with Asian on Asian violence.We think in monolithic groups,often not realizing that Asians (like Hispanics) have their own ethnic hierarchies.

James
James
1 year ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

I can back down on saying no one hates Asians except as a security threat. My main point was that, though Asians are overwhelmingly non-Christian and very smart, they do not get accused of promoting transgenderism and other LGBT things, because they are not active in promoting it like the Jews have been. And if you go back to the beginning of the Jews versus Christians conflict in history, you will find that the Jews were persecuting Christians first, as is shown in the book of Acts, and they wrote at least some of the vile parts of the Talmud… Read more »

Demosthenes1d
Demosthenes1d
1 year ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Envy of, and violence toward, “middleman minorities” is a common phenomena. It certainly isn’t limited to Jews or west coast Asians. Good examples include Armenians and Greeks in Ottoman territory, Chinese (Hoa) in Vietnam (and elsewhere in SE Asia), Indians in Africa (especially Uganda), etc.

The concerns are often moral/religious as well as economic. There is a ton of literature about it if anyone wants to learn more.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Demosthenes1d

Yes,one of the events that led to the 1994 riots in LA was the Latasha Harlans shooting and the fact that the Korean store clerk who shot her in the back got probation despite her conviction for voluntary manslaughter. This was a hot mess with fault on both sides. But it was an example of the seething resentment and distrust between the Korean inner city shop owners and their customers.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago

Does John Frame hold to a strict form of the regulative principle? I read some of his work for my dissertation on psalmody in worship, and found him defending Contemporary Christian Music in Lord’s day worship. But that was from ’96, so things might have changed…(John M. Frame, Worship in Spirit and Truth, A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship, (Phillipsburg, NJ, Presbyterian and Reformed Press, 1996))

Shawn
Editor
Shawn
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark

I think he meant you do not hold to a strict form similar to how Frame does not hold to a strict form.

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
1 year ago

Does feminism hate women entirely?

Yes. It’s a species of nihilism and basically hates reality and being. That is to say, it hates God and creation, God and all his works. To put it into a word, it hates.

Someone will object that there is a lot of good in it and that we shouldn’t throw the baby out & etc. Successful lies usually contain some truth as bait and maybe you’re smart and wise enough to steal the bait. Best wishes.

Armin
Armin
1 year ago

Doug, I’ll be honest, I’m actually struggling to understand how you can convince yourself of something so asinine as the idea that EVERY single criticism aimed at Jews by “professing Christians”, no matter how well-reasoned, no matter how calm and empathetic, must be, in 100% of cases, born out of envy-induced hatred. I think this is where you’re just plain out of touch, not necessarily because of your bad argumentation (to the extent there’s any argumentation at all), but because it is truly baffling to a lot of us. You’ve done a lot of good work, and there are a… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Armin

I agree that Doug doesn’t always make distinctions.But, then again,neither do you. When you have said that all Jews should be removed from the US, you certainly don’t make any distinction between the owner of a porn movie company and a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who votes for the GOP.

Armin
Armin
1 year ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

My “lack of distinction” is nothing more than the consistent application of a particular way of defining a national identity, one which many Jews themselves would agree with as it pertains to their own nation. Doug’s lack of distinction has to do with broad sweeping conclusions about the motives of people whom he has never met, and moreover, appears suspiciously convenient as a way to avoid addressing the actual issue.

Also, you should know, as someone who studies Nazis, that I don’t care about being called a hypocrite by someone I consider to the left of me.  

Last edited 1 year ago by Armin
Ken B
Ken B
1 year ago
Reply to  Armin

Are you by any chance strongly Calvinist?

Armin
Armin
1 year ago
Reply to  Ken B

I’d say so.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Armin

If I had wanted to call you a hypocrite, I would have used the word. I am indeed “to the left” of you, but that doesn’t make me mealy-mouthed. I was curious why you think it is wrong to fail to make distinctions in one case but not in the other.Doug evidently sees antisemites as a monolithic group, alike in their attitudes,motives,and psychology. You evidently see Jews as equally monolithic. Yet you think Doug’s view is wrong while yours is right.That is what I find strange.

Last edited 1 year ago by Jill Smith
Christian
Christian
1 year ago

AT, Have you considered using internet accountability software? I installed it on our kid’s phones when they were young and definitely it helped. Covenant Eyes offers a free one-month trial: https://www.textandtranslation.org/covenanteyes/

Zeph
Zeph
1 year ago

X, the American Church is not the whole church. In the last century, over 500 languages now have
Scripture and more to come. These places are maturing into serious Christian civilizations