Letters As We Close In on Christmas

In response to “To All the Dank Anons . . . Shall We See You Anon?”
Having in my life been kicked out of two careers over the issue of the gay agenda and my refusal to support it (practice makes perfect, I suppose) I find it difficult to have sympathy for anyone using anonymity as a sniping platform. When you get down to it it’s just tactical cowardice and reminds me of the sort of school-yard dweeb who will provoke the wrath of the bigger kids knowing that he can hide behind the teacher to escape retaliation. If you’re going to go on the offense there’s a certain moral obligation I think falls on you to be willing to take it on the chin when you meet the defense, especially if you risk losing your whole jaw in the process. If Elijah is our model of Biblical mockery we shouldn’t forget that Elijah challenged Baal to his face, so to speak, in the midst of 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah and king Ahab and enough Israelites to seize and slaughter nearly a thousand men.
And if his faith wasn’t in the true Lord it would have been Elijah’s very non-anonymous throat being slit at the brook of the Kishon.

Hank

All the Dank Anons
“There is a vast difference between saying biblical things and being accused of being unbiblical, and saying unbiblical things and being accused of being unbiblical.”
Pastor, true enough, but inviting all the trigger-happy young men into the fight was bound to result in not-so-friendly fire, when the primary qualifications are the willingness to use the middle-finger and burn all the f’n bridges.
As the saying goes, You win them to what you win them with.

Chris

Pastor Wilson, if your kids had had a gay uncle or aunt, living with a partner, what boundaries would you have set around your kids’ relationship with them? Would those boundaries have changed as your kids got older? Would it have been possible to minister to your sibling while also shielding your kids, or would the two be mutually exclusive?

AK

If our supreme presupposition in all thought and understanding is the Wisdom and Word of God, do we then have to focus on validating the truthfulness of the Word or be content with its self-attestation?

Eric

Getting Started With Book Publishing As A Business
Pastor Doug,
I wrote to you not long ago asking if you were to start over with Canon Press, would you change anything—thank you for the reply, and encouragement to an aspiring book publisher.
At this point, I now have my first 2 books ready for an editor, and could technically be ready for publishing within weeks. However, I don’t actually have any infrastructure yet because . . . I don’t know where to start.
Do you have any recommendations for sources on how to get the logistical side of everything going the right way? (E.g. business type, accounting, business plan, marketing, good people to consult with…).
I am nervous about doing something wrong, especially since I have brand new to publishing and running it like a business. ANY direction you’re willing to provide would be priceless. Thank you, Pastor!

Ben

Regarding the state of profitable discussion on the internet:
Pastor Doug, I really appreciated your and Jared’s discussion with Chris Gordon on Abounding Grace. Chris recently had Stephen Wolfe on, which was also an informative discussion. I’m thankful for Chris’ willingness to engage thoughtfully, and your willingness to be there in person and respond (also thoughtfully) and in the spirit of being brothers in Christ. I wondered if you had considered doing the same with him, but with you asking the questions from your perspective. I understand and agree that it was not the place to start questioning him on his show, but I’m really curious as to how he would respond to many of the questions you would have for him and the Reformed Two Kingdoms structure. Any chance there’s a conversation in the works? I can’t tell you how profitable I found the discussion, but I do think it would benefit from having a follow up from Moscow. Again, no criticisms of Chris, you, or Jared. I think what needed to happen there did. I just don’t want the conversation to end there and I’d love to see it continue. Which is, I think, the definition of success in this instance. Grace, peace, and merry Christmas,

David

I’m . . . preaching through the Ten Commandments. Mere Christendom was really enjoyable especially your chapter on restraining the worst blasphemer first. I’m on the Third Word right now. I came across this article/essay from the Harvard Law Review on the 1st Amendment and Blasphemy Laws and the author shows how the states never saw these two things as incompatible up until the mid twentieth century. Here’s the essay.

Josh

This is not a question about a particular post, I was wondering what your view of Sunday school is? In my church, we have two services, with a children’s Sunday school happening during each, so parents can have their kids attend this and the Lord’s Day service, but many (and to my understanding most) do not do this and only send their kids to Sunday school. I need to give my pastor a response as to whether I will teach a few of these classes soon, and I have been trying to figure out if that would be Biblical considering that most of the kids would not attend the Lord’s Day gathering of the saints after or before the class? They can attend church with Sunday school on top of this, and some do, but most do not.
Thank you.

Caleb

Over the last few years, I have thought a lot about the last version of Christendom, and how it was rolled back so easily in the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s easy to be nostalgic. In retrospect, it seems to me that the substance of that popular Christianity was wholesome as far as it went, but it was also shallow and weak. A post-millenialism that is shattered by two world wars is not founded in Scripture. A creationism that is defeated by a cartoonish alternative theory like Darwinism is not founded on convictional confidence in God’s word. In one or two centuries, I think the church will look back on the 19th and 20th centuries as a time of necessary pruning, during which the benefits of a comparatively weak and shallow popular Christianity were progressively denied so that something more muscular, with deeper roots, could take its place.

Daniel

Thank you for this. I have been hearing that a wife needs to submit “in everything” “unto the Lord.” I didn’t know if people meant blindly/silent suffering (enabling abuse and going along with sin) or if it meant a husband’s authority is capped by biblical parameters.
What exactly is the scope of a husband’s authority? Neither a judge nor a pastor can tell me to wear red slippers on Fridays—it is out of their jurisdiction. What is the jurisdiction of the husband? I understand that a husband probably wouldn’t make that request anyway, but for the sake of argument, is it within his jurisdiction?
I think the most confusing thing for me as a woman is that a man has his responsibilities which seem cut and dry—protect, provide, lead. But as a woman, my job is (or should be) the home unless the husband fails in his responsibility, then the woman has to decide when to step in and when it would be wrong to step in. It seems that it would never be wrong for a man to step in and change things, e.g. the homeschool curriculum, the budget, the meal plan, etc. But it would be wrong if I didn’t like how he was handling something and stepped in, then it would be seen as unsubmissive. This makes my job description a bit fuzzy at times. It makes me confused on my proper place.
What about a husband who wants the wife to work while he stays at home? What if the wife has a work-from-home job? I understand the Proverbs 31 woman is a business woman too, so it is not inherently sinful. However, it feels he is trying to make her do his job. Should she say, “No, that’s your job.”? Or just submit? Is it quietly going along with his foolishness or truly being his helper?
People say “wives submit!” But there is really very little application in it since there is always the question of “to submit, or not submit?” I think more scenarios of situations where it would be difficult for a woman to submit and should, and scenarios of situations where it wouldn’t seem like a problem to submit but she actually shouldn’t would be helpful for clearing up the fuzzy boundaries.
Thank you.

Becky

Good evening Pastor Wilson,
I hope you are doing well. We were reading through Jonathan Gibson’s advent book, and it mentioned question 35 of the Heidelberg catechism. The phrase that Jesus “took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, a truly human nature so that he might become David’s true descendant” is the foundation of our question: we understand that Mary, therefore, biologically imparted to Jesus his human nature. Obviously, Jesus is not sinful. We have also heard the common refrain that because there was no male “component” in the virgin conception, that therefore male genes carry original sin with it. We don’t necessarily believe that, but we would like to know whether or not Jesus only, therefore, inherited Mary’s genes? Or, was there a possibility he could have inherited Joseph’s genes as well? Albeit, of course, Joseph was not involved in the procreative act itself. Or, were Jesus’ genes completely unique?

ON

Amen to “…Son of a Sea Cook,” and LOL to the picture (some—not I—would say idolatrous icon) at the end.
Note also that from Jacob, ol’ Israel himself, who had to tell his household to get rid of their idols, thru the OT, thru Yehoshua the Messiah and Paul the apostle, people who dearly loved Israel also told her to repent of her sins, sometimes with severe warnings. God is slow to anger, but don’t get Him started. This should be no cover for anti-Semitism: be willing to die for Israel and then we can talk about your criticisms of her . . .

Andrew

Re: Lop-Eared Son
Ever since Christ came, Jew-hatred has always been one of Satan’s diversionary tactics. When a person sees evil afoot, and has an inclination to stand up and respond to it, the enemy needs a diversion. If he can get that person’s focus off of the EVIL, and on to the Jewishness of the person committing that evil . . . Mission accomplished. He has not only diverted a response to the evil, but he has detoured the responder into ANOTHER evil (ethnic hatred). Bonus! Of course, this is one of Satan’s go-to tactics because HE hates the Jews. At one time, they were the focal point of the Lord’s work in the world, and thus a primary target. As a distinct people they are no longer that focal point, but Satan has a long memory, and can’t let the old hatreds go…

Michael

I appreciated your response about “Practical Resistance” in the December letters. I look forward to reading Hamburger’s book on administrative law.
Having not read Hamburger’s book yet, I’m flummoxed by the distribution of powers. I’m curious how you or he handles the distinction between violations of federal (e.g. picking up arrowheads), state (e.g. hunting squirrels), and county (e.g. building code for porch railings) administrative law.
Federal administrative law seems like a pretty clear-cut extra-constitutional usurpation of power from the states. The constitutions of individual states would, then, govern their powers. According to Wikipedia, my state (as well as yours) defers power to the county through a weird combo of “Home Rule” (counties may establish any laws they like that don’t conflict with state law) and “Dillon’s Rule” (counties only have powers granted by the state legislature). My county in recent years established a Home Rule Charter. More and more it seems to be trending toward the tyrannical.
It’s easy to see the argument for public safety matters (e.g. fire code) being within the remit of the county. And I can see an argument for encouraging cultural uniformity and arbitrating disputes between neighbors (e.g. building code) being within this remit as well.
Thinking about how this hodgepodge mess might interact with sphere sovereignty or subsidiarity makes my head hurt. I want to honor the Caesars, big and small, where honor is due, but only when. I’d appreciate your perspective.
I do look forward to the day that Christ comes to sort all this mess out. Come Lord Jesus!
Peace in Christ,

Home Rules

I hope you are doing well. My question concerns the possibility of salvation and forgiveness for fallen angels. I affirm the hypostatic union, as detailed in the Chalcedonian definition. I understand that the second Person of the Trinity had to take on human nature to be the representative High Priest/Covenant Head for fallen humans. I also recognize that Christ’s Divine Nature is unlike anything else in all Creation. Lastly, I also believe the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is the second Person of the Trinity.
Now that I have “covered my bases,” here is the crux of my question: the Hebrew word “Elohim” appears to be a category term for “spiritual beings,” which includes both God & angels (such as in Ps 82:1, and elsewhere). Though I recognize Yahweh as holy and distinct from the angels, would this categorization suffice to conclude that Jesus’ Divine Nature would be sufficient as a perfect propitiation for fallen Elohim in the same manner His Human Nature was for humans? I recognize that Scripture speaks to the damnation of certain fallen angels (2 Pet. 2:4, Jude 6), but I don’t necessarily find these verses conclusive to the subject of “angel salvation” in general. Therefore, could Jesus’ Divine Nature logically allow for fallen angel salvation? That is if they are repentant.
Thank you so much,

CN

I get questions and hear comments now and then at my work centering around the idea that the Bible we have today was set in stone by Constantine at the Council of Nicea. I am well aware of the ridiculousness of this idea and I do my best to counter it. However, I would like to know a better history of how our New Testament was formed to give a counter that is more than just defensive. Are you aware of a good book on the subject that you could recommend?
Thank you, brother

Duane

In the batch of letters from November 19, a young man named Isaac wrote you a question about theological education and Greyfriars. That got me thinking.
I am in my mid 20s. My wife and I live overseas as missionaries for a large evangelical denomination. We have an infant son as well. Our denomination is semi-Reformed (and Baptist) but in the last decade has been slowly drifting leftward (think female pastors in function but not in name, increasingly seeker-sensitive, etc.). My wife and I have been realizing our Reformed theology is lining up less and less with our denomination’s. We have also come to the realization that remaining here may not be possible, as our son will be required to attend (the very anti-Christianity) government schools when he turns 5. There are no truly Christian schooling options either. As you’ve written before, though we are not responsible for teaching our son everything, we are responsible for everything that he is taught.
I very much desire to pastor. I believe I am called. I also know that I am perhaps the worst person to affirm that calling. I’m biased towards myself. I want faithful men to test that calling, to be able to affirm or deny its legitimacy. I think such letters of recommendation are required for the Greyfriars application, as well. However, I don’t think my old church in the States would support such an endeavor, mainly because they would be anti-you, anti Doug Wilson. And yet, I have yet to find a seminary program whose foundational theology I agree with as much as Greyfriar’s. (I wish I could find the old description of Greyfriars, but the website has since been updated.) I know formal theological education is not required of pastors, but that a faithful education can have immense value. I believe that the “man of God” in 2 Tim 3:16-17 is describing those who teach the church, not primarily all Christians. I believe that the “faithful men who will be able to teach others” in 2 Tim 2:2 are those who lead the church, not Christians in general. I want to be that man of God, that faithful man who will be able to teach others. I know that being a pastor is a high and weighty calling. I know the salvation of souls rides upon it. I know that marriages ride on it. I know the faith of future generations is inextricably linked to it. I know that the Great Commission necessitates such church leaders be found mature and faithful to God and the Scriptures. I know such training is hard and difficult work. But I want to pursue that. I want to give myself over to that. I want to pastor and I want to be the most faithful pastor I can be. My wife fully supports this desire. The pastor of our church here, in our country of service, supports this desire.
Can you give me any encouragement or advice regarding these matters? Any thoughts are welcome thoughts. Do you think a Greyfriars application such as mine would be considered in the future?
May God continue to bless you, Pastor Doug,

W

Re: “Silence On Gaza”
Greeting & Salutations Mr. Wilson
I was someone taken aback by the sanctimonious and accusatory tone of the author of the letter about the ongoing strife in Gaza. I am not someone directly or indirectly involved; only a passive observer. My observation is that the ongoing struggle between Israel and “Gaza” (which is actually a struggle with Hamas and its sinister puppet-master, Iran) is an existential one for Israel. Either they win, or they will cease to exist. The actions of Hamas on October 7th, 2023 would certainly indicate that little mercy should be expected were the Islamists to get the upper hand. In order to defeat Imperial Japan and National Socialist Germany, extreme measures were take by the Allies during the Second World War. There was no doubt at the time about what would happen to us were one of those countries to gain control. As regrettable as what is happening in the Middle East, it is up to those nations to figure things out. There was a cease-fire in place prior to October 7th, as I recall. Cheers.

Mike

What’s your opinion on aliens? Is it even a category of thought that you allow for? Lean towards their existence? Definitely away from it?
Thanks!

Caleb

MB wrote to you regarding Abusive Wives:
“I was ashamed, and confused, as my wife incessantly accused and denigrated me, projecting all her sins onto me, and gaslighted me so much I came to believe I was the problem in the marriage. But once I understood what she was doing to me, I stopped giving into her threats, blackmail and other manipulative techniques;”
That was my experience as well, and unfortunately I responded sinfully at first. However, once I clued in to what I perceived as intentional fighting, I repented and did my best to cease playing into the fighting, and that actually made the fighting worse. In weird way, that was a validation of my assessment of the situation. Even though I was doing everything my elders had prescribed and was submitting to their guidance, I eventually divorced her.
MB said something that was interesting. He wrote, “the church did not consistently handle it well” . . . in my case, no one at the church bothered to knock on my door and visit me and just see for themselves what was going on and how I was doing spiritually and otherwise. I would say that had that one thing occurred, I would still be at that church. But it spoke volumes to me, and I felt like all I got from the church was condemnation. It was very disheartening. I didn’t (and don’t) expect any church to cut me any slack that wouldn’t normally be afforded anyone else, but come on.
There are more details on my side, and I know I’m not totally innocent in all of that either, but I will say it spoke volumes to me in a fundamental-enough way that I felt no longer wanted or welcomed at the church, and now I attend elsewhere.

GH

Ploductivity question: in the context of a busy, productive life, how does one deal with a sense of not accomplishing enough?
Context: I’m solidly Reformed, know that Jesus has accomplished it all for me, and that I’m to do out of love, not guilt. But somehow, I still feel a twinge of disappointment and dissatisfaction for not getting more done, despite a yearly list of accomplishments that includes reading 50-60 books a year, doing +200 cardiothoracic operations per year, a month of African medical mission work, building a barn, etc. I come home about as tired as I can be, and still feel like I should have used my time more wisely.
I’m asking your input because I got here largely through your ploductivity tactics and theology of wealth. Am I on the right track to keep working until my fingers fall off and my body just quits? Incidentally, my wife and I have a good laugh over this in the screw tape letters fashion, as it does seem to be an annoying fly of temptation that my personal wormtongue brings out when I’m tired.

Nathan

My wife and I have both read your book American Milk and Honey, and I’ve followed the blog to a large degree over the past two years since I first became familiar with you and joined a CREC church in Greenville, SC.
We have been immensely blessed by your work.
I’m wondering if you can help me understand why you feel there is strong evidence to support the claim that envy is a primary motivator in the unsavory attitudes toward the Jewish people. After reading this post and many others like it, and that book, I hear the claim of envy, but I haven’t seen direct evidence of it, either by admission of those who have anti-Jew sentiment, or by evidence against them.
This blog post seems to take for granted that such evidence exists and is clear, but all it points to is vitriol in comment threads—which for sure is bad, but the mere presence of vitriol doesn’t tell us WHY the vitriol is coming out, so it seems to me that the claim of envy as the primary reason for the vitriol is only speculation—and a potentially unhelpful speculation, because if it isn’t that, it may cause some to miss the real root cause, and also, I don’t think it’s even possible that all detractors of Jews (Arabs included) would have actual envy of them.
I am no detractor of Jews as a general group of people, and I also don’t deny evils done by certain influential Jewish people such as Soros, just as I don’t deny evils done by any non-Jews either—but I have never actually envied any Jews either, and I don’t think others really do either for the most part. I think what they envy is merely the money, the power and success, possessed by whoever (Jewish or not) holds it. Surely people envy wealth and power all the time, and they envy whoever has it. I don’t see any reason to believe people envied Jews just because they were Jews though, wealthy and powerful or not—e.g. people didn’t envy Jews in Germany under Hitler, I don’t think. So when they do envy them, it’s their wealth they are envying, not their ethnicity or social group specifically.
Can you help me see otherwise? I think it’s causing much confusion to level speculation of widespread envy as a primary cause of anti-Jewish sentiment without providing direct evidence of actual envy on a broad level (not just here and there but widespread as you claim it is.)
This would be quite helpful to me and many others, who are trying to understand things like the Antioch Declaration and all of the hullabaloo in Reformed circles about this topic.
Thanks and blessings in Christ,

JD

What’s your position on depictions of Jesus in media? Most relevant today would be The Chosen, but I’m asking because of a conversation with my wife who was asking about showing a cartoon Christmas story to my five-year-old. My concern is not so much that it breaks the second commandment (does it?) but more so that it infiltrates the viewer’s imagination so that an actor’s portrayal is what comes to mind when you read the Bible or think about God. Do you share these concerns or is my wife correct that I’m being a little much?

AH

Quick Thoughts on Bonhoeffer?
In view of a recurrent recent theme on the blog and the Angel Studios theatrical release, I wondered if you had any particular thoughts or impressions on the life and ministry of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I see from your book list that you read through “Life Together” last year and commended it as “really good.” I had similar favorable feelings towards that volume and even more for “The Cost of Discipleship.” Did you ever read the latter?
Beyond the thorny moral dilemma he found himself in when he joined in a plot to assassinate Hitler, I have heard a recent resurgence of sharp criticism of Bonhoeffer over other points of theological concern (including this older Banner of Truth blog cautioning the fandom around the Metaxas biography a few years back.
In view of such matters, do you generally commend or caution parishioners from reading Bonhoeffer’s works?

Frederick

You have brought up a concern about the Trump administration that sounds a lot like special pleading. On more than one occasion you have alluded to the idea that Trump’s opponents could sabotage him by causing an economic crisis while he is in office. The implication being that Trump will be held responsible for this economic collapse so that his agenda can be derailed.
This really seems intellectually disingenuous. Trump is arguably just as responsible for our massive deficit as numerous other liberal presidents you’ve tossed barbs at whether it be Obama or Carter or Biden. It also seems a bit silly. An American economic collapse would be bad for literally everyone within the liberal order. It would only benefit our enemies abroad who aren’t exactly woke feminists concerned about the loss of liberal norms (Russia, China, etc).
I seriously doubt you would entertain this theory were we to have a Biden economic collapse. It sets up a “heads I win tails you lose” argument. If the economy continues to prosper it’s because of Elon, Vivek and Trump’s genius, whereas if it fails it’s because of shadowy wokesters who didn’t want to lose deep state secretarial jobs. A reasonable person can observe Trump’s policy proposals and see multiple ways he could cause an economic collapse. Let’s name them: Tariff wars, deficit spending, a supply shock from deportations, runaway inflation, etc.
I understand that Presidents are like quarterbacks taking too much credit for both wins and losses, but you seem to be veering into annoying vague “they” conspiracy theories on this topic.

Milton