Letters to Brighten Your Morning

I want to thank you for your post, As the Fighting Moderates Mount the Lone Bulwark.
Your fair, honest, and always erudite observations refresh me and my family in the midst of our current challenges here in Pella. Please accept my thanks to you and to God for your willingness and ability to confront, admonish, and encourage Christ’s body.
Because of Jesus,

djl

Respectfully, could you prayerfully consider your response to the Pella situation in”As the Fighting Moderates Mount the Lone Bulwark”? Even if their behavior was supremely unsavory, Blake Callens is an accuser of the brethren. He called Dusty Deevers intentionally evil, publicly opposes William Wolfe in the SBC every chance he gets, and wouldn’t hesitate to dox me or any other man with a family if we publicly expressed views slightly to the right of John McCain.

You gave him air time, and let a pastor and congregation in your own denomination get publicly flogged. Young men asking questions and circling the rabbit hole just have one more reason now to discard voices like yours that could have had a moderating and positive influence. Those men would never have boosted feminists and liberals attacking you over Stitler or Ride Sally Ride but you turned around and did exactly that to them.

Please consider deleting brother. Our issues right now are the ravenous wolves on the left. We can deal with the unsightly parts of the right in God’s timing, once the existential threat to the West is dealt with.

An anon Texan

Marriage counseling question: How would you counsel a husband whose wife consistently cuts him and his children down verbally when she gets angry. It does not happen often, but when it does, she gets ugly and personal. The husband does not tolerate it, and intercedes when it happens, but it only stops temporarily. She is never genuinely sorry for the pain she causes, but is willing to stop when he gets angry. They are both Christians, and refuse to ever get divorced, but they now have effectively become emotionally divorced as a result of her personal verbal assaults.

How can this be redeemed?

Anon

Responding to the latest on Alistair: I suggest an alternate take I haven’t heard elsewhere. Alistair’s position is the conceit of the professional class. Where what the pastor does is somehow disconnected and completely different from other believers. In other words, the priesthood of all believers is more one of opportunity rather than current reality.

I once had a drawn out argument with a full-time, credentialed, installed and ordained pastor friend of mine. (me being but a former pastor, part-time speaker, etc). He insisted that while he could never officiate at a same-sex wedding it was perfectly fine for a photographer, a baker, or a musician to play at that wedding. As if somehow something I do unto to the Lord is left at the door of a same-sex gig. And if a musician adds to a wedding in a similar vein as a pastor then the same should apply to an attendee who sits in the pew or chair. Weddings are not private affairs—they are done in the presence of community as a testimony. Therefore the “mere” attendees, the bakers, the musicians, the photographers, and the pastor all perform a role—not one is of lesser importance than the other.
And this is the conceit that Alistair is conducting. The conceit of a professional, pastoral class of priests who have different rules from the plebs they pontificate to every Sunday.

Please note, my intent is not to denigrate the role and office of a pastor. Far from it—but neither should we denigrate and diminish the role of other believers.
I want to give Alistair the benefit of the doubt . . . but the stink of his conceit rises to the heavens on this one.

Jeff

What are the limits on Roman’s 14? I heard it applied to Alistair Begg’s comment on “wedding” attendance. It seems like the passage does apply to more than weaker brother dietary restrictions and sabbath observance but what would be the limit before you admonish the weaker bother?
Thanks,

Steve

I have been greatly blessed by your ministry and the ministry of your family/the other Moscow ministries over the last 10 years or so. I grew up at Parkside church w Alistair Begg as my pastor; I am married w children in another part of the state but my mother is still a member. I thought your analysis of what Pastor Begg thinks he’s doing versus what he’s actually doing was spot on. What distresses me about the response of others online, is that they are shocked by his comments rather than seeing how consistent they are with his “bridge building, winsome, Christianity is not political” beliefs. He has held these the entire time I have known him. I love him dearly, I am thankful for his being a father in the faith to me. But I see the effects this has on real people that I know with regard to the COVID response, patriarchy vs complementarianism, and a host of other issues. My mother for example, is depressed because she doesn’t know what her job is as an unmarried woman with no children in the house—there’s a deficit in the preaching. And yet, Parkside rightly placed my father under church discipline for adultery and helped provide for her while she got on her feet. Parkside has not changed, the culture has. The deficiency is more noticeable. I feel divided on the response of some to “cancel him” for these comments. There is still so much faithfulness at Parkside. Don’t worry, I’m submissive to my husband and our local elders on these matters, but am reaching out to you since you are able to articulate these distinctions in a helpful way.
Thank you,

Meredith

Alister Begg Question: Two things regarding the Begg question. 1) I think the Grandmother should not have passed the buck to another (in this case Alister Begg and stood on her own convictions. 2) I wonder if the trans-couple would have had enough love of their own to understand how the grandmother felt, and out of that love, excused her from coming to the wedding while remaining in a close relationship. This is all about “normalizing” the illicit relationship for the trans-couple. Sorry, I don’t buy Alister’s take on the whole idea of somehow showing compassion justifies attending. We can show compassion in other ways.

Rob

I agree with the position that Christians should not attend homosexual or trans “weddings” and I agree with all of the reasons why. My question is in regards to pastoral actions when they have congregants that disagree. If the pastor or pastors of a church think it’s a thing that Christians ought not do, but some members disagree and align more with Begg’s position and they decide to attend their son’s or nephew’s or friend’s illegitimate wedding ceremony, what then? Beyond a conversation with that member to convince them otherwise, what recourse should pastors take beyond that, if any, and how far should it go?

Rope

I would argue that attending the wedding is even worse than the alt-right bbq you mentioned. What Alistair came to in his reasoning is contradictory to his position.
What we must remember is what a wedding actually is. It’s a ceremony; a ritual. It’s more than the bride and groom. There is a reason why the officiant traditionally says “We are gathered here today to bear witness the joining of . . .” Those in attendance have their own role to play. The purpose of the wedding is to gain public affirmation of the union, and that is gained by the celebration.

And while I can’t claim to know why Begg chooses to be blind to this, it goes against his own comments. We can neither revile, nor can we affirm—but by attending, we do affirm. And in this case, it’s a mockery of God’s intended purpose of a man cleaving to his own wife, so how can we be part of that in any way? We cannot be partakers of another man’s sin, but his own advice, if followed, does that very thing.

Ronald

Re: Alistair Beggs the Question “It is not just the doing of vile deeds that are a concern here. It is also the approval of them. And the devil, master of deception, is prepared to be pretty devious in how he gets Christians to believe that capitulation to the spirit of the age is somehow an exercise in risk-taking. He gets them to approve of such things in a way that provides them with some level of deniability, even to themselves. Especially to themselves.”

Doug,

Spot on. And hasn’t some of Satan’s best work been to get the American church to fashion evangelism into an idol?

It seems that this is a big reason why Christians can approve of so many vile things while maintaining some level of deniability.

Because it is not November, I’m happy to point out that evangelism is obviously good, right, necessary, and requires Christian obedience.

However, in the idolization of evangelizing the lost, it seems Evangelicals are convinced that it is better for the lost not to be offended by Christ rather than obey him.

Tyler

I have a question that I would love to get your response to if you find the time. I recently saw your video post responding to Pastor Begg on the issue of attending a gay or trans wedding. I found myself totally in agreement with you even before I watched your video on it. I serve alongside another pastor here in Illinois and we have been discussing this issue over the last few days. We see eye-to-eye on this issue and we also agree that this may be a problem on the horizon for our members to face. We want to lead them well through it. We are planning on counseling them away from Pastor Begg’s position on the matter. We see the ceremony / reception as something that Christians should avoid in the name of love and compassion. However, how would you handle the situation where one of your members agrees more with Begg and truly sees their attendance as something that can keep a door of influence open?

Ben, the other pastor here with me, came across this sentiment on Twitter. While we disagree with it, we can see how people may also come to this sentiment.

“If I’ve got to go down on the side of one or the other, I’ll go down on this side. I’ll go down on the side of compassion, with people accusing me of weakness… rather than go down on the side of condemnation, which closes any doors of opportunity for future engagement.”

We find this statement easy to disagree with and argue against. However, what would you do in the case of one of your members being convinced of this argument line and attending a gay or trans wedding? Would you call them to repent of going or even move towards discipline if they refuse?

We want to hold the line on this important issue, but we also don’t want to try to perform surgery with a chainsaw.

Any thoughts you may have would be appreciated!

Pastor Alex

I am planning to get the book on bitterness that is highlighted on your web site. I am struggling with anger and bitterness for a long, long time now. I used to live a life of sin, and even though God brought me out of that long ago, the consequences of that is that even my family, formerly close friends, etc. want nothing to do with me and consider me a pariah. As I said, I have repented of that life long ago, and I have sought to be restored to those who were close in my life, but to no avail. You know initially, during the first several years after my conversion, I was happy and joyful, but as I began to see the ramifications of my previous life, I also saw how those close to me dealt with that. No amount of pleading has changed their mind about me. As a result, I have no happiness, in fact, major depression.

Anyway, I guess my question is this: I cannot figure out how to navigate things given my experience that even though there is forgiveness with God, but there appears to be none with mankind. I know that God’s forgiveness is ultimately what matters, but I struggle with the joy of my salvation being overwhelmed by mankind’s lack of forgiveness, and I just can’t seem to figure out things in light of that.

I think there’s a question in there somewhere but I don’t know how else to say it.

FG

Book recommendation: I wouldn’t recommend this to any but mature Christians because the author is a freak and very wrong about many things but it’s fascinating and he touches on several things that interest you, the evil of empathy for one. His main point is that we’re being deliberately programmed toward a dystopian nightmare. I expect he’s right about that. He draws heavily on Orwell and Huxly but should have read That Hideous Strength.

Blessings!

Rob

The Great Gospel-Centered Crack-Up

Hello. If you could, can you give me a list of scriptures to best prove this truth on application.

I am in conversation with a man who is considered for leadership who has some aversions to specific applications.

R

Regarding weddings of cohabiting unbelievers, what are your thoughts on children participating in the wedding party?

Jay

[Regarding a book, Mercy in Motion] . . . Anyways, my question: For someone like me, who doesn’t have a following and for all intents and purposes is a “nobody” in the world of the who’s who. How long do I keep pushing it, when there is little to no traction on it? It’s been a year and while I got a good review from a podcaster within the circles I run in, there just doesn’t seem to be anyone willing to read it. And it could be that it’s just not that good. Which I’m willing to accept and walk away from. Anyway, that’s my question. How long should I keep pushing it? I’m open to any counsel you have on the matter. I have thick skin, I can take it.

Freddy

I hope this finds you well. I wanted your advice on solid exegetical commentaries to read on the book of Joshua. I managed to get a hold of John Calvin’s commentary and the NICOT (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) Commentary. I’m from South Africa and recently I’ve been having to deal with Hebrew Roots movement advocates and I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’m planning on starting my Bachelor’s of Divinity later this year, so hopefully that will also help, but I’m trying to get going as best I can so long. Any advice would be really appreciated.

All the best to you and yours

Johann

Thank you so much for what you do. Your work has been a great help to me. Can you recommend a Bible commentary or more than one that has the postmillennial worldview?

Is there a Scofield slayer out there!? Ha ha ha.

Gustavo

Concerning SR’s question about domestic adoption. I’ve been down that road and would encourage you to walk it if you have $60k to spend ($10-$20k of it at risk!) on an adoption. There are Christian agencies out there like Mustard Seed Consultants that I’d encourage you to check out. I’m in the midst of the process myself . . . and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Out of the 15 or so cases that have come across my email I have only qualified to throw my hat in the ring for about 4 (and the cost of entry to even see cases cost me about $7k). That is due to the fact that the majority of the cases we’ve seen only want black or bi-racial parents, or only parents who don’t have any children already. It’s a tough racket, and you have to be okay with the adoption agencies making the majority of the money you spend without justifying where it’s actually going . . .”marketing- $5000, consulting fee-$2000 etc.” What I would recommend instead is for you to get involved in foster care in your area. I’ve adopted two children that way and given a temporary home to about 6-7 more. These are truly children in need whom the Father cares much about. There are also a couple hundred thousand foster children awaiting adoption, and you can go here and literally just pick out a few kids and get paid to adopt them. A lot of states will actually subsidize you adopting kids from foster care.

Spread the word! Foster care participation is something Christians must do, salt and light and all that. Will be praying for you, SR. Before you get started ask yourself this question: “If I was in foster care would I want a loving Christian family to let me live with them?”

Pick up your cross and follow Christ!

Tim

Regarding your statement, “I don’t react even a little whenever the clowns go reeeeeee. After a while you don’t hear it anymore. It is like living by the train station.” Color me impressed! I have lived among the clowns (life in Portland). I have lived by busy train crossings. I daresay i found the latter only took weeks to become accustomed to whereas the former continues to grate. Is there some trick I am missing here?

Nathan

So, I see that you decided to lump geocentrists in with the rest of your puppies and kittens in your most recent article. I guess that also includes Calvin and Luther, who vehemently opposed Copernicus? I guess they just didn’t know any better. Maybe they needed more of “the science.” What so many non-physicists have no clue about is that all of our physics that we have ever discovered/developed work out exactly the same whether you have a Copernican view of the universe or a Tychonian one. Truly the only deciding factor is (on the part of the unbeliever) a prior philosophical commitment to how important the earth is in the grand scheme of things. And some Christians would add to that philosophical consideration a few scriptural considerations (such as the way Joshua says that God stopped the sun—not the earth—and the way David talks about the sun running its course with joy, etc.).

Why is it that Ernst Mach and Albert Einstein can understand that there is no difference to physics whether the earth is the unmoving center of the universe or it is just some loser cosmic speck of dirt, but pastors will laugh at anyone who suggests such a thing on biblical grounds? I bet many of them were laughing about those who opposed the vaccine and mask mandates too. “Such puppies and kittens coming out to play! Can you believe these morons? Pretty much in the same category as antisemites, amirite?”

So maybe—just maybe—don’t assume for a moment that you know everything about cosmology or physics and allow yourself to learn something new that may really charge you up to see even more of the glory of God in creation. Try to find a copy of Gerardus Buow’s “Geocentricity: Christianity in the Woodshed”, or Russell T. Arndts’ “Geocentricity, Relativity and the Big Bang”. I guarantee that you will think differently about the subject once you have read one of those. In fact, I’d place a bet on it! If you don’t change your mind on the whole idea to a much more friendly view, then I will take you out to eat at Chili’s the next time you are in Georgia, and you can order anything—not just the Three for Me deal.
Now are you going to pass up an offer like that?

Corey

You answered my question related to this a few weeks back but I could still use some help. You said in Christendom and Christdumber:

“The Christian approach argues that man is so far corrupted that we cannot entrust too much power to any human entity or person, which means that we have to spread the political power as thinly as possible. That is the Christian view, and it rests on our doctrine of sin.”

I’m having a hard time squaring this with theonomy/CN/MC-not-dumber. I know we don’t want a theocracy per se, but aside from a dumb majority-rule setup like we pretty much have now but one where the majority is Christian, how does it work without one uncomfortably powerful man?

Austin

How should Christians make application of the shrewd servant parable in Luke 16. The conclusion seems to be “make friends for yourselves from the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will take you into the eternal dwellings” (v 9 LSB). But what does that mean? And how should we apply it today?

Best,

Peter

Not a troll post, but what if a Christian man has a micro-penis? (yes this is a real condition where the penis only grows 1 to 3 Inches when erect) Does he tell his potential wife or not and brace for the inevitable disappointment on the wedding day? Obviously this shouldn’t be first date subject material, but when things start to get serious this feels like the kind of thing you should tell a woman you want to marry. Any advice you have towards handling sensitive matters like this when dating would be appreciated.

J

Here’s what James White said about you in his sermon series on baptism: “I’ve said this on my program, and I’ll say it here. I’ve now gotten to spend enough hours over the last two trips I’ve made to Moscow with Doug. Here’s the most important thing I can say about him. He is what he is wherever he is. The man that I sat there eating crisp meat burritos with is the same man you hear on Blog & Mablog, the same man you hear preaching at Christ Church. He just is who he is, and that means he’s consistent. That is the best thing you can say about anybody.”

How do I be like you (“is what he is wherever he is”)? What specifically do I need to know (book recommendations) and do?

Best,

Jake

In Toppling the Cosplay Satan, you said that Christian leaders will need a black belt in casuistry. As a pastor, this is evident. Reading a few books may help us pass the white belt exam, but what is available for the black belt level of training? Any thoughts? Perhaps New Saint Andrews could offer a graduate degree in what William Perkins calls case divinity.

Jesse

A reader wrote: “a litmus test in my mind for how much I can trust a Christian pastor/apologist/blogger/etc. based on their view of the age of the earth, 6 literal days of creation, evolution, and global flood. If they fall on the side of taking the old earth/day-age/theistic evolution/local flood points of view, OR saying that they are possible and running cover for those views (punching right happily all the while), then I consider that someone who is to not be heavily trusted as a source of wisdom”

To which you responded:

“it is not wrong to be wary. It is not wrong to be willing to learn from such men where you can, but in this area, wariness is a virtue.”

As someone who consistently points out that defining days in terms of hours, minutes, and seconds—which are mathematical terms of rotation and arc, meaning they require a rotating earth to have been created to actually make sense—and therefore make the definition of day entirely arbitrary or nonsensical if taken literally the first few days . . . I want to ask if you how strict the litmus test is for any other sort of theological difference? It seems, when it gets down to it, that there are probably as many different theologies as there are Christians, and the rules should always be the same:

First: judge the fruit of the tree to determine if they really are Christian (anything labeled progressive Christianity usually falls away pretty quickly here, for example)

Second: take every theological tenet with a grain of salt, but also one’s own theology with a grain of salt, realizing that only Christ has perfect faith and theology, and try and reason as best as one can about the topic, with Scripture as the primary source and natural revelation as reinforcement, and generally considering the different theological traditions and history as some pretty good guidelines of what one’s thoughts should debate.

It seems like under these rules, any and all theological differences can be appropriately weighed. I consider you a great source of wisdom and a theological waypoint, even though I am continuationist, amillennial, and old-world creationist—but I know where you stand and that you have strong and well-reasoned faith, and I know where the others I look up to stand and their strength and well-reasoned faith, and therefore I know that on any given issue I can look in these differing directions as reliable resources and counterpoints as I try to find where my own faith ends up.

Ian

Is a computer programming course of some type for high schoolers appropriate for a classical christian education K-12 school? Or does it not really fit into the classical education model?

Would love any guidance / advice you can give on this.

Humble Computer Programmer

I love your Plodcast book reviews. I don’t see the books listed in your episode info. There is a list by year and month of reviews but it doesn’t have a link back to the source. Are the months listed only of the Plodcast or is the blog or other source referred to as well? Have you considered clipping out the book reviews and re-releasing them as a separate podcast? The list is not up-to-date yet. I was trying to find the author’s name for Rabbit in your recent review and it is harder to find without it listed in the episode info at least

Any update on Ride, Sally, Ride movie?

Greg