For those with patience to slog through these things, it is clear that whenever I mention certain subjects, my comments section takes off like a bottle rocket. Those subjects would include, but not be limited to, RC Jr., justice, me not being a thundering hypocrite, or any other related items.
As I have sought to explain this situation to those who find my explanations inadequate, I find that I have to divide my readers into three categories. There are, in the first place, those who understand what I am trying to say. If they are foolish enough to say this, they are then categorized as groupies and cultists. Then there are those who will never understand what I am trying to say because they have their skivvies in a serious twist about RC Jr. I am not trying answer those who are only and always interested in more ammo. The third category would be those who really would accept a full explanation if it were laid out completely, but for various reasons, it strikes them that I am being mysteriously coy. For them, this third category, let this suffice as a short statement of why I am doing this. This is not a full explanation, not by a long ways, but it is what has happened.
When a situation is analyzed from fifty yards, it is easy to base what you see in it on presuppositions that are largely unquestioned and invisible. One of those presuppositions in this whole thing appears to be that I have been a major player in the CREC commission, and so on. But I was not. In discussion, I agreed with the formation of the commission, and after they had done their work I read their report. For the most part, that’s what I know. So I posted my thanks on this blog for the work these men had done, and then the organic matter struck the rotating device.
Now, why am I content with this approach I have taken? Because I know the men on the commission, and would trust them with my life. I have worked together with them, know their ministries, have seen their families, and know their commitment to the Word of God. Ministry is impossible (even in a good-sized local church) unless you farm things like this out. And this is why the Bible places such a high premium on the character of elders and pastors. You simply cannot know the details of every situation — so you need to be sure that a certain kind of man is entrusted with sorting out the various situations that arise. So I back the men whose integrity I know. I back the men that I am in covenant with. I back the men who have had fruitful ministries over the course of many years, ministries I have seen with my own eyes.
When you trust someone to make a determination on your behalf, it is like that person is writing a check on the account they have with you. The CREC commission wrote a check for a couple hundred bucks, which was fine, because these men have hundreds of thousands of dollars in their account with me. I have preached in their churches, seen kids from their churches come to college here in Moscow, have seen the godliness that overflows from their homes. I trust them, and for reasons that the Bible describes as the basis for trusting men in ministry.
So then, like the fruit of the month club selection, with all the cherries, some people get on my blog, and their eyes are all squinty-like. They assume that I am the mastermind hypocrite behind all this (bwa ha ha), and accuse godly men of whitewashing iniquity, when the men I know are incapable of any such thing. The only thing I know about this person/these people is that they appear to have mastered the art of setting up new email accounts, as well as the science of saying, yet one more time, “But you haven’t answered my question.”
Why don’t I set aside my knowledge (of many years) of men, tested in character time and again for the sake of InternetBob@yahoo.com, who gets worked up if I ask the name of his pastor? Gee, let me think.