Theology That Bites Back
“My position is that Scripture is senior to the Confessions, and that the Confessions are senior to (and quite different from) popular American bapterian readings of the Confessions . . . The system is fine. The Confessions are fine. The problem is that Reformed bapterians have as many problem passages in the Confessions as they do in the Scriptures.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 606
“And none of this threatens sola fide in the slightest because to maintain that faith is the sole instrument in justification does not deny that God uses other secondary instruments, always subsidiary to the primary instrument, which is faith alone. Those other subordinate instruments would include, but not be limited to, preaching, Gideon Bibles, tracts in the laundromat, billboards, sermon tapes, baptism, godly mothers, and so on.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 605
“There are times when I walk around in tight little circles, looking helplessly at the horizon.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 605
“The thing that has astonished me in this controversy, again and again, is how the erstwhile defenders of the Westminster Standards can attack the teaching of those standards (and those who actually hold to them) in the name of defending the standards.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, pp. 604-605
“Having said all this, let me now affirm my commitment to the Reformed standards. I love them, teach in accordance with them, teach through the Westminster Confession every other year, thank God for them, and use torn pages from Finney’s systematic theology to light my cigars.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 603
“Real reformations burst wineskins, even the ones with the official Reformation® tags stitched onto them.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 595
“All polemics all the time would be a tiresome business, and not characteristic of a fruitful ministry, and not what Christ calls us to. As I have noted before, a shepherd who doesn’t know how to fight is a loveless shepherd. But a shepherd who does nothing but fight—all wolves, all the time—is probably making up wolves. And he is almost certainly not leading the flock to green pasture. So there is a time and a season for everything.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, pp. 591-592
“I wouldn’t do to John Robbins’s dog what some people are willing to do to advance the purity of the gospel.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 586
“Any process that could conceivably result in Steve Wilkins being forced out of the PCA for ‘heterodox views,’ as this process certainly could, without Steve ever having a full, complete, open and honorable trial, with a presumption of innocence, is a process that deserves to have honest men everywhere ladle piping hot contumely over the top of its pointy little head. If this kind of vigorous response makes folks feel uncomfortable, then they should stop defending the indefensible. As one commenter on this blog put it, when sorting out a conflict among the kids, what do we think when one child says, ‘It all started when he hit me back’? Folks who want me to shut up about the PCA sure aren’t acting like they want me to shut up about the PCA” ().
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 580
“Just as, in the South, you can say anything you want about anybody, just as long as you add the little exculpatory tag, ‘Bless his heart,’ (He’s a lying skunk, bless his heart), so in Christian circles, you can come sneeveling around with slanderous accusations circulated by anonymous and lying cowards, just as long as you say something suitably pious as an attachment to the slander. ‘I read on covenantsludge.com that Doug Wilson has coats made for his wife out of Dalmatian puppies, but we must always remember to pray for him even as we report this to the saints, with grief in our hearts, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted.’ A little like trying to fix the problem of the dead rat behind your fridge with a little air freshener.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 579
