Not sure what the cause of my lollygagging was, but I just now got around to reading Scott Clark’s gentle rebuke of John Piper, for the sin of having anything to do with me. You can read that rebuke here.
If you want, you can slog through all the comments (which I didn’t quite get done). If you do, take particular note of Frank Turk’s questions. Turk and Piper have enough distance to actually examine the arguments and implications, and interact with them. They are not distracted by any supposed need to defend their turf.
I won’t go through the thing point by point because you don’t need to split the same cord of wood twice, and I have done this three or four times already. About all I have around here is kindling.
But there was one thing that jumped out at me that I did want to respond to.
“Had Wilson been examined by Classis Southwest US in the URCs or some other orthodox, confessional assembly that exam might have more significance.”
If this is an invitation, then I accept it. I would be happy to set aside any time deemed necessary for a real theology exam. If presented with such an official invitation, I would be there with my hair in a braid. It would surely be untenable to say that my examination by the CREC was a toy exam and didn’t count, and yet refuse to administer a real exam when asked. Wouldn’t it?
Those who have followed this controversy for any length of time know that I have been unable to get any of the Defenders of the Faith to agree to a public debate where they could, you know, actually defend the faith. In the book of Acts, when the Spirit descended the apostles spoke the Word with great boldness. We are in a different dispensation now — when the Spirit falls today, the heirs of the apostolic gospel become Coy and dig a hole in the carpet with their toe.
But it does not need to be a debate. I would happy to be examined by my URC brothers in Classis Southwest US. I would be happy to be examined by a committee of the whole, or by an assigned committee. You ask the questions, and I will answer them. You can ask as many as you want, and with all due allowances for bathroom breaks, for as long as you want. No questions are off limits. The only condition I would have is that the whole thing be recorded, and that I get a copy of the recording. Deal?