Bob Mattes, one of the members of the PCA committee, has written his only Wilson post. He is limiting himself to just one because I am not in the PCA. In his post he makes four basic points. One is that I created the CREC in my own theonomic image rather than join a denomination that would hold me accountable for my teaching. The second is that I have a lot of nerve, accusing the PCA of stacking their committee — when I my own self was examined at a CREC presbytery meeting concerning my views on the Federal Vision. I was examined by a committee that I “handpicked.” Third, if I want a real exam I should go out to Westminster West and Scott Clark and Michael Horton would show me what a real examination was supposed to be like. And last, it appears that within the last few weeks he has discovered that I believe a number of icky things about slavery.
Okay, this won’t take long. The first accusation would at least have had some surface plausibility when we established the CREC a little over a decade ago with just three churches. The church I pastor being one of the three, someone at that time could have made the big frog/small pond accusation. I think some did. But with the way God has blessed us, it is not plausible at all any more. With the varying circumstances of the churches kept in mind (mission, candidate, member), there are around sixty congregations now. We are extremely grateful to God for His continued kindness to us. If you want to know more about the CREC, you can check it out here.
Second, of course my examination did not involve any real risk. It wasn’t supposed to. I wasn’t on trial. I requested a detailed examination so that others outside our circles could see clearly what I taught on these subjects, and so that this teaching would be “on the record” and available. I didn’t request to be brought up on charges. I requested that my friends and colleagues within the CREC ask me the questions that my adversaries outside the CREC should have been asking me, but were refusing to. The exam was recorded and both it and a written portion of it are available. And that exam has been, um, underutilized by those who pretend in public and in their judicial settings to know what I think.
Third, I would be happy to go out to Westminster West to be examined by Scott Clark and Michael Horton. But I will have to ask Bob to set it up for me, because I have requested face to face interaction/debates/discussion multiple times. Scott Clark turned off the comments section of his blog because his assertions always have a way of squirting sideways on him. His examinations always go much better when there is no one there to answer the questions. So, here it is again. I would be delighted to be examined by Clark and Horton. Bob, please, set this one up.
And last, the slavery thing. He quotes me saying, “Our humanistic and democratic culture regards slavery in itself as a monstrous evil, and it acts as though this were self-evidently true. The Bible permits Christians to own slaves, provided they are treated well. You are a Christian. Whom do you believe?” He doesn’t engage with this, but just offers it up as ludicrous on the face of it. Nothing necessary here but a horse laugh, right? His plausibility structure clearly comes from our surrounding secularism, and not from the Bible.
What I would like to do is provide Bob with a couple of quotations, one from the Bible and the other from the Westminster Confession, and then ask a small cluster of questions.
“Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort” (1 Tim. 6:1-2, emphasis added).
And from Westminster:
“By this faith [saving faith], a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein” (WCF 14.2, emphasis added).
And here’s my small set of questions: In the first century, where slavery existed, would you have taught and exhorted these things? And do you have saving faith?
For those who are interested in what the Bible actually teaches about slavery, and want to read more about my views on the subject, with those views presented in context, they can get this book.