Postmode

And I am afraid there are Calvinists, who, while they account it a proof of their humility that they are willing in words to debase the creature, and to give all the glory of salvation to the Lord, yet know not what manner of spirit they are of. Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our doctrines, or follow our party, is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit. Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace.

- John Newton (coincidentally quoted in a book by the author below named, Reformed Is Not Enough)

Are you children of Abraham? Don’t show us the papers of your family tree — do the works of Abraham. Are you Lutherans? Then preach like Luther did. Are you children of Calvin? Then do the works of Calvin. Don’t read us the words of Calvin in a monotone; don’t read them off the marble monument you set up in the lobby of the Reformed museum. And if you try to read them in that monotone, and I object, don’t try to make it appear that I have problem with his words. Preach them to the world in the open air; preach them in such a way that people start accusing you of being a madman, or drunk, or evil, or something. Preach them in such a way that people set up anonymous websites to destroy your reputation. Don’t pin his words to a poster board like a row of dead but orthodox butterflies.

- Doug Wilson, “Orders of Magnitude” on Blog and Mablog

And I don’t mean King George.

Anonymous Attack Sites at The Waterspout.

Note: This post is about 1) Doug Wilson’s post Dead Rat Behind The Fridge, and 2) Jeff Hutchinson’s response at Green Baggins, I Am Doug Wilson’s Dead Rat Behind The Fridge. Please note also that while I may sound acerbic here, my main focus is on keeping the facts straight. I’m not trying to attack anyone. And in the fashion of Jeff’s post “And So It Begins”, I am not making this post at the request or with the permission of Doug Wilson. As Jeff said of Bob Mattes, if Doug Wilson would prefer that this not be up I’d be more than happy to take it down.

A few things to mention, along with various interleaved questions.

• In response to the questions pertaining to the names of certain individuals that Doug failed to provide, here’s a list:
  • “PCA men who have misrepresented my doctrinal views in their books, articles, reports, and blogs;” - I believe this would fall under the headings of “Johnson, Gary”; “Waters, Guy”; and “Clark, Robert Scott”.
  • the “bureaucratic insiders” and “gatekeepers” in the PCA;” - Well, it starts with people who make unjust accusations on their blogs and then keep anybody from responding in a public forum to openly confront lies. It goes on from there, but in particular this foundation has been well established on the Heidelblog. This isn’t the actual place where this occurs (I think Doug was referring to the actual actions in the PCA), but this sort of thing is an indicator of what is going on.
  • the “leaders among the FV critics;” - This would again include misters Johnson, Waters, and Clark. There are also a number of men who, if I recall correctly, put out a report talking about the views of the Federal Vision in which they denounced it - without ever having once spoken to a Federal Visionist. The next two groups on the list of people who were mentioned by Doug Wilson also fall into this same category.
• In response to Jeff’s questioning of Doug’s accusation of anonymity-mongering, please consider other sources such as Robert Scott Clark’s blog. Here are some choice selections: How Does the Salvation of the Culture Look in Moscow? and Interpreting Providence? (it is absolutely shocking to me that nobody calls Clark out on his - in the words of Doug’s own post - “crap”. The elders of Christ Church have addressed that issue, and as they themselves said here, “The pastor and elders of Christ Church deeply regret that the enemies of our church have decided that additional pain to the families of the victims is worth the petty political points they think they can score with this.”). So the claim that 1) nationally recognized leaders against the Federal Vision are recognizing anonymous attack blogs and that 2) they are stooping to the level of “sneeveling around with slanderous accusations circulated by anonymous and lying cowards” and that 3) they are “producing ‘crap’” are quite well-founded. There’s simply no question about it: I just linked to one example of this above.
• “And So It Begins” may well have been a post aimed at exposing the attack, but instead, it ended up being a vicious maligning of brothers in Christ by accepting any word concerning them with absolutely no discretion, and for that Jeff is as much in need of making an apology as he believes is the case with Doug Wilson and Mike Lawyer. There is no justification for the length of time that the post was allowed to go unchecked. He is supposed to be an imitable model for all other believers. “I then allowed comments (some of which included links to articles and primary documents) to be posted on Greenbagginses, with appropriate warnings, for those who might choose to read the articles and documents, as to reading with godly discernment.” Have you forgotten Psalm 23? We’re SHEEP. Sheep are dumb, stubborn, don’t want to listen to anybody else, and routinely screw themselves over. It is the job of a pastor (shepherd) to look out for the flock, and just because they happen to live in a different city doesn’t mean pastors who live in other areas - and this is especially true with the dawn of instant, high-speed, internet communication - aren’t charged with looking out for them too. Geographical proximity puts a pastor in closer touch with certain members of the Church than it does others, but this by no means negates the responsibility of a pastor to look out for the church as whole (else why have anybody but members of Auburn Avenue or Christ Church attack the Federal Vision?)

• This is the series of events to which Doug Wilson was referring when he wrote his blog post, “Dead Rat Behind the Fridge.” This and this alone. This website and my post.

  In other words, I am Doug Wilson’s #1 dead rat behind the fridge.

  Except for Bob Mattes, who perhaps was following my lead, no one else among the large group of men that Doug Wilson charges, allowed links to be posted to the internet articles and primary documents that various commenters forwarded to us, on this blog or anywhere else that I am aware of. No one else. I and Bob were the only ones who did that. Not Lane. Not Reed. Not David. No one else. Certainly not anyone in the PCA who has written “books, articles, or reports” about the FV. And certainly not anyone on the SJC!

  There are not scores of dead rats behind the fridge. There is one dead rat, two if you count Bob (Bob, don’t let anyone ever tell you that you don’t count!).

  As I have capably demonstrated (and it only took two or three Google searches) this is patently false. Even the two most recent posts I link to above on the Heidelblog discredit this claim.

• To him, I am the dead rat behind the fridge, but the facts are not as he represents them. I did not “cite anonymous attack blogs as credible sources;” I did not “demonstrate that I believe (anonymous attack blogs) sufficiently authoritative” (nor do I believe that, whether or not I “demonstrated” it); I did not “demonstrate in public that I am prepared to accept, and have accepted, anonymous testimony” (nor have I or would I, whether or not I “demonstrated” that); I have not been “sneeveling around with slanderous accusations circulated by anonymous and lying cowards;” nor was my post ”crap.”

  Jeff had to moderate the comments being posted. I know this is true because somebody said something that seemed like it was a direct response to me, and I got a little bit hot-headed and made a response in justification of my claim that I was not one of Doug Wilson’s five clones (he keeps them lying around for all the things he can’t get to in between holding all of Moscow hostage and shooting puppies with a .23 - these things have been well documented by Mark T and dougsplotch respectively). Jeff, in turn, said that he was moderating the comments and that mine had not been posted yet when the other person made the comment. I quickly apologized.

  Now, how is it that he isn’t complicit in all of these things? He allowed them to be posted, and if I recall correctly was quite happy to continue allowing certain “slanderous”, “anonymous” comments by “lying cowards” to go straight through.

• Third–and I would be glad to be corrected about this one–neither Mike Lawyer nor Doug Wilson have apologized to Bob for their attacks upon him, though I believe they have removed the letter Mike Lawyer wrote from the internet, which is certainly a good first step.

  I do believe that something close to an apology (if not at least an explanation) of the incidents surrounding Mike Lawyer’s letter can be found here.

  • UPDATE: Mike Lawyer has posted an official apology here.

Grace and peace to everyone.