“I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts” (Ps. 119:99-100).
Douglas Wilson acknowledges on his blog yesterday that some people do believe he steps out of his areas of expertise every once in awhile to go off on, as a minister of the Lord Jesus, the myriad things he finds objectionable. This is what he uses in his defense.
Read it again. Telling, isn’t it? And yet, he goes on. And on . . . ’til you’re left with no doubt that he truly believes those very words about himself.
I find it stunning, and in an embarrassing-if-it-weren’t-so-hideous kind of way.
Now, appropriating from the Psalms to justify one’s behavior isn’t normally a good idea, although Wilson does it often, like when he encourages praying harm against one’s perceived enemies on the basis of those “I hate those who hate you,” “kick their teeth out” passages the Psalmist prays in misguided earnestness in the face of genuine persecution of which Wilson and his buddies know absolutely nothing. We read these, and we understand that the Psalms are moderated by the Gospel, by the words of Jesus, by the testimony of Paul, and by the context in which those imprecatory words were written. But Wilson, whose areas of presumed expertise surely include basic hermeneutics, doesn’t get that. To understand that would be to lose all justification for his bad behavior — and I mean “all justification,” because to Wilson, only the Bible can be used to understand, justify, or support anything.
Hyperbole on my part? Nope.
He even refuses to accept Einstein’s theory of relativity, because it presumes, in his non-physicist understanding of it, to limit God’s knowledge as revealed in Scripture.
That this is an exceedingly clumsy handling of Scripture ought to be clear to you.
That this is an exceedingly pitiful man in desperate need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought to be even more so. It’s only because he’s known as a pastor and speaks as a representative of the Lord’s Church that I rebuke him as harshly as I do. As you know, I don’t believe in judging outsiders, even though I wonder, as I look at the fruit produced, if Wilson really has a saving knowledge of Christ that’s filled him with the Spirit.
By tomorrow I plan to post on “Christian liberty,” so that those of you who disagree with my confronting him on his response to Obamacare understand that I do — really — understand both Obamacare and Wilson’s hatred of it. More important, I hope to show you, through a responsible, respectful handling of the Word of God, why he is dead wrong in privileging his “rights” over the desperate suffering of others.
But until then, if someone with the initials MP who’s been engaging with Wilson on his blog is reading this, would that person, or anyone else who wants to contact me, drop me a line at siyocreo@live.com? Thanks — and watch this space.