Just a quick note from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Just finished up speaking at the Southwest Founder’s Conference and Heritage Baptist Church. Had a great time with the brothers and sisters here. I want to thank the many, many people who have been sending encouraging notes both about my attempt to discuss the real issues regarding the Seifrid situation as well as about my daughter’s letter to the President.
Also, Doug Wilson has given us a preview of the November debate in a little piece, “What is a Christian?” found here. So, “Christian” is a word like “quarter” that can be variously interpreted, depending on the whim of the person using the term? So, trinitarian baptism, not only separated from the gospel, but set in direct opposition to it, makes one an unregenerate, God-hating, righteousness mocking, destined-for-hell Christian? Why does that remind me of the Jews who said, “We are the children of Abraham!” and Jesus said, “If you were, you would do the works of Abraham.” Given this idea, they did have the “sign” of being Abraham’s children, but that was their whole problem. They were Jews outwardly, not Jews inwardly. My “brother” due to a covenant sign given without the slightest regard to the Spirit and the Gospel? See what happens when you change the New Covenant from the covenant in the blood of Christ to the “objective covenant created by sacramental signs filled with unregenerate men devoid of the Spirit”? How do you evangelize your “brother in Christ” by “grabbing them by their baptism” when there is no Spirit and no Gospel? Answer: you don’t. That’s the point, and hence the reason for the debate November 5th.
