Come On Now…

   To my knowledge, no one has contacted me to ask if Phil Johnson and I are at odds over the current discussion of Stop and Think. Despite how easy it is to contact me (how many folks do you know who sit at a toll-free number an average of two hours a week, and are almost always available on line?), people rarely take their objections directly to me (evidently, my back is a great place for that kind of thing!). Anyway, as far as I know, no one has asked me, but, from the comment Phil posted on TeamPyro, someone has been asking him that question. And I can only echo what he said, and what I have said since last Friday or so on this blog: there is a whole lot of arguing right now that is a tremendous waste of time and energy. I have yet to hear any response to what I’ve actually expressed as my concerns. I really haven’t. I’ve heard lots of folks assuming this or that, but nothing about what I am actually concerned about. So, please, I haven’t heard from Phil, and Phil hasn’t heard from me. That makes sense, since both of us have been trying to tell folks that this isn’t a matter of individuals or politics: let’s stick to a meaningful discussion of the topic, and hopefully, focus some of this passion into a profitable channel.
   Tonight the “Calvinist Gadfly” mentioned in our channel, “This evening my reading has been consumed with the gospel and non-western persecuted countries. I am convinced that Evangelical Americans are sadly myopic when it come to what the gospel demands. It demands that we repent and take up the cross. In short, it requires, self-denial, not self-improvement.” That struck me, and emphasized what I said on the program earlier today: there is such a vast difference between “improving your life” by “getting with Jesus” and crying to God for mercy in light of your confession of sin and the justice of God in His wrath that I just can’t span the chasm between them. In other words, I really doubt anyone would be having this argument in any nation where you were sure to lose your life for confessing Christ, you know what I mean?