[Vision2020] what next?

[LuJane Nisse]

I do not believe this list is the "majority of Moscow" and those folks that
call this place "home" do not all believe all they hear or even read in the
daily newspaper. Some sit quietly by and shake their heads in sadness at the
vocal minority.
LJ


-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
Behalf Of Douglas
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 10:31 AM
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] what next?



Visionaries,

Amy says:
>It sure is chilly out there,

Actually, it really is chilly. There are people out there who use "racism"
as the all-purpose category to describe anything they don't like or
disagree with. Then they have trouble making distinctions between
worldviews that are utterly and entirely different. In this view, there are
two basic worldviews: "stuff I hear on NPR and stuff I don't hear on NPR."
With this very provincial and naive grid firmly in place, they then proceed
to conflate radical Islam, European neo-fascism, resurgent
Christianity,  and NASCAR stock racing. "I never heard about any of this
stuff. It must be all the same."

A facile transition from a discussion of David Irving (a gentleman I had
never heard of) to the local contrived hysteria over slavery -- as though a
professional Holocaust denier is the in the same category as a Christian
minister believing 1 Timothy 6:1-5 -- is nothing more than a thinly
disguised smear, whether intended or not. Holocaust deniers would be easier
to fight, so let's hint that this is part of our general Concern about
Christ Church. The only problem with this is that it is what theologians of
another era used to call lying.

We would have been easier to fight if we actually were racists. But we are
not, and that tactic has now been generally abandoned. Oops.

We would have been easier to fight if we actually were holding a conference
on slavery. But we are not, and that tactic has now been generally
abandoned, even by the Daily News. Darn.

Now, we would be easier to fight if only ("please, let it be true!") we had
been the ones to invite Irving to speak. But alas for you guys, I never
heard of him. Maybe he is coming here because the word has gotten out that
the good folks of Moscow will believe virtually anything. The last two
months has given us a great deal of evidence to this effect. If someone
came to you and said, "Wilson does this or that," what *wouldn't* you
believe? Would you draw the line at me kicking puppies? Cannibalism?
Teaching business ethics at the UI? People who are shopping lies about us
are certainly operating in a seller's market. "Oooo! Can I have one?"

And this brings us to the basic point, yet again. Christ calls us to repent
of our sins, and this includes the sin of believing lies. One of the ten
commandments prohibits bearing false witness against your neighbor. And
like it or not ("Not in our town!") we are your neighbors. If we differ,
then let us discuss it. Let's debate it. But breaches of the ninth
commandment are always a fundamental corrosive in the community. Let us
stop lying about our differences even if it makes a position you reject
easier to defeat. All such victories are illusory, and the effect on public
discourse is devastating. Jesus died on the cross in order to forgive sin,
including this particular sin of slandering those who represent His Word.

Cordially,

Douglas Wilson





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