[Vision2020] Keely answers doug & Slavery

[josephc at mail.wsu.edu]

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful responses, Michael! My comments
follow your comments.

> First let me say that this was a sincere question; I'm still not sure how
> Keely would answer this question, and still would be interested to know.

I don’t deny that you wanted to know how Keely would answer the question.
But, Michael, don’t you think that the question puts Keely a bit on the
spot? If we ask, What would He do?, is the answer likely to be, Ask Keely
this question 
?

> Its not fun to go against the absolutes of political correctness (for
> anyone), but for a bible belt, white skinned, big bellied fundamentalist,
> preaching on the sins of the Sodomite no doubt feels pretty good (not many
> handsome men would be interested anyways!).  Wilson didn't want the
> temptation to be a possibility (the shrugging part), so he condemned
himself
> on purpose beforehand by stating what he thought the bible said about
> slavery--and in writing.  (I doubt he planned the plagiarism! Although that
> surely helped the overall strategy).

I understand how you might think otherwise but I did not ask Doug Wilson
any questions. I asked you a few questions. Let me rephrase two of them:
Do you, Michael, think that (a) the bible “says” that slavery is sometimes
justifiable, and (b) that slavery is, in fact, sometimes justifiable?

> With that said, I don't think there is any real incoherence, double
> standard, hypocrisy, or moral problem here.

I never made any of these claims, other than the last one. To even suggest
that slavery is anything other than always morally wrong presents a real
moral problem, in my humble opinion.

> 
 slavery ANYTHING is part of the sin problem.  But the
> solution is Christ Crucified; he came to set the entire world free. Slavery
> is a common metaphor for sin in the New Testament.  The gospel goes out and
> repentant sinners begin changing there affections, goals, desires, and
> behaviors. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed; it is like leaven
> in a loaf of bread. The world will be saved by the sacraments (and they are
> sitting all over the world waiting for whosoever will), not by statist
> bloodshed.

“Anything is part of the sin problem.” I have no problem with this. What I
really have a problem with is how a young, intelligent man like yourself
could think that “homosexuality” is morally worse than someone even
suggesting that slavery in America was “not so bad" in a town with at
least one African-American resident?

Is being nice, and courteous, and considerate of the feelings of others
the same thing as “political correctness”? Or is it just one attempt to
exhibit a life of love and compassion?

I have nothing to say about the rest of the above quote other than that it
all strikes me as very beautiful. I have a lot to say about what you say
after the last quote but I’ll save that for another time!

Thank you very much, Michael!

All the best, Joe