[Vision2020] HIS VIEW: What Christians should repent of (and why)

[Art Deco]

Those curious:

The article by Kurt Keller passed on to V 2020 by Ms. Lund illustrates how easily crackpotism* can be birthed and accepted.  This comment is in reference to the crackpotism of Cultmaster Douglas Wilson and his ghostwriter/enforcer/snoop Douglas Jones.

Keller references an article in Credenda/Agenda (aka Crudinto/Adumpster) entitled "Owning the Curse: Rethinking Same-Sex Marriage." {http://www.credenda.org/issues/16-2memorandum.php}

In this prime example of crackpotism Wilson and Jones assert among other things:

"Homosexuality is a judgment from God."

"Homosexuality is primarily a judgment against the Church."

"Christian fathers are a primary cause of the curse of homosexuality."

"Homosexuality will only pass when Christian fatherhood is pleasing to God."

"The destruction of our civil order: 

In true repentance, we should invert as many contemporary categories as we can-own the curse of homosexuality upon our parenting, grant the science, and explicitly embrace God's transformation of our civil order. True repentance in the Church, not trust in civil coercion, will either restore that order or establish a different order. So we openly accept homosexual marriage in the civil realm as God's means of undermining that civil realm, and we accept that He has done this in judgment for wicked fathering within the Church."

What makes this and thousands of other biblical views of homophobia, etc crackpotism is its lack of any kind of verifiable evidence, and what is especially clear from the article reference above, Jones and Wilson's support of their view with a mishmash and exaggerated interpretation of select, contextually unrelated biblical passages.  Almost crackpot with the motivation can take a few scattered biblical passages and build an argument supporting almost any nonsensical thesis.

Such tactics are used by the bereft preachers on the corners of urban tenderloins and other screechers and dividers.  That's why such are called crackpots.  Take away the wealth that Wilson and Jones have amassed from their credulous followers and take away their fancy robes and clothes, it would be hard to distinguish them from the half dozen sky pilots found at the corner of 3rd and Main Streets in Los Angeles at almost any hour of the day.

Although I am a nonbeliever, it is clear that Jones, Wilson, and others of their ilk have thoroughly perverted the urgings of Christ and have derailed their ovine, caught-in-a-cult followers from the central message of Christ found in Matthew 25:36 et seq.

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 

33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 

34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 

35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed

me, 

36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 

37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 

38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 

39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 

40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' 

41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 

42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 

43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 

44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' 

45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 

46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

The above words of Christ are simple and direct.  Upon hearing and/or reading them one cannot be struck by how far the dribble from Cultmaster Wilson is not only at variance with them, but totally inconsistent with them.  If by some remote chance the words of Christ are true, then Wilson's followers have bought expensive tickets for the most unpleasant destination on their afterlife voyage as a result of their folly.

One can only hope that the congregants of the Christless Church Cult will grow tired of depriving themselves and families by financing Wilson's vanity enterprise, Canon Press.

If that Happens, do not worry about Jones and Wilson being out of jobs.  Jones would be a perfect fit for the editorship of American Rodent Monthly and Wilson a prime fit for Expediting Trailer Court Evictions Journal.  And of course, their hack Ed Iverson could amass wealth by becoming a prolific contributor to Pulp Science Fiction magazine.


Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

(208) 882-7975
waf at moscow.com


*Previous post about crackpots and their followers:

Fantasy versus Reality

 

It is one thing for Cultmaster Douglas Wilson to write about what he interprets his alleged God has allegedly said or what his alleged God demands.

 

In these cases there is no way to verify or empirically falsify his claims.  They can be falsified by finding internal contradictions and contradictions with his other writings.

 

His claims in these matters are like the claims of those insisting that unicorns exist.  No one can prove that they don't.  That is the so-called beauty of fantasy -- religious or otherwise.  Wilson can blather on and on about what the Bible means and what God demands without fear of falsification, save inconsistency.  Any crackpot can; any crackpot can even partially convince him/herself that their blather is the "real truth."  Street corners in the tenderloins of large cities teem with such eccentrics, each shouting their own particular religious fantasies, some harmless, others toxic.

 

However, it is quite another thing for Wilson to make claims about ordinary reality, especially where there is massive, clear, cogent evidence that makes his claims highly improbable, if not delusional.  Such is the case with Wilson's writings on antebellum slavery.

 

The latest post from Juanita Flores aptly demonstrates that when the Cultmaster ventures into the realm where professional scholarship, knowledge, acumen, and methodology matter, his extreme egomaniacal arrogance and his abysmal ignorance really shine for all to see.  Wilson's views on antebellum slavery put him irretrievably into that "special" class that includes the Holocaust deniers and those that think flying saucers are going to land to rescue the "Chosen" at end times.

 

Not unsurprisingly, there are some that accept Wilson's highly unlikely views on antebellum slavery and his other equally or even more dubious claims and pronouncements.  That this belief in the wildly improbable has occurred in our community and other places despite Wilson's transpicuous egomania and megalomania is, among other things, a tribute to Wilson's personal charisma, which causes those enthralled to suspend the use of their critical judgment, his appalling but highly effective manipulative and planning skills, and his singular personal persistence in the face of consistently being shown up as a charlatan.

 

Whatever the case, Wilson's claims about the nature of antebellum slavery give further clear evidence that he is on the crackpot fringe of the crackpot fringe.

 

 

But why does the Christ Church Cult Flourish?

 

When evaluating the actions, utterances, and writings of Christ Church Cultmaster Douglas Wilson and its appeal to some, perhaps it might do well to consider the carefully and professionally referenced research and writings found in Feet of Clay:  A Study of Gurus [spiritual leaders] by Anthony Storr.

 

"Confidence tricksters [who are spiritual leaders] are successful at deception because they are more than halfway to believing in their own fictions." ... "[and] who have no hesitation in deceiving other people and extracting money from them..."

 

[With such individuals]. "We hover on the borderline between confidence trickery and psychosis."

 

"A contemporary described him [the Bhagwan] as being very bright, but also being a habitual liar."

 

 

Many people ask:  "If Wilson is really so far off, why does he have a following, especially in a community like Moscow, Idaho, where the intelligence and educational level of the populace is likely much higher than that of the average community?"

 

Information from Feet of Clay offers more than just a hint.  In the chapter on the Bhagwan, we read:

 

In 1985 the Bhagwan's north-central Oregon settlement had 2,500 permanent residents and another 2,000 long term visitors.  The educational profile of this group:

 

83% were college educated,

64% had college degrees,

36% had advanced degrees, and

12% had doctorates.

 

Storr refers to research into the people in the Bhagwan's commune that describes them as being "very needful."  Their strong needs seemed to be strivings for discovering some deeper "truth" of the universe and/or a way to escape the contingencies of worldly life, a life which they found insufficiently rewarding.  They believed that the Bhagwan could deliver them to the "truth" and the way to a "higher state of being."  Thus these needful people overlooked or forced themselves not to see the Bhagwan's many obvious failings and dishonesty, nor did they critically question the truth of his teachings, but swallowed them whole.  For example, they were induced to plan acts like poisoning the municipal water supply of The Dalles, the residents of which city the Bhagwan had declared their enemies.  They even ran a successful test poisoning in one small area of The Dalles by infecting several salad bars with salmonella.

 

Clearly then, being intelligent or educated is not an effective prophylactic against being deceived and taken on an expensive ride into a toxic fantasy by a predatory, power and wealth-hungry confidence person.  [It is useful to realize that the Bhagwan at one point had accumulated 83 Rolls Royces.  His Oregon settlement was described as being run like a concentration camp.  It abounded with intrusive spying devices and agents to root out possible dissenters and doubters, alleged dissenters and doubters who were subsequently treated to very harsh measures should they not repent of their dissent and doubt.  The structure and operation of the Christ Church Cult ward system comes to mind in this regard.]

 

In his assessment of successful, but manipulative spiritual leaders Storr is in sync with a large body of research by psychologists and mental health professionals:

 

Short term, limited in scope fantasies are generally normal and mostly healthy coping mechanisms people use to deal with immediate problems of various kinds.

 

However, long term, large in scope fantasies, raise the question of pathology.  This is especially so of long term, large in scope fantasies which are not subject to verification or to falsification.

 

The question of pathology depends on the effects a particular long term, large in scope fantasy has on its believers' ability to function and on the effects that the believers' actions have on society.

 

Long term, large in scope fantasies which are merely palliative and/or inspirational and which inspire no or little harm, or which might even promote generally accepted secular good for society are not generally considered pathological by many professionals in the field.

 

However, other such fantasies which advocate or bring unjustifiable harm or depletion of assets to the believers, advocate or bring harm to selected targets of the believers, or advocate or bring harm, sometimes massive harm, to society, are rightly considered pathological.  Current newsworthy examples of believers in long term, large in scope pathological fantasies would include members of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

 

For the sake of saving words, henceforth such pathological, long term, large in scope fantasies will simply be called toxic fantasies for the purposes hereinafter.

 

The fantasy promulgated by Cultmaster Douglas Wilson includes plans for a instituting a theocracy to govern all of the world's inhabitants, and which theocracy would result in the execution of most of such inhabitants.

http://www.credenda.org//old/issues/vol3/magi3-11.htm

http://www.credenda.org/old/issues/vol3/magi3-9.htm

 

Wilson's long term, large in scale fantasy is certainly pathological as defined above, and thus is a toxic fantasy.  It is toxic in other well known ways.  For example, its toxicity shows in the justification of his and other cult members' otherwise unjustifiable, dishonest, sometimes illegal actions by the Doctrine of Covenantal Dishonesty.

 

Those falling prey to toxic fantasies promulgated by a manipulative leader suspend their critical evaluation tools with respect to these fantasies.  They do this because they are in situations where such toxic fantasies may offer escape from pain and distress, were something deeply implanted into them in childhood, appeal to other deeply felt needs, may give satisfaction not easily found in other ways, and/or seem to offer the promise of realizing something "far better" than is afforded by ordinary, worldly life.

 

The needs of those captured by toxic fantasies are so strong that they make such needful, many times naïve, uncritical, and/or submissive people, easy prey for unscrupulous, exploiting flimflamers, some of whom may even partially believe their own hooks and lines of deception.

 

It is important to remember this about these toxic fantasies:  They are neither verifiable nor falsifiable, save for logical inconsistency.  If any were so, there would not be nearly so much room for disagreement, and hence, there would not be the great variety of such incompatible, competing toxic fantasies.

 

There are a minimum of tens of thousands of these toxic fantasies, each different from and inconsistent with the others, each with followers who "know" they have found the "truth," and who have made the "leap of faith" to one particular toxic fantasy.  This disconcerting, but telling fact apparently neither occurs to, bothers, nor mildly stirs the critical faculties of those committed to one of these particular toxic fantasies.  Such is the power of strong needs and the usefulness of knowing how to exploit these strong needs for gains of personal wealth and power by egocentric, megalomaniacal, sociopathic, and/or psychopathic spiritual leaders.

 

Occasionally, one of the followers of a particular toxic fantasy promulgated by an unscrupulous exploiter awakens from their acritical, submissive state and realizes the ignominy of the situation they find themselves in.  When this happens, they become pariahs from the point of view of the remaining believers of that particular toxic fantasy.  The remaining believers often go to great lengths to discredit and to harm the apostate, often dishonestly with little or nor remorse, and whether such vengeful tactics are prohibited by beliefs found in their particular fantasy or not.

 

Sometimes, however, the escapees from a particular toxic fantasy are successful at opening the eyes of some of the still committed and still exploited, and thus an exodus occurs despite the security and control measures of the organization promulgating the toxic fantasy.

 

Will this happen in Moscow, Idaho?

 

Stay tuned.

 

 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at roadrunner.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 5:54 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] HIS VIEW: What Christians should repent of (and why)


> HIS VIEW: What Christians should repent of (and why)
> 
> By Kurt Queller
> 
> Monday, April 9, 2007 - Page Updated at 12:00:00 AM
> 
> 
> A good deal has been printed on these pages of late, purporting to reflect a
> bold countercultural witness to the truths of Christianity. The litany
> includes screeds against homosexuality, complaints about perceived
> persecution of Christians, and scornful dismissals of consensus scientific
> views in biology and climatology as merely reflecting alternative
> "religious" perspectives.
> 
> Lost amidst all the contentious culture-war rhetoric is any clear testimony
> to the saving power of Christ in a suffering world. Some find the continual
> chest-thumping and finger-pointing entertaining; others find it repulsive.
> Either way, the effects on Christian public witness are profoundly
> destructive.
> 
> As an evangelical myself, I have two simple pleas for my co-religionists.
> First: can we stop whining? American Christians are not a persecuted
> minority. Pretending that we are, while luridly invoking the Roman emperor
> Nero's torture of Christians, might give us a delicious sense of vicarious
> participation in the early martyrs' heroic witness. In the public square,
> however, such self-indulgent foolishness can serve only as a tool for
> counter-evangelism.
> 
> Listen up, brothers and sisters: Christian witness isn't about you. Nor is
> it about those mean, intolerant secularists who supposedly persecute you.
> It's about bringing the good news that Jesus preached and embodied to people
> who don't know it. This absurd rhetorical posturing, with its mingling of
> delusional self-pity and complacent self-celebration, in no way serves that
> purpose.
> 
> Second: can we stop bashing gays? They aren't responsible for our family
> values issues. Infidelity, child abuse, failure to be responsible parents -
> all (as Douglas Wilson grants) are fundamentally heterosexual problems.
> 
> But what are we to make of attempts to turn Paul's letter to the Romans into
> an argument that gays reflect God's wrath against American Christians,
> because of our heterosexual sins? Only by "owning the curse" of
> homosexuality and repenting of our own heterosexual sins, Douglas Jones and
> Wilson argue (Credenda/Agenda 16:2), can American Christians turn away
> divine wrath. Tactically conceding a possible genetic basis for
> non-heterosexual orientation - the Almighty may after all choose any means,
> including genetics, to smite a nation - Jones and Wilson urge American
> Christians to abjure gay-baiting and accept their own chastisement. Only so,
> they argue, may the homosexual curse be averted, and America restored.
> 
> In short, gays exist so that they may cease to exist. It's not about them;
> it's all about us. Such self-absorption might be laughable - if it didn't
> exact a real human toll. Can't we worry a bit less about our own exalted
> role in God's plans to redeem America, and more about the effects of our
> rhetoric on simple human persons? Suicide rates among our gay teenagers are
> inordinately high. Grandiose theological arguments about a need to expiate a
> homosexual "curse" are not entirely responsible. But they don't help.
> 
> What about public witness? When Christians continually fulminate in the
> public square over how the "deviant" among us might provoke - or reflect -
> divine wrath against the community at large, it offers an image of
> Christianity that non-Christians can only understand as profoundly
> Pharisaical. What sort of evangelical witness is this?
> 
> Paul's letter to the Romans indeed began with a condemnation of gentile
> sexual depravity. Heterosexual men were routinely betraying their wives with
> boy prostitutes and slaves. Such behavior was widely and justly condemned in
> antiquity. But that wasn't Paul's real point.
> 
> Like the prologue in Amos, Paul's prologue in Romans is a set-up. Having
> played upon believers' righteous indignation over characteristic gentile
> sins, Paul turns to address their own hypocrisy. In chapter two of Romans,
> he scathingly critiques the covenant people's proclivity for
> self-congratulation and judgmentalism. Our public witness, he says, causes
> God's name to be blasphemed among non-believers. Why should they care to
> know about the sort of God to which our rhetoric purports to bear witness?
> 
> If we do concede that nonheterosexual orientation is for some persons
> biologically given, we should also concede that Paul, who was unaware of
> this phenomenon, probably never addressed it. But his primary point,
> regarding the harm done by believers through self-righteous finger-pointing
> and querulous self-absorption, addresses us unambiguously. This, says Paul's
> prologue in Romans, is the characteristic sin of the faithful. Let's repent
> of it now, before we do any further damage.
> 
> Kurt Queller holds a doctorate in linguistics from Stanford University and
> teaches in the English department at the University of Idaho. He is a member
> of Emmanuel Lutheran in Moscow (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
> 
> 
> 
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