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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Professor Gier,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Thank you for your response. Given
the length and ground covered, it will take me a little time to respond.
Though I am probably the least qualified to do so, my purpose in bringing up
this subject from the beginning was to challenge the mischaracterization of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
as less than a Reformed Evangelical Christian body. Though anybody can
call names, it does not mean that there is any reality in the labels that
someone attempts to affix to one group or another. I appreciate the
fundamental subjects that you bring up. I will address the second item
first. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Nick Gier<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Saturday, March 26, 2005
11:45 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] Is Doug
Wilson a Good Calvinist?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"></x-tab>Wilson</st1:place></st1:City> is even more liberal when he
defines what it is to be a Christian. Here are his very words: “A
Christian. . . is anyone who has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit by an authorized representative of the Christian church”(<i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Reformed is Not Enough</span></i>, 19). R&G
take the three New Testament passages that <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City> uses to support this doctrine and
demonstrate conclusively that they do not support this incredibly broad
definition that does not even require continued belief in basic Christian
doctrines. As promiscuous as ever, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>
insists that “unbelieving Christians” are still “covenantal
Christians” (cited in R&G, 46). To put his opposition to Luther
and Calvin in the starkest opposition, Wilson states that “the Bible says
that baptism saves” and sides with Roman Catholic theologians in denying
that the Bible teaches justification by faith alone (R&G, 82)<font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Professor Gier, you quote from <u>Reformed
is not Enough</u>, so I will refer to this book in challenging what I see as a
misrepresentation. Though you are much more educated than me and imminently
more qualified to debate these subjects, I have had enough training to be able
to follow a clear argument and to understand context. In your quote from
the first chapter, what you fail to mention is that the entire argument that
leads up to this statement, in fact, the very sentence before it, is arguing “that
the word Christian can be used in two senses.” It can be used in
referring to those who are baptized into the church and have taken upon
themselves the marks of a Christian in life and society. This is the
sense that is being used in your quote. It is appropriate to call such a
person a “Christian” as opposed to an “unbeliever.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>It’s interesting to me, though, that
you leave out the words “in one sense” in your above quote and
substitute three dots. This would have made it abundantly clear to anyone
reading your quote that there was more to come, another “sense” if
you will. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In fact, the second usage of the word “Christian”
is what is referred to as that of being a Christian inwardly, as a result of
regeneration, or being “born again.” This is the most common
use of the word in evangelical circles today. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>On the next page the following
clarification is made: “This means that if someone has been a Christian
his whole life, but then comes in to the new life that Christ presented to
Nicodemus, we can say that he has become a Christian inwardly. He has now
been baptized inwardly. He has become a Christian in truth. And if we
know what we are saying, and if we qualify it as Paul did, we might even say
that he has become a Christian.” (<u>Reformed is Not Enough</u>,
20). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>As a professor I would hope that you would
seek to accurately present the views of those you disagree with. Have you
read the book or did you just take a quote of a quote from R&G? You
may oppose someone else’s views, but it is only fair to accurately
present them as opposed to presenting a straw man. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>It is clearly taught and proclaimed
regularly at Christ Church that everyone needs to repent of their sins, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and be born again by the Spirit of God. What
Doug is discussing in “Reformed is not enough” is the <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>objectivity of the covenant</span></b>. To make
this clarification does not throw out the baby with the bathwater. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Mike Hall<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'>"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of
any system cannot be discovered by dividing it into its component parts and
studying each part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the
whole and on the interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our
intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between science,
religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its various
parts." --Max Planck<br>
<br>
</span></font>Nicholas F. Gier<br>
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Idaho</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><br>
<st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">1037 Colt Rd.</st1:Street>, <st1:City
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">ID</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">83843</st1:PostalCode></st1:address><br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm" eudora=autourl>http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm</a><br>
208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950<br>
President, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Idaho</st1:place></st1:State>
Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO<br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm" eudora=autourl>http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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