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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thanks for the comments <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Wayne</st1:City></st1:place>;
it has been a while since I have received such an enjoyable
email--seriously. Just a few thoughts:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wayne</span></font></st1:City></st1:place>
Writes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>However, you make the claim that:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>"First, the 'not so bad' seems to be a misquote from the
Wilson/Wilkins position. I think their position would be better stated as 'not
so bad as we have been told by those who won the war'."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>Such a characterization of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City></st1:place>'s
views is not only fraudulently inaccurate, but deceptively
oversimplified. Here are just two quotes of many from <em><i><font
face="Times New Roman">Southern Slavery: As It Was</font></i></em> that are
counter-examples to your above claim:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>"...slavery was a harmonious institution, one characterized by
racial affection and patriarchal benevolence."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>"...slave life was to them a life of plenty, of simple
pleasures."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>Regardless of the truth or falsity of these statements, the <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Christ Church</st1:PersonName>/Wilson position embodying
the statements given the ordinary usage of the words therein,
can not be honestly by any stretch of the imagination described as: <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>"...not so bad as we have been told by those who won the war"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Me:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I have never seen a copy of <em><i><font face="Times New Roman">Southern
Slavery: As It Was</font></i></em><em><i><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-style:normal'>, so I can’t say with any amount of certainty
whether or not my interpretation of “not so bad” is perfectly
consistent with its contents. I was not thinking of this booklet when I
wrote my comments. I was rather thinking of bits and pieces of conversations,
tapes of lectures, live talks, blips in sermons, and the like for the last 9
years. Although my knowledge of what a Wilson/Wilkins position might be
on this issue might be ‘rough and ready,’ it is at the same time
immune to misreading a couple statements; the overall tone, ethos, and trajectory
would be in my bones. One of the most influential experiences I had on
this issue was a series of lectures given by Wilkins about 8 years ago in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Portland</st1:City></st1:place>; I recall some
from the hosting church community of these lectures as very critically minded,
and slow to accept some of Wilkin’s views. Since then, I think they
have grown very fond of him. In any case, as an innocent
bystander/observer, I am fairly certain that the general flavor of how
the position has been discussed around here for the last decade is more
consistent with </span></font></i></em>“not so bad as we have been told
by those who won the war.” If this is not the position of the Slavery As
It Was, then I would be inclined to think, on the face of it, that this booklet
misrepresents the broad discussion on these matters among us associated with <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:PersonName></st1:place>.
But I don’t know. If anyone has a copy of this booklet to spare, my
PO Box is 8282; I hear it has gone up in value over the last couple years. In
sum, I was merely attempting to express my own perception of the last 9 years;
I was not attempting to represent the contents of the Slavery booklet. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wayne</span></font></st1:City></st1:place>
Writes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I am afraid that in making such a statement you have irrevocably
destroyed your thinly disguised pose as a humble person on an open-minded
spiritual quest for all who have followed this thread. You have now
revealed to those who did not know it before that you are a committed
<st1:PersonName w:st="on">Christ Church</st1:PersonName> Apologist/Advocate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>Me:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I am very sorry if I gave the impression that I was on some sort of
open-minded spiritual quest. I did not intend to give that
impression. However, I thought I have been clear that I love Jesus and
wish to defend Classical Orthodox Christianity, which includes Moses, the
giraffes that made it on the ark, persecuted Christians of the 3<sup>rd</sup>
century, Augustine, medieval popes, Martin Luther, and C.S. Lewis. I
don’t know why anyone would want to be an
“Apologist/Advocate” for some local “church.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wayne</span></font></st1:City></st1:place>
Writes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>But henceforth whenever you tell a lie, do not be surprised if you are
called on it, and do be surprised, depending on the size/nature of the lie,
that apt remarks about your integrity will be made. [Your pose is also a
form of dishonesty.] Further, do not be surprised that many will consider
that you are not a sincere Christian if you continue to lie and to pose as
something you are not. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>Hence, I think it best if you drop your pose from now on. No one
will now be fooled and it adds unnecessary words and distractive baggage
to your defense of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:PersonName></st1:place>
dogma.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>Me:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I agree that lying is bad. But I’m afraid you are stuck
with my pose; this is just me being me. I’ve tried to change many
times, but it just keeps on coming back. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>I look forward to your further comments on the nature of induction;
this was a fun subject to teach at the University for me.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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'>Yours,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Michael Metzler<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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