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<DIV><FONT size=4>I am posting this text from Cultmaster Wilson's blog since I
have been told that some V2020ers cannot make the link work.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The link was prefaced with the comment: "<FONT
size=4>And you wonder why it is called a cult."</FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=1863">http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=1863</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT><FONT size=4></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5><STRONG>Victims and Justice</STRONG></FONT><BR>Topic: A
Justice Primer<BR><BR>In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Edmund
betrayed his sisters <BR>and brother, he did so because he felt that he was the
victim. This is how <BR>the world of rationalization, revenge, and treachery
work. And this, of <BR>course, has a profound effect on perceptions of
justice.<BR><BR>In his book The Scapegoat, Rene Girad refers to the naive
persecutor, the <BR>persecutor who does not understand that he is not the
victim. "Naive <BR>persecutors are unaware of what they are doing. Their
conscience is too good <BR>to deceive their readers systematically, and they
present things as they see <BR>them" (p. 8). At the end of his book, Girad
refers tellingly to the place <BR>where Jesus taught us that "the time cometh,
that whosoever killeth you will <BR>think that he doeth God service" (John
16:2). Nothing can be clearer than <BR>the biblical teaching that in a fallen
world, understanding of justice is <BR>just as fallen. But as the need for the
Golden Rule illustrates, justice is <BR>an arch that has collapsed, but it is
still standing on my end. In the <BR>things that concern "me," we all have a
robust sense of justice, together <BR>with all the nuances. What we refuse to
do, and this is where grievous sin <BR>comes in, is apply that same standard to
our adversary or enemy.<BR><BR>Of course, the Holy Spirit is given to us in
order to restore the image of <BR>Christ in us. This means that we are
regenerated by Him and taught by Him to <BR>be ashamed of ourselves when we give
way to simplistic finger-pointing -- as <BR>though all the sin were over
there.<BR><BR>So it is not the case that there are two categories of people in
the world <BR>-- the sinners and the righteous. It is more nuanced than this. We
actually <BR>have sinners who refuse to see it and sinners who have been given
the gift <BR>of seeing it. Those who have received that gift do not forget what
they have <BR>been delivered from.<BR><BR>Those who are in the grip of sin, but
who refuse to acknowledge it, perceive <BR>themselves as righteous. And the
reverse is also true. The publican in the <BR>Temple who prayed, "God, be
merciful to me, a sinner," went home justified. <BR>The Pharisee who prayed,
"Lord, what a good boy am I" went home unjustified. <BR>The sinner was not a
sinner and the saint was a sinner. The one who exalts <BR>himself will be
humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.<BR><BR>One of the
means God has for doing this is to write His story in such a way <BR>as to
reveal different purposes for the Author and some of the characters. <BR>Jane
Austen and Mr. Collins were both responsible for his words and <BR>responses.
Austen's purpose was to reveal him as a thundering buffoon, and <BR>Mr. Collins'
purpose was simply to . . . well, who knows what he was <BR>thinking. But he was
thinking something, and it all made sense to him, and <BR>off he went. As God
writes dialogue, this is a frequent device of His. He <BR>writes a story in
which clowns think themselves shrewd, and persecutors <BR>think themselves
victims.<BR><BR>This latter phenomenon is the reason for many gross miscarriages
of justice <BR>throughout history. What did the high priest do at the
condemnation of <BR>Jesus? He tore his robes. "How dare you affront us in this
way? How dare you <BR>speak your blasphemies in such a way as to defile my
priestly ears? And look <BR>what you did to my robes!" The high priest was in
anguish, and there were <BR>people alive at that time, looking at that scene,
who would have felt sorry <BR>for him, and not for Jesus. But as Girard implies,
time goes by, and all the <BR>delusions evaporate(delusions that afflicted some
of the witnesses caught up <BR>in that frenzy). But for that time, a bad man had
done bad things to the <BR>high priest, and to all the holy things of Israel.
The high priest was in <BR>anguish and pain.<BR><BR>What bad things? Well, no
need to muster specifics and arguments -- "you all <BR>heard what he said! It's
in the public record." When they had previously <BR>assembled their witnesses,
attempting to actually prove something, they were <BR>all falling over each
other, contradicting each other, to such an extent <BR>that it was even
embarrassing to the kangaroos in robes running that show <BR>trial.<BR><BR>Godly
Christian churches have to deal with two kinds of discipline cases. <BR>The
first has to deal with straightforward breaches of the black letter law <BR>of
God. Someone in the congregation is discovered to have been knocking over
<BR>convenience stores, or cheating on his wife, or selling cocaine. Caught and
<BR>confronted, he won't repent, his violation of the law of God is established
<BR>in an open and fair church trial, and he is disciplined.<BR><BR>But the
second kind of situation is when you must deal with a divisive <BR>brother. In
this situation, unlike the first, the sin is not something that <BR>comes before
the session the same way problems from the first scenario do. <BR>It is actually
a dispute for the control of the session. "I'm not the <BR>defendant," the
disrupter proclaims. "It may surprise you all to learn that <BR>I ought to be
the judge."<BR><BR>Over the years, various people have tried to set up a
circumstances where <BR>they can say that in Christ Church it is an
ecclesiastical crime to <BR>"disagree with Doug Wilson." In the course of trying
to provoke our session <BR>into proving their point, usually by
triple-dog-daring us, they have said <BR>and done some outrageous things. The
point is not that some form of <BR>discipline should not be applied, for it
should be, but it will not look the <BR>same as disciplining an unrepentant
adulterer or bank robber. A divisive <BR>brother has to be handled with love and
firmness, and Scripture gives <BR>specific instructions on how to do it, but the
circumstances vary. For just <BR>example, a divisive brother that nobody is
listening to is not really <BR>divisive, and the church can afford to be more
patient.<BR><BR>But this brings me to the point of this line of argument. The
point here is <BR>that there is one common feature I have noticed in all this.
The men and <BR>women who have made appalling and unsubstantiated charges share
something in <BR>common. Invariably, having delivered the charges (in different
venues), they <BR>assume the role of victim. In the thirty years of our
congregation's <BR>existence, we have probably excommunicated about eight
people. All of them <BR>were for objective violations of God's word -- things
like desertion of a <BR>spouse. The people concerned were unrepentant, and
didn't like what we did, <BR>but they did not play the victim. But the various
people who have heaped all <BR>manner of calumny on our heads have done so while
feeling themselves <BR>victimized. Most did this after leaving our church (and
were therefore not <BR>fit subjects for discipline), but the handful who have
done this kind of <BR>thing while still members have been treated with
extraordinary patience and <BR>forbearance. When such accusations have been
made, our session has acted <BR>with great tact and pastoral care.<BR><BR>When
we have been wrongfully accused, this does not make us "victims" in the
<BR>sense that word is being used. And yet those who accuse us, mysteriously and
<BR>immediately, become victims in this sense. And so the lesson should be that
<BR>when you wrong someone else, apart from repentance, there is a profound need
<BR>to believe that he wronged you. This is an ancient temptation, an ancient
<BR>failing, as old as dirt.<BR><BR>But God has given us a new commandment, that
we love one another, that we <BR>learn how to live in community, that we learn
how to avoid feeling like a <BR>victim because of the wrong things we have done
to others.<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>