A lot of people upset by this tweet. My mentions have been filled for two straight days now with a variety of complaints. Some upset that I have not answered their complaints. I've hesitated to engage for a few reasons but want to answer the primary good-faith question...
But first: the complaints have broken down into a variety of categories. Across them there is the sort of person for whom no answers will suffice. Whether because of the subject (racism) or the source (me), there is no biblical or logical reasoning that will make any difference.
*This thread is not for them.* If you've been asking a series of questions calmly and haven't heard back, please bear in mind you are one of numerous doing same. I do have a job - several in fact - and engaging every person who wants to debate me on Twitter isn't one of them
Nevertheless, the through-line complaint -- apart from the claim that "nobody is defending slavery" -- is that there's no such thing as a kind of corporate repentance, only individual. That's what I want to address. Again, knowing it won't matter to some, hoping it will to others
Firstly, nearly all of the prophetic books contain calls to tribes and the nation to repent of specific sins. There are indictments throughout the OT of peoples, plural. Are we to suppose that every individual person in each situation was guilty of the specific sins? Probably not
And yet the sin is so systemic or so heinous -- or both -- that it is considered a blight, a spiritual toxin, an affront "in the camp" against God's holiness. If you reject the idea of a corporate call to repentance, *you* have to reckon with large swaths of OT texts
Or maybe you think, "Well, that was the OT. That was for Israel. Things changed in the new covenant." (I've actually heard this.) Okay. Let's look at how Paul both names individuals and rebukes entire churches. Check out Revelation's rebukes also.
I suppose somebody in that Galatian church could've been like, "Hey, I ain't down with justification by circumcision!" And yet there Paul is, rebuking "the Galatians."
(It honestly feels so strange having to lay all this out. That Bible-reading Christians don't have a category for this is bizarre given all the obvious examples.) Let's look at our Lord's prophetic ministry . . .
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who stone the prophets..."
I suppose there was some innocent Jerusalemite (or several) within earshot all like "Heyyyy. I never stoned anybody!" But that's beside the point.
I suppose there was some innocent Jerusalemite (or several) within earshot all like "Heyyyy. I never stoned anybody!" But that's beside the point.
And as I've maintained before, even critics of tweets like mine maintain these corporate indictments themselves against groups. Democrats. TGC. "The black community." Rightly or wrongly, the practice of attributing to systemic/corporate issues a specific sin or error is common
And I maintain that talking this way even about injustice or racism, etc. wasn't the flashpoint, say, 5-6 years ago that it is today. Here's a Ligonier post talking about corporate repentance: ligonier.org/learn/devotion…
Here's an SBC resolution from 2007 on Individual and Corporate repentance: sbc.net/resolutions/11…
If you say there's no such thing as corporate sin or corporate repentance, please make sure you've never said "America needs to repent of legalized abortion." Or "America needs to get back to God." Or what have you.
So what does it look like, then? How do we repent corporately of something we may not be guilty of individually? I know TGC is a leftist cultural marxist heretical rag ;-), but this article is good: thegospelcoalition.org/article/should…
It's not about apologizing for a sin you individually didn't commit. It's about committing to hold those in the camp who are guilty accountable. It's about public regret and disavowal. It's about refusing to tolerate it. And...
It *might be* about being more energized about dismissals of racism than condemnations of it. At the very least, if you deem something effectively a "non-issue," it is an odd response to devote lots of energy in attempts to refute it.
Last I'll say on this for a while. If you want more along these lines, there are books and articles a'plenty. I know this thread will mean nothing to some, only further aggravate others, but for those genuinely wondering, "Where do you get this stuff?", here you go. /end
