1. In deference to the elders of Trinity Bible Church of Dallas, I removed the comments I posted this morning regarding the Steve Lawson scandal. Those elders shepherd the local church Lawson belonged to, so their pastoral duty takes precedence over mine.
2. These are godly men, committed to the truth of Scripture, and I'm fully confident they will do the right thing. They have every right to set their own pace.
3. If anyone thought I was being critical of Trinity's elders, please forgive me for allowing such an ambiguity. My trust and respect for them could not be higher.
4. I do not envy the difficult position one man's spiritual failure has put them in, and I have no intention of second-guessing how they shepherd their flock, especially via social media.
5. For those who think they still have legitimate questions about the matter and how it is being handled, please address your questions to Trinity's elders, or (better yet) to Steve Lawson directly.
6. And please bear in mind that what Christ has done and is doing in building that church is infinitely more important than any scandal that would seek to tear it asunder.
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I've had several questions about John MacArthur's sermon notes. We keep all the originals in a fireproof safe at Grace to You, and no, they won't ever be available for sale on eBay.
John's sermon prep process was complex:
He would read and re-read the text he was planning to preach from, and his goal was to identify the key point of the passage. When he had a good idea of the biblical subject matter, he would read multiple commentaries and glean thoughts and observations from the best of them.
I remember when he did his sermon preparation in his office at the church (in the 1980s). I came in one day while he was studying. He was surrounded by a circle of about 15-20 open books--on the desk in front of him and on the credenza behind him.
The insinuation this fellow is making is utterly false. This is the kind of sinful talebearing that is forbidden in Lev. 19:6 and condemned repeatedly in Proverbs.
(The individual who wrote that Tweet has also been aggressively peddling the narrative that TMS has morphed into a crypto-Thomist institution, so this is not a one-time slipup. His claims are no more reliable than his sentence construction.)
One of my favorite American composers is Charles Ives (1874—1954). He was an actuary and insurance executive who had extraordinary musical gifts and composed on the side.
Ives grew up with music and was something of a prodigy as a child. His dad was an Army Band leader (for the Union Army during the Civil War), and in 1888, at age 14, Charles was hired to be the organist at First Baptist Church in Danbury, CT.
Ives’s background as a Baptist organist colors nearly all his music. His third symphony (“The Camp Meeting”) is replete with familiar musical quotations from the Baptist hymnbook—a dozen or more (including, of course, “Just as I Am” at the end).
I'm fully aware. But Carter isn't saying any of that in his TMSJ article, which is a defense of God's timelessness--in which he barely mentions Aquinas in passing. Moreover, a defense of God's eternality is hardly advocacy of "Christian Platonism."
To suggest that TMS has undergone a major shift based on articles defending several tenets of classic theism in a recent issue of the journal is (to put it mildly) an overreaction--and (to put it bluntly) an irresponsible misrepresentation.
2/4
To embellish that accusation with a story claiming some big-name evangelical influencer persuaded John MacArthur to shift ANYTHING at TMS--much less the Seminary's entire focus--is a breach of Scripture's command against talebearing.
3/4
1) I have not "responded to [her] article,” nor will I. She is citing an email I sent to a person who asked (via email) if I intended to respond to Roys. I answered THAT question.
(I didn’t post it on social media.)
1/4
2) My observation that this case is 20 years old was NOT an attempt to "minimize" any offense—and the context of my comment makes that clear. My point was that it takes time to properly investigate anything that happened 2 decades ago. A snap answer is not called for here.
2/4
3) I’m not "evad[ing] responsibility." I wasn’t serving as an elder in 2002-05. I have no firsthand knowledge of this case & I'm not the right person to nag for answers. Ms. Roys's dragging my name into it is a pretty clear reason not to trust her motives.
3/4
Here are some more thoughts prompted by Russ Moore on CNN last night--
1/9
Moore & other Wokevangelicals have long been heavily invested in the claim that conspiracy theories are a bigger & more dangerous problem within the church than the encroachment of postmodern & neo-Marxist doctrines.
Now they are panicky and getting shrill. Here's why:
2/9
Several stories that the media elite (and Big Eva) had previously dismissed and derisively labeled "conspiracy theories" have turned out to be *probably true* after all—like COVID originating in the Wuhan Lab.
3/9