Touch Grass, See Clearly: Why the Reformed World Must Wake Up

This may upset some people, but those of you who avoid serious discussions on social media because of the discomfort of controversy need to wake up. Controversy is here, whether it’s comfortable or not. Everything significant in the real world—politics, business, culture, religion—is being hashed out on X (formerly Twitter) a year or more before it reaches other spaces and becomes operationalized. The democratization of knowledge is upon us, and we’re living in a cultural moment as seismic as the invention of the printing press. Burying your head in the sand or clinging to your discomfort won’t change this reality.

In Reformed church circles, if you rely on certain prominent bloggers (pastors? popes?) and talking heads, you’re likely being misled about where things are headed. These figures seem primarily interested in defending their current control of movements, positioning themselves at the conservative edge of the existing liberalizing order, and upholding its taboos. However, the broader cultural winds have shifted. There is a massive, reality-based, traditionalist backlash brewing on the right—industrious, pious, and unapologetically so. This could, I pray, mark the beginnings of a revival. Like all moves of God, it is dividing people and exposing long-cherished lies and sins, especially among church leaders. Churches that stood firm against tyranny, political, social, and ecclesiastical, during COVID have now seen an influx and concentration of a different kind of Protestant man in their churches, and while the renewal and growth is welcomed, it brings new tensions with conservative-normie leaders.

If what I’m observing is accurate, those retreating into Boomer-generation platitudes like:

“Israel is our greatest ally; there’s no Jewish conspiracy to corrupt Christian societies.”

“There’s no real sin of gluttony, and we’re not being poisoned.”

“Working out is gay.”

“Christian men are the problem, women are always victims.”

“Diversity is our strength, and race isn’t real.”

“Humility means doing what your rebellious parents want.”

“If people get upset at you, you have been unwise.”

“Stop wasting time by talking about these things, they don’t matter because they don’t matter to me.”

will soon face some cold, hard truths. For example, wave after wave of scandal and downgrades proves the conservative evangelical movement, and its fractured tiny denominations, are being exposed for conserving little besides men’s egos. Why won’t your church and denomination be next? Younger men are not buying it, wanting to see reality instead of posturing/marketing, even when shamed as “rebels.” They can sniff out the hypocrisy. The cyclical circus of new controversies and new heroes and new doctrines every ten years is less than entertaining, and many Christian men are developing the discernment to recognize the nonsense. “Maybe this time it will work” is no longer convincing. The democratization of Reformed theological resources and the recovered memory of the men our fathers once were mean that ordinary men can now bypass the filters of now self-serving leaders who cherry-pick the tradition to suit their marketing emphasis or ecclesiastical politics agendas. The little popes and their arbitrary decrees seem, well, silly, hypocritical, and arbitrary.

So, friend, I know this is uncomfortable. But it’s better to open your eyes, touch grass, and learn God’s Word from the old dead guys who weren’t making it up as they went along, unlike today’s institutional leaders who largely wear our tradition like a skin suit. Put on some reading glasses, blink, and adjust your eyes to see what your fathers saw. Realize that if men hate your fathers, they hate you, and they hate your children. The traditional Protestant way of thinking and living was robust, realistic, godly, and multigenerational. Everything good we have in the West is a fruit of that Protestant catholic tradition. Yes, this perspective is deeply out of fashion with those clinging to the “conservatism” of the last decades, who barely even memorialize our fathers now, but I see a small cloud on the horizon (shaped like an X?). It may herald a big change, a new day.

I’ve warned men in ecclesiastical settings before not to resist what is good simply because it’s uncomfortable for the current order. Too often, they wake up five years later, feeling foolish for lacking courage. Few listened then, but more are listening now. We are witnessing another such moment in the Reformed world. For over a century, evangelical fathers (pastors, institutions) have generally failed their children by failing to honor our past fathers. Instead, they labeled the godly as rebellious or prideful for refusing to join in their folly, and they rewarded the sycophants and pliable. A generation raised like this is now largely in charge of conservative Reformed institutions, but the steel spined rowdies are at the gate

We MUST honor our fathers, especially those who are dead, stable, proven, and clear-headed. It is a chief expression of honoring our Father in heaven. We are their fruits, their generations, their heritage only if we imitate their doctrine and life. But when we follow the loudest mouths in the religious marketplace and embrace doctrines and emphases that would excommunicate our godly fathers, we join the rebellion of the Boomers and their prideful arrogance. Honoring our fathers does not mean honoring their rebellion and foolishness. Instead, we should enter the room with a sheet to cover their shame—and take the keys.

The Trident, Fog Dwellers, and our Christian Future

God is doing a great work in our time. The Sun of Righteousness is burning away the fog of delusion that has clouded our churches for decades. This is the fog that has allowed us to claim biblical inerrancy and confessional fidelity on the one hand and yet accommodate the values of the Enlightenment and modernism on the other. And now that fog is clearing and the places where one can (whether naively or deceptively) insist on compatibility between light and darkness are fast disappearing.

With the evaporation of this fog, the evangelical and reformed churches are finally being forced, tangibly and concretely, to choose between Christ and Mammon, Molech, Leviathan, Demos, or whatever names you wish to give to the false god of this age. This god has a sharpened Trident, aimed at the heart of Christ’s churches, a new liberalism with three deadly barbs: racial Marxism, feminism, and sexual degeneracy.

Many false sons in her pale have long ago chosen the latter and have been trying to drag the institutions they have been members of along with them. They have taken up the Woke Trident and wield it against the churches in which they dwell. They will not rest until they have either converted or purged everyone. Others have long ago understood the stakes and chosen to stand on the Lord's side and reject the lies of the age. They in turn are rousing still others, and we are now finding and removing the compromises from our own hearts, families, and as able, churches. Eventually every Christian must stand with one faction or the other.

But for now there are those still in the middle, trying to preserve the old status quo and continue running the legacy denominations and institutions as if nothing is happening. They want both Christ and modernity. Or they want Christ but fear to go against the Trident. They will retreat to wherever they must go to remain in the fog. They insist on peace, peace- unless it is yesterday's battles being fought. Those battles no longer cost them much to fight. And if they can be mustered to fight over something besides those, it is usually a fight to shut up anyone that is forcing them to confront the present.

These include many of those insiders and big names about whom we have been scratching our heads of late. What are they up to? One day they offer some 'concerns' about critical theory or some other aberration. Are they coming around to reality, coming to join us? But then so often the next day they want to sideline anyone on their right flank that goes after the same target. So maybe they aren't coming to join us.

I think some are in the process of resolving the contradiction one way or the other. They may yet stand with us. I think others are just trying to make both sides stop reminding them of their mutually exclusive commitments. But they seem more irate with the ones on their right. Why? I suspect because they know the ones on their right are right. And they have less power to push back when rebuked. And they know they should be standing with them, and they are being put to shame by them. It's not easy living in the fog.

The committed fog-dwellers don't particularly like the Trident-wielders or their views, you see, but facing them head on will require them to step out of the fog and to commit not only for Christ, but against His enemies. They will have to get negative on things about which the culture feels very positively. They will have to look mean, intolerant, misogynist, nationalistic, and a host of other scary sounding things. And their lives will get much harder. They will not only have angry critics within their churches; they may even face the forces of culture, HR, and state. And so it is easier now to tone police the faithful that are taking a stand and pray the Trident only leaves a flesh wound. Maybe if they keep the peace hard enough, maybe if they discipline the unruly watchmen severely enough, maybe if they engage thoughtfully with the woke enough, the Trident will eventually just leave them alone in the fog.

But the Trident advances inexorably. It does not stop and it only moves in one direction- inward. It is barbed, it does not come out until its target is dead. Or until its target resolves to face the pain of removing it and tears it out.

Eventually there will be no fog left to hide in. Things are, as Dr. Dimble noted, "always hardening and narrowing and coming to a point." Foglings too, if they do not quit the church entirely, will take up their tridents and be obedient little wokelings, or else they will finally own the blood-red banner that streams afar, climb the steep ascent of heaven through peril, toil, and pain, and follow in His train.

Legacy denominations and institutions will likely be lost when it is all said and done. But there will remain a people, refined and strong, forged into new congregations, federations, schools, and communities, ready to face a very different world.

In short, we are all of us either getting woke or getting based. Now is the chaotic, messy sorting.

Censuring Ministers For Their Silence, 1648

Oh that we had this zeal for the Lord and His church! May the Lord restore the abundance of Zion!

Excerpts from the 1648 deliverance of the church of Scotland, “Act for Censuring Ministers for their Silence, and not Speaking to the Corruptions of the Time.”

The Generall Assembly, taking to their serious consideration the great scandals which have lately encreased, partly through some ministers, their reserving and not declaring of themselves against the prevalent sins of the times, partly through the spite, malignity, and insolency of others, against such ministers as have faithfully and freely reproved the sins of the times without respect of persons;

For ministers:

Such as shall be found not applying their doctrine to corruptions, which is the pastorall gift—cold, and wanting of spirituall zeal—flatterers, and dissembling of publick sins, and especially of great personages in their congregations—that all such persons be censured according to the degree of their faults, and continuing therein be deprived.

…Tis also hereby recommended to the severall Presbyteries and Provinciall Synods, that they make speciall enquiry and triall concerning all the ministery in their bounds; and if any be found too sparing, generall, or ambiguous, in the foresaid applications and reproofs, that they be sharply rebuked, dealt with, and warned to amend, under the pain of suspension from their ministery.

…if there be any who do neglect and omit such applications and reproofs, and continue in such negligence after admonition and dealing with them, they are to be cited, and, after due triall of the offence, to be deposed—for be ing pleasers of men rather then servants of Christ—for giving themselves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in the cause of God, and for defrauding the souls of people; yea, for being highly guilty of the blood of souls, in not giving them warning.

And for the people:

And in case any minister, for his freedom in preaching, and faithfull discharge of his conscience, shall be, in the face of the congregation or elsewhere, upbraided, railed at, mocked, or threatened—or if any injury or violence be done to his person—or any stop and disturbance made to him in the exercise of his ministeriall calling, the Presbyterie of the bounds shall forthwith enter in processe with the offender, and whoever he be, charge him to satisfie the discipline of the Kirk by publick repentance; which if any do not, or refuse to do, that then the Presbyterie proceed to excommunication against him.

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/church-scotland-records/acts/1638-1842/pp166-200#h2-0017

A Stench In Their Nostrils

“You’ve made our church a stench in the nostrils of the OPC.”

“Maybe, if you’ll promise to get off social media we can move forward together.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“You deserve this. You’ve brought it on yourself and your family.”

“What do you think gives you the responsibility to engage in these matters publicly?”

“You’re nothing but a keyboard warrior.”

With these encouraging words I’ve heard from my dearest and professed friends, I’m writing to ask you to set your face as a flint and join me in embracing the shame of obedience in an age of worldlings and timid men.

I’m asking you to use your own voice in your home, church, session, and presbytery to publicly stand against the new liberalism and its advocates and collaborators who are pushing wokism-marxism, feminism, and sexual libertinism. I have hoped to be an example to you, not in exact methods, but in steadfastness and courage against the #ReformedDowngrade. I have also become an example, in the short term, that initially we will probably “lose,” and may have very little influence for a while and even fewer friends. You’ll likely be banned on social media, lose your jobs eventually, and be silenced or disciplined in your “conservative” denominations.

That is fine with me, because as this article by Doug Wilson expresses, the Lord has worked in me something I pray will grow more and more and be expressed more clearly—a love and fear of God above the scorn and praise of men. Please join me in your own place and manner in that mission. In our conflict with encroaching liberalism in the Reformed churches, some haven’t and won’t, with the Lord’s help, be quiet in the face of pressure from those who have sought for varying reasons to silence us: Aimee Byrd, Rachel Green Miller, Todd Pruitt, Valerie Hobbs, Carl Truman, ninety-plus OPC ministers and elders who signed a lying letter, TGC, the Alliance Of Confessing Evangelicals, “abuse” advocates, pastors in my presbytery who’ve conspired against us and others who protect them, a mob of Reformed-marm-twitter-liars, an army of gossipy women of both sexes, and even now many friends who refuse to stand with us in any way that would cost them.

But in an evil age, there are costs to pay when you want to do what’s right. So I propose a catechism for you:

Question: “Who do you think you are?”

Answer: “I am a Christian. I obey Jesus and His Word.”

Question: “Don’t you see what this costs you and those you love?”

Answer: Jesus said “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” John 14:26

Question: “What if no one stands with you? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for support?”

Answer: Paul said “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Timothy 4:16-17

Also, check out this article from Doug Wilson, a man who knows these things and has taken his share of “encouragement” from the NAPARC nanny-state :

When men lie about you, when women slander you, when they snatch at your words, when they call you a racist, or a misogynist, or a bigot, or a heretic, what are you commanded to do? Jesus says that we are to walk around the corner, just out of sight, chuckle a little chuckle, shrug our shoulders in the presence of the Holy One of Israel, and dance a little jig. Rejoice, He said. Be exceeding glad, He said.

And He also cautioned us in the other direction. Not only are we to rejoice when the abuse starts to fly, so also are we to worry about it when the accolades do. ‘Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.’ Luke 6:26 (KJV)

We may rank the sayings of Jesus in the following way. There are those things He taught which everybody already knows and agrees with, like the importance of honoring your father and your mother. Then there are the things He taught that are ranked as the ‘hard sayings,’ like those about loving your enemies and feeding the poor and the outcast. Tough, but more than a few believers have earnestly made the attempt. And then there are these sayings, which are clearly impossible, highly dangerous, and not even to be considered. And if you even attempt to live by such sayings, then we will mark you down as a conceited prig, in addition to the racism.

Scorn Proof

The reason the evangelical church in North America today is languishing is to be found right here. We are led by men who crumple under criticism. We are led by men who wither under any level of abusive commentary. But this is actually just another way of saying that we are not being led by men at all. There will be no recovery, there will be no reformation, there will be no revival, until God raises up a generation of men who are scorn proof. No sign of them yet, but God is the one who works marvels.”

I’m a nobody—and likely so are you—but I am a Christian, and because of that I have permission from the throne of heaven and accountability to the LORD to tell the truth, however inconvenient it is for those who hear it. If you feel ashamed to become a stench in other’s nostrils, remember it will be more embarrassing, possibly now in this life, but certainly later when Christ comes, for those who have not been willing to stand publicly for the truth. So tell the truth, stand firm in the freedom purchased for you by our Savior, and don’t be afraid. When you are rejected, rejoice!

Doug Wilson “Scorn Proof” at https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/scornproof.html

An Open Reply To “An Open Letter From Concerned Ministers And Elders In The OPC”

The following is a letter from a member of Genevan Commons, an OPC minister who serves on session with one of the admins of the discussion group, Shane Anderson. It is not an official statement for his session, or members of the discussion group (who have a wide range of perspectives on many matters.) Addition: we want to clarify that the admins of Genevan Commons agree with this response and are thankful for it.

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Rev. Michael Spangler
Teacher, Providence Church (OPC)
Greensboro, NC

June 23, 2020

An Open Reply to “An Open Letter from Concerned Ministers and Elders in the OPC,”
Published on Aimeebyrd.com, here, June 22, 2020.

Dear Brothers and Fathers,

Your open letter calls for a response, for the sake of the good name of Christ, his elders, and his people.

I am a minister of the gospel, have been for years a member of Genevan Commons, and participate often in its discussions. I know many of the men now subject to your criticism, have had many exchanges with them, and have personally witnessed, in their whole context, many of the discussions excerpted on Genevan Commons Screenshots. I tell you plainly and sincerely, despite your best intentions and desires to promote righteousness, you have been deceived as to the nature of the group.

I wish to publicly state a few neglected facts, then directly address your four written concerns.

First, three important facts about our group have been ignored:

1. Genevan Commons exists to promote edifying dialogue among the Reformed. It has had good success in meeting this goal. Many of its long-term members will testify to true growth in knowledge of God’s word, in biblical doctrine, and in piety as a direct result of conversation in the Commons. I openly and thankfully attest to this myself: I am a better man and a better minister because of the interactions with my brethren in this group. One specific way it helps me is by giving me a broader vision of the faithful Reformed Christianity that exists beyond the bounds of my local church, presbytery, and denomination.

2. Every person in Genevan Commons is a sinner (1 John 1:8). That some things said in the group should not have been said, ought to surprise no one. It is a different thing entirely, however, to condemn the whole group as unedifying and ungodly based on a very small slice of the hundreds of thousands of posts and comments made throughout its lifetime. It would violate charity to call a Christian brother an ungodly man for a few sinful slips of the tongue. How much more so a group of hundreds of Christian brothers, of varying levels of maturity, and among whom no doubt, as in all Christian communities, there are at least some tares among the wheat?

3. That said, in my daily observation of the group I find that our words are in most every case reasonable and respectful. And moreover, when sinful exceptions do appear, the Commons actively polices them, and though imperfectly, it does so to my knowledge more carefully than any other similar group on Facebook. I have vivid memories of members in the group, and ministers especially, calling out violations of the second, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth commandments. Many posts and comments have been edited or deleted as a result, often by the original author himself, before admins could step in. Naturally, such changes could not be demonstrated in a screenshot. This is not to mention the times admins have quickly deleted ungodly speech, given firm reminders of our clear group rules, and even when necessary expelled participants, out of zeal for peace, truth, and righteousness. Neither this fact nor the other two were even mentioned in the screenshot site, on the blog of Aimee Byrd who promoted it, or in your letter.

Second, as to your four concerns:

1. That Byrd and Miller are “members of our church” is immaterial. Church members sin (James 3:2). Church members may fall from Christ (Heb. 3:12). Church members may even become false teachers (Acts 20:30). Insofar as they do this, they deserve rebuke: privately if they sin in private (Matt. 18:15), publicly if they sin in public (Gal. 2:14). Even when not speaking directly to them, we have a similar duty to warn each other about those who cause divisions and offenses (Rom. 16:17). Moreover, that such rebuke and warning is made with sharpness (Titus 1:13), and even with a solemn mockery, is no proof of “corrupt,” “foolish talking,” and “coarse jesting” (Eph. 4:29; 5:5). God himself mocks sinners (Ps 2:4; Prov. 1:26), as do his faithful servants (1 Kings 18:27). A minister is sometimes called to set his face like flint (Isa. 50:7; Ezek. 3:8–9), and spare not against the church’s sins (Isa. 58:1). You say elsewhere you are not endorsing the books we have attacked. Putting aside the contradiction that your letter was published on the personal blog of an author of such books, insofar as in it you seek to disarm us of the verbal weapons with which we make our attack, or at least imply that the books’ errors are not so serious as to warrant our sharp speech, you are indeed protecting those books, and their harmful teaching. We beg you therefore for less carping about our style and method, and more engagement with the substance of our critiques.

2. The appeal to ordination vows is a red herring. The vows say nothing against appropriate use of privacy in Christian conversation. The equivalent response to you would be, please send us transcripts of your private phone calls, emails, and messages that went into the preparation of your letter: if God will reveal all secrets on the last day, why keep secrets now? Furthermore, by your standard we ought never talk behind closed doors with our wives, our elders, or our members; or at least we ought to be willing to reveal everything that was said, to anyone, and any time. That this would not be keeping our ministerial vows, but in fact breaking them terribly, by betraying the trust of all God’s people, should be obvious to you. The propriety of private conversation is proven by this whole debacle: words which in private context are appropriate and godly, out of context are likely to appear otherwise to the uninitiated observer. So privacy actually helps us keep our reputation, which is a duty of the ninth commandment, and the man or men who broke privacy by publicizing close conversation among friends (Prov. 17:9), boldly broke that commandment. Even some who oppose the Commons have condemned the screenshot site as shameful libel (here and here). Moreover, God forbid that what you insinuate would ever be true, that we forget that God will judge our private words. I for one conduct even my most secret conversations with godly fear, and without a doubt that I will give an account for every idle word (Matt. 12:36). I remain accountable, and gladly so, to my own presbytery and session. And as far as I know my close friends in the Commons, they all think exactly the same.

3. Calling our speech “misogynistic” begs the question. It might be fair to call some of screenshotted comments off-color, some immature, some silly, some just unnecessary. But in context most of them I read were actually unobjectionable, even if I would not have said them all myself. We openly affirm in Genevan Commons all the Bible texts you cited about women. You can be sure that if anyone in our group denied that women bore God’s image (Gen. 1:27), were fellow heirs in Christ (1 Peter 3:7), and gifted members of his body (Eph. 4:7), he would be reproved, and if recalcitrant, expelled. We are not women-haters: that is slander. We believe, from the Bible, that the heart of godly patriarchy is a loving, sacrificial use of manly strength for the care and protection of the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7; Eph. 5:25). This is as far from misogyny as possible. Moreover, though “thoughtful critique” was not as obvious in the screenshots, in most cases it is the very substance of our group discussion. The captured comments, for example, were often subjoined to extended articles, which of course would not fit in a screenshot, or in the screen-shotter’s narrative. And what of my articles I recently wrote, published on the blog associated with the Commons? In them I labored to be as careful as possible, citing years of evidence and many passages of Scripture, with all the persuasive logic I could muster. Take them as the substantial bulk of our critique, and you will find the Commons is much more thoughtful than you let on.

4. Yes, we agree “undue silence in a just cause” is a sin. That is why we have not been silent against Byrd, Miller, and others who support them. It is why we will not be pressured into silence by your letter. And furthermore, it is why I am compelled to write this reply to you: despite your good intentions, your rebuke is unjust and ill-considered, and ought to be retracted.

I remain your brother in Christ and fellow servant in his gospel, and I am happy to be contacted by anyone at any time about these matters.

Sincerely Yours,

Michael Spangler

Has God Really Said? Resisting the #ReformedDowngrade

In the long run, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ always wins. It rises up by the Spirit into life, trampling serpents, breaking down idols, filling the earth with generations of faithfulness, and praising the Triune God from shore to shore. But anyone who has lived the Christian life and is familiar with biblical and church history knows that this upward trajectory of victory is marred by many sad declines, beguilings of the devil, and little idols that gain temporary residence in heart, home, church, society. These downgrades from our upward calling in Christ are caused by a lack of faith, for without it, no one can please the Lord.

The occasion of one such downgrade in the church, where unbelief slid the church into temporary ruin, started when a brilliant, learned, appealing, and highly-effective leader ruined everything by asking a question, “starting a conversation” with the wife of the priest-king of a holy and tranquil realm. Having studied the cultural baggage she had inherited (rife with authoritative rules that forced the queen into involuntary submission and kept her in ignorance) he stirred up this queen’s desire for more from this life than mere fruitful multiplication by asking “Has God really said?”

And by the end of that conversation, the world was plunged into our present state of sin and misery.

I am going to say something you may not yet believe: we are currently heading into a great crisis in the conservative Reformed churches, we have begun a precipitous slide into sin and misery. It has not reached its conclusion, like it already has in the PCUSA, the United Methodists, and the old Reformed Church in America. It has not progressed into complete institutional compromise with liberalism like in the CRC. But all the beginnings of our repeating the feminist-liberal decline are there: women theologians advocating for “more women’s voices”, seminiaries enrolling women in MDiv programs, churches hiring more and more not-officially-ordained-yet women “ministers” of this and that, denominations calling for hiring parity between men and women, creative theologians tinkering with the plain teachings of scripture through the use of sophisticated argumentation, more and more women writers in the place of ordained men in our denominational magazines, etc., etc., etc. 

I don’t write this post to convince you that the decline is happening. (Though it is. Just ask those who lived through the fall of the CRCNA how this works.) But I am writing to alert you to a type of thinking that is itself a downgrade and apart from repentance will always lead to a further downgrade: a lack of faith in God’s Word. 

There is a footing we can have, a stance, a gait as we approach Scripture that will always stumble and fall: unbelief. It comes to the Bible on the defense. It comes to the Bible “concerned,” with personal problems and feelings it wants addressed adequately and comfortably. It avoids parts of the Bible that would correct the person. Or it comes to passages it describes as difficult, complex, and easy to misunderstand not first asking with humility to learn and be changed—it marches up to them with sandpaper in hand, ready to smooth down all the pointy parts. “Let’s have a conversation… let’s discuss the complex issues… let’s explore the rich tapestry of meaning and context and all the other rich things we can explore… you know, ‘Has God really said?’”

And at the end of the “discussions”... the “conversations”... the “explorations”... the “rich tapestries of meaning”.... we are left with something quite different than the authoritative, sufficient Word of God where yes is yes, and no is no. Once you begin to admit that this approach is itself a sinful capitulation to self-worship, you are well on your way to understanding why feminist exegesis is itself, apart from its ungodly conclusions and practices, its own sort of ungodly downgrade. 

Let women clothe themselves with modesty such as is fitting for godly women… “Has God really said? Who determines what is modest or fitting to godly womanhood? Is there even such a thing as godly womanhood?”

Women may not teach or have authority over men but are to learn in silence with subjection…. “Has God really said? How will men represent women’s unique perspective? How will the rights of women be preserved without women having power in church structures?” 

The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is of the church…. “Has God really said? Can’t we move beyond authority and submission? Why is there so much fixation on headship?”

Man was not made for woman, but woman for man… “Has God really said? I’m an ezer warrior, a coequal life partner!” 

Imitate Sarah who obeyed her husband and called him Lord… “Has God really said? I shouldn’t be forced to obey! Oppression!!”

The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God… “REEEEEEE! HAS GOD REALLY SAID! PATRIARCHY!”

This is actually what is currently happening in the Reformed world, and it is the downgrade that begins all downgrades: “Has God really said?”

One final word: don’t just reject this false, rebellious way when you see it in others—reject it in yourself. Do you desire to approach God’s Word with faith rather than irreverent questioning but you find yourself poked and prodded by what it says  in painful ways with sensitive topics? The way forward is to recognize that the problem is always in us, not God. You and I oversleep an alarm, lose our keys, fumble at relationships, have greatly erred and, yes, in thought, word, and deed sinned in many ways. Our comfort or discomfort with God’s commands says a lot about us but nothing about the goodness of those commands. He is all wise in what He has said and how He has said it. In our rebellion, ignorance, corruption we need the mighty working of his blessed Spirit to bring us to humility before him. So, we must come to Him as a beggar in prayer through Jesus Christ who receives repentant sinners: He has given you these difficult places in His Word for your salvation. As Spurgeon once said, these hard places are for setting up an altar to worship your God! Bow under His commands, commit your way to believe and obey his Word no matter the consequences. Trust Him for the forgiveness and help you will need, and you will see that His every word proves true and in keeping His commands our foot will never slip.

It’s not my fault Aimee Byrd wants to be taken seriously and other responses to those calculating ways to silence the very few of us willing to criticize the new feminism being promoted in NAPARC…

A public statement first posted in our discussion group: Genevan Commons.

An important announcement related to the spais, permission granted to share elsewhere:

As we all know, and have always known, the things said here in Genevan Commons are monitored by Aimee Byrd, Rachel Green Miller, people connected to R. Scott Clark’s twitter gang/sect/group, and others who believe we ought not be allowed a private discussion group in which their public “ministries” are critiqued. A number of us have been subject to false accusations, and it’s been said over and over on twitter that there are screenshots that prove me and others here: “nasty” “vile” “jerk” “slanderers” “dirty-mind” etc.

Against this backdrop, Mrs. Byrd has been laboring in her own session and in the OPC to develop some way to bring charges against me and others for opposing her. To do this, they have assembled (dissembled?) snippets of this and that for years. And now, she has accomplished the removal of one of her own elders without proper discipline procedures for not adequately supporting her.

On Good Friday, members of Mrs. Byrd’s church began receiving a mailed document in which the session presented its written case against Genevan Commons to its congregation as part of its work to divest the elder who displeased Mrs. Byrd by his membership in Genevan Commons. I was unaware of any of this when it was happening, but now that they have made their intentions public, I would like to ask you all to please pray for our brother and his family and his church. He has filed a complaint against this action and more complaints are likely.

As part of the accusations, all their factual errors and embarrassing details of Mrs. Byrd’s influence over them notwithstanding, they have announced that they are in fact pursuing ecclesiastical actions against me and others in Genevan Commons. They have been being advised on these matters by OPC insiders who serve on denominational committees. Mrs. Byrd, Todd Pruitt, and others have publicly called for discipline against us.

Despite Pruitt, Byrd, Green Miller and others accusing me publicly and privately, for years, of slander, perversion, being a jerk, having a dirty mind, saying horrible things, etc, their evidence of this is nothing. You know, as they are fond of noting about Mrs. Byrd, I also am “a member in good standing.” I hold to the Westminster Standards of the OPC without exception. And I am actually an elder in Christ’s church. None of this sort of thing matters in a victim culture: as long as Byrd and Green Miller can present themselves as aggrieved minorities, victims of an oppressive system, they are allowed to say anything they want about anyone they want, demonizing all opposition. They have in fact been rewarded for it.  

Despite personal, multiple requests for evidence of the things they have accused me of, they would never provide it to me so I could respond or others could examine the claimed evidence. They have not allowed me the decency of explaining, defending, or repenting of things I’ve supposedly said. They instead have continued these public and private attacks on me while formulating an ecclesiastical attack plan in the background, monitoring my posts and comments, threatening me that they are doing such, publicly hoping I will fall into disrepute, and coordinating with various people throughout the OPC. The only things I’ve ever been provided are “concerns” that I said her agenda is evil, ungodly, feminstic, etc. Yes, I have. And, yes, I will. If I will be brought up on charges for that, so be it. #ReformedDowngrade anyone? #RememberTheCRCNA anyone? 

It has not been enough for Mrs. Byrd to publicly attack CBMW, John Piper, John Macarthur, Doug Wilson, and many others with her public “ministry” of criticizing the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough that no one in the history of our Bible-believing Reformed churches ever advocated for her teachings without leaving for churches consumed by rank liberalism. It is not enough that she is supported by the biggest institutions and names in the Reformed world. She apparently will not allow people to oppose her. And men are lining up to support her. 

It only takes a casual acquaintance with her writing to understand why men do this: her agenda is deeply rooted in feeling offended at how men treat her. 

She admits over and over in writing and interview that her impetus for writing has often been situations in which she feels offended as a woman, slighted, or personally neglected. When I think about that, I’m sorry that she has felt that way, as those sorts of feelings are uncomfortable and unpleasant and when they arise from some real situation and are fueled by self-pity often lead to false judgements and sinful actions. And I am even more sorry that her husband, elders, the ministers and elders who lead the publishers who publish her and the ones who lead ACE, Trueman, Pruitt, and others have not realized that rather than helping her, they have extended her ego into the arena of public conflict. And I am even more sorry for the churches of our Lord Jesus who must now be disturbed further by her feelings and teachings. (For some critiques, see below.)

She has promoted herself as a public critic of mainstream conservative Christian teachings and practices, she has frequently mocked her critics on MOS and Twitter, she has at times attacked the most steadfast ministers of our current age, and she has openly said she is presenting a new way of thinking through gender issues, one that has benefited greatly from egalitarian exegesis. It is because of that, and her unwillingness to change course, that I became a public critic of her work and those who promote it. 

I will confess that I, at times, lack a temperance in speech. 

I have not ever claimed to be the best spokesman against this feminist cause—there are others who are clearer, less offensive, less uncouth. I completely understand that I do not appeal to people who don’t understand the issues yet, prefer genteel teas together, or have yet to become as zealous as they ought to have been in the first place to defend our churches. I don’t need nor am I requesting public affirmation of everything I have ever said. Those qualifications notwithstanding, in relation to her errors and its consequences in our lives my speech is not intemperate. I believe it is commensurate with the sadness it will bring to our congregations and the dishonor it brings on God’s Word. Yet those contemplating how they may silence me are particularly offended at certain things—things that I believe I ought to say more plainly and repeatedly as to encourage others to say the same, but with their own voices and styles. 

Let me once again publicly state for the record:

1. I think her agenda, as expressed in her books and on social media, is actually stupid—not her, not her emotions or feelings, not anything like that. Her agenda is stupid. A bad, dumb plan. It lacks a reasonable natural and biblical foundation, a faithful method of theological reasoning, and a wise and wholesome practical end. How could I possibly justify calling it stupid? Well, I’ll say it a different way: I think it is actually really stupid to encourage men and women who aren’t married to each other to have “intimate spiritual friendships” and spend time alone together. Foolish. Really dumb. Lots of other hurt-words. How can I say this more winsomely—it’s crazy! Cookoo! Really, really stupid to go on long walks with your intimate spiritual friend of the opposite sex while your spouse is at home. Really stupid to be alone with her in a car driving her to her hotel late at night. Really stupid. Stupid in real life, not in the world of Twitter grievances, used to manipulate masses—stupid in the real world where sexual sin destroys lives and draws the soul from God.

2. I think her teaching is ungodly: it does not arise from unreserved faith in God’s Word, but from dissatisfaction with her experiences. It relies on exegesis that does not start with the principle “thus says the Lord” but with “has God really said?” So, yes, I’ve used the word ungodly to describe her teaching. I really do think all of the slippery egalitarian exegetes sound ungodly, just like the devil: instead of reading a verse and thinking “how can I fully and completely believe and obey this?” They say “how can I shave down all the edges, pull all the teeth, and transform a passage that says ‘be silent’ to mean ‘we need more women’s voices?’” That’s ungodly, and I think it’s only right to call it such. 

3. I think her aims and methods are very similar to what we see among secular feminists and other Marxist-like aggrievement approaches. She has played the victim in her books, blogs, and social media interactions. She believes it to be real and actual suffering for people to say the things I’ve just said. This is a victim-culture technique, where the feelings of the aggrieved are used as justification for canceling the critics. #RememberTheCRCNA

4. I think her demand that no one have private groups in which they can talk about her public books and public teaching and public ecclesiastical support is ridiculous. Many people who are supporters of Aimee Byrd are members of private discussion groups. I am happy to be held accountable for what I say here in Genevan Commons or in other even less public settings. Surely, one should first ask if it is appropriate to share what I’ve said, if in private, giving me an opportunity to also engage, but however that goes, I am accountable and am fine being accountable. The idea that I’ve tried to create a place where we are unaccountable is foolish. Genevan Commons is a large transdenominational discussion group with many divergent opinions. We’ve sought to keep it an old, settled, happy Reformed group. In life many discussions are considered appropriately private, and yet the Christian ought to know he can be brought to account both by church discipline now and on the day of judgment before Christ. I have no problem with that, and they should stop pretending that I have some secret, hidden agenda or actions. 

5. I think the idea that one cannot warn against public sin and error done by a member of an OPC church would disallow all Christian conversation about our church. No church is perfect, and we ought to be able to publicly discuss publicly promoted sins and errors, especially those sold for $$$, and being marketed by the largest and most well funded and protected parachurch ministries. 

6. Commoners should all be aware that Aimee Byrd and those connected to her monitor people (particularly ministers) online to make sure that they don’t like the wrong tweets, use laugh emojis inappropriately, etc. Then they “advise” sessions and parachurch leaders to mark and oppose these opponents. This is a familiar and repeated reality. The National Partnership has done it for years in the PCA. Reformed parachurch organizations do it all the time. Numerous scandals prove it. It is a feature of the current Reformed world—the people on the inside use private means to control the public narrative. 

You and I, if we don’t kiss the right rings, are not free to talk. 

But the Word of God is not chained,

Shane 

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A link to the document from Mrs. Byrd’s session: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U6BKavPEgdED53eQuDK2YFTO8ltxi290

A link to critiques of Mrs. Byrd’s writings: http://www.thedailygenevan.com/blog/2019/8/15/Aimee_Byrd_Critiques

Counterpoint: Critiques Of Aimee Byrd’s Proposals (Updated: September 27, 2020)

‪“A way-station to egalitarianism: A review essay of Aimee Byrd’s Recovering from Biblical Manhood” by Denny Burk‬

‪"But never mind the more charitable or cynical take. Either way, there’s a generation looking for a doorway, and Byrd provides it. Which means, she doesn’t really need to make good arguments. She doesn’t need to do careful exegesis. She can invoke whatever sources she wants. Why? Because she’s got a pre-made audience. This audience is ready to jump and is just looking for a reasonably intelligent pretext for doing so. It’s often this way in popular Christian books. They tap into something people are already feeling. This was true of Rob Bell’s material. It was true of Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. To be sure, both writers are extremely gifted. But many gifted writers never get noticed. Which ones do? The ones that articulate what people are already feeling, so that they can identify with it. I don’t know how popular Byrd’s book will prove to be, but she’s sharp, and she’s tapping into something. Yet here’s the catch. The bad arguments, even when brilliantly presented and popular in their moment, don’t last. Where are Rob Bell and Donald Miller today? And their arguments? The world has moved on, and the only thing left behind are a vast number of sheep who were led astray a decade ago. Who knows how those sheep are faring in the faith today? I predict arguments like Byrd’s will prove over time to be a briefly held way-station on the movement from narrow complementarianism to egalitarianism. Readers who do not wish to take that journey should be cautious about Byrd’s book."

‪https://equip.sbts.edu/article/way-station-egalitarianism-review-essay-aimee-byrds-recovering-biblical-manhood-womanhoood

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“Mrs. Byrd’s Yellow Wallpaper” by Bennie Castle

“Two examples will suffice to show how the feminist meta-narrative jaundices Mrs. Byrd’s reading of particular Biblical narratives; the story of Huldah and the rediscovery of the scroll in the temple in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22:8-20, 2 Chronicles 34:14-32) and the story of Ruth.  The reason I have chosen these narratives, and Mrs. Byrd’s handling of them, is because they highlight three major problems with Mrs. Byrd’s book as it relates to the doctrine of Scripture: Mrs. Byrd’s eisegesis of Scripture, the Confessional doctrine of canonization, and the Confessional doctrine of the Holy Spirit.”

https://calvinistruminant.wordpress.com/2020/05/22/mrs-byrds-yellow-wallpaper/

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‪‪“Book Review: Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Byrd)” by Zachary Garris ‬ ‪

“Aimee Byrd’s Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood carries a provocative title aimed at the 1991 complementarian book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Yet Byrd’s is mostly an empty title, as she does not substantially interact with that book or other books by complementarians. Instead, she claims complementarians ignore discipleship. She then surveys biblical passages about women in the Bible (“gynocentric interruptions”) that do nothing to undermine complementarianism, all the while ignoring the most important passage on the subject (1 Timothy 2:8-15). Most of her criticism of complementarians centers around ESS.

Byrd’s book is filled with lots of quotations and citations that come across as an attempt to impress the reader, but few actually support her thesis or help to form a coherent argument. Sadly, she makes many egalitarian claims and cites egalitarian authors positively throughout the book. Yet when critics ask Byrd to answer questions about exactly what she believes about men and women, she takes offense and refuses to answer.

This book is published by Zondervan, so no one should have expected a defense of conservative gender roles. Yet being a member of a conservative Reformed denomination (OPC) and working for a conservative Reformed organization (Reformation21.org), this is a sad commentary on the state of Western Christianity. Despite her claim that only men can be pastors, Byrd consistently pushes her readers in the direction of feminism. I do not know how influential this book will be, but it is so poorly reasoned that it should not sway those seriously considering these issues. Regardless, Byrd’s book should serve as evidence of just how strong a foothold feminism and egalitarianism have inside the church­­, even “conservative” Reformed churches.“

https://knowingscripture.com/articles/book-review-recovering-from-biblical-manhood-and-womanhood-byrd‬

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“Recovering from Aimee Byrd’s Promotional Video“ by Christian McShaffrey

https://www.fivesolas.church/recovering-from-aimee-byrds-promotional-video

“Some readers are probably old enough to remember the ‘discussions’ that began in the Christian Reformed Church in 1970. These discussions led to study committees ‘to help the churches make all possible use of women’s gifts’ and moved the CRC slowly-but-steadily toward women’s ordination and even a version of gender-based affirmative action in 2015. 

It would be well worth your time to read the full chronology that is posted on the CRC’s website. You might also want to take mental note of some of the key words and phrases that were used during the CRC’s 45-year-long ‘discussion’; as they are the same words and phrases being used today in the PCA and, it would seem, soon enough in the OPC.

Aimee is probably not seeking to be ordained as the OPC’s first woman minister, but that is where these ‘discussions’ tend to lead and my prediction is that the OPC will probably follow the well-worn path of progressivism to final perdition. That is, unless the teachers of the church are men enough to say, ‘No thank you’ to Aimee’s invitation to come into their churches and initiate this discussion.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong about this prediction, but history suggests otherwise. There are several historical charts available which demonstrate the Presbyterian propensity (necessity?) to divide every 50 years or so to maintain biblical fidelity.”

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“Does Anyone Need to Recover from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood? A Review Article of Aimee Byrd’s 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥” May 4, 2020 By Andrew David Naselli

“Here’s what I’ve argued:

1. Summary: The gist of Byrd’s book is that biblical manhood and womanhood—especially as John Piper and Wayne Grudem teach it—uses traditional patriarchal structures to oppress women.

2. Context: On the spectrum of views on men and women, Byrd’s position overlaps partly with the far left side of narrow complementarianism and partly with egalitarianism.

3. Evaluation: Byrd’s book is misleading because she misrepresents complementarianism, and it is misguided because she shows faulty judgment or reasoning.”

https://cbmw.org/2020/05/04/does-anyone-need-to-recover-from-biblical-manhood-and-womanhood-a-review-article-of-aimee-byrds-recovering-from-biblical-manhood-and-womanhood/

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“Book Review: Why Can’t We Be Friends, Part II- What Exactly Is She Proposing?” by Peter Jones:

“Once we understand her proposal we see what a fundamental, sea change Mrs. Byrd is recommending. She is upending 2000 years of church teaching and practice as well as the teaching and practice of most human societies, on how men and women should interact.”

https://singingandslaying.com/2018/08/21/book-review-wcwbf-part-ii-what-exactly-is-she-proposing/

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“A Sexual Or Asexual Public Square” by David Talcott via First Things:

“A Complementarianism that is so thin that it limits itself to a single point circumscribed within two narrow spheres does not do justice to the fact that “from the beginning God made them male and female.” This mysterious and unique human partnership of male and female extends to every part of our lives; it is not limited to small cloisters.”

https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2015/09/a-sexual-or-asexual-public-square

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“A Few Brass Tacks On ‘Christian Teaching’” by E. J. Hutchinson

“Have our natures been warped and deformed by sin? Of course; and even when renewed they continue to show its effects. But they have not been obliterated by sin. Our condition, then, makes all the more needful, first, a greater attentiveness to our irreducible and indestructible and natures and, second, a renewed vigor in Christian reflection upon those natures, precisely because human beings are otherwise prone to attempt the impossible: to reduce and destroy our natures.”

https://calvinistinternational.com/2016/09/15/men-women-nature-christian-teaching-two-responses-aimee-byrd/

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“A General Response To Aimee Byrd” by Alastair Roberts via The Calvinist International

“By far the most significant point of difference between us, presuming that we are not speaking past each other, concerns the relationship between our natures and God’s moral command. I see a very close bond between nature and virtue. Virtue is the realization of the appropriate telos of our nature and is about us attaining to the full stature of what we are. It isn’t merely about obeying external commands. Virtue is seen when man is fully, truly, and gloriously man and woman is fully, truly, and gloriously woman.”

https://calvinistinternational.com/2016/09/15/men-women-nature-christian-teaching-two-responses-aimee-byrd/

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“Can’t Men And Women Be Friends?” by Winfred Brisley via The Gospel Coalition

“While Byrd offers a thoughtful consideration of biblical siblingship and rightly draws out heart issues, on this point I fear she goes too far. Though our sanctification enables us to avoid sin, so long as we remain in our fallen state, the possibility of any particular type of sin won’t be removed. It’s certainly possible to go so far in trying to avoid sexual sin that we become pharisaical, potentially hurting others as well as ourselves. But it’s also possible to be overly optimistic about the likelihood of refraining from sin, particularly when placing ourselves in precarious situation”

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/why-cant-friends/

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Doug Wilson’s helpful series through her book:

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/when-aimee-met-harry-and-sally.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/stereotypes-or-manners.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/a-rats-nest-of-a-situation.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/books/gaaa-jezebel.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/what-the-ornithologist-knows.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/like-so-many-dried-beetles.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/books/striking-while-the-irony-is-hot.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/defrauding-a-brother.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/the-great-servant-leadership-mistake.html

https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/concrete-help-is-not-legalism.html

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“Feminism In The Reformed Churches: A Series” by Michael Spangler

http://www.thedailygenevan.com/blog/2020/5/12/Feminism_In_The_Reformed_Churches

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“Review Of Aimee Byrd’s ‘Recovering From Biblical Manhood And Womanhood” by Mark Jones

“In relation to the concerns above, part of Byrd’s project involves the contention that “Christian men and women don’t strive for so–called biblical masculinity or femininity, but Christlikeness. Rather than striving to prove our sexuality, the tone of our sexuality will express itself as we do this…My contributions, my living and moving, are distinctly feminine because I am a female. I do not need to do something a certain way to be feminine (such as receive my mail in a way that affirms the masculinity of the mailman). I simply am feminine because I am female” (p. 114). I would say this goes against a lot of classical Christian thinking on anthropology that I have read. At this point, Byrd misses the vocational aspect of gender. I agree that for a woman to be feminine is “to be” (essentialism), but it is also “to become” (eschatological fruition), which only works if a woman has distinctively feminine aspects. As Mark Garcia has mentioned in his Greystone lectures on theological anthropology, in the Bible the feminine is a virtue complex we are called to, not merely a descriptor of what one is. Otherwise the motherly images of God in Scripture (nurturing, protective, strong in defense and care, etc.) are meaningless and may as well be asexual. It reduces to an amorphous asexual humanity, contradictory to her own agreement earlier that the feminine is meaningfully eschatological. Thus her contention that she doesn’t need to act like a woman because she is a woman (p. 120) is sort of like a Christian saying, “I don’t need to act like a Christian because I am one.” We are holy (positionally) and we are to be holy (progressively). Those sympathetic to her critiques of CBWM will see a statement like the one just mentioned and wonder if Byrd is really offering a better alternative.”

https://calvinistinternational.com/2020/05/11/review-of-aimee-byrds-recovering-from-biblical-manhood-and-womanhood/

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“My Christian Sisters and the Pence Rule (Why Aimee Byrd Is Misreading Scripture)” by G. Shane Morris:

“Byrd’s categorical mistake should be getting clearer, now. The grace of union in Christ does not abolish or supersede the natural distinctions of male and female, husband and wife, brother and sister. It adds to and sanctifies them. Given her apparent reading of the sibling metaphor as abolishing or superseding the biological realities that make close male-female friendship so fraught, it’s fair to ask why she doesn’t follow liberal theologians in taking Galatians 3:28 (‘There is neither Jew nor Greek…slave nor free…male and female’) as an abolition of all natural distinctions between the sexes within the church. Does Byrd (who is an otherwise conservative Protestant) support female presbyters and pastors? If not, why not? There is, after all, ‘neither male nor female’ in Christ Jesus!”

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/troublerofisrael/2018/04/my-christian-sisters-and-the-pence-rule-why-aimee-byrd-is-misreading-scripture/

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“Book Review: Why Can’t We Be Friends, Part I- Houston Is There A Problem?” by Peter Jones:

“Do we have a problem? Yes. But it is not the one Mrs. Byrd assumes. The problem is in a different direction. And if you assume the fire is going out but it is burning hot your solution will only make things worse.”

https://singingandslaying.com/2018/07/16/book-review-why-cant-we-be-friends-part-i-houston-is-there-a-problem/

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“Natural Complementarians: Men, Women, And The Way Things Are” by Alastair Roberts:

“I have identified three different areas where an unhelpful narrowing of focus can be seen in Byrd’s piece. First, she fails to attend to the pronounced empirical differences between men and women as groups that Stanton highlighted. Second, she handles historical understandings of gender roles as if unalloyed ideology, rather than as practical attempts to respond to and address prevailing social realities, realities that arose in part on account of natural differences between the sexes. Third, she restricts her biblical analysis to an unclear term in relative isolation, rather than seeking to ascertain the larger biblical picture. At each of these points, she limits the part that nature, empirical reality, and scriptural narrative are permitted to play in the conversation. As these dimensions are marginalized, unchecked gender ideologies are given ever freer rein. Christian teaching on the subject becomes ever more of an abstraction, slipping its moorings in concrete natural, historical, and biblical reality.”

https://calvinistinternational.com/2016/09/13/natural-complementarians-men-women/

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“Why It’s Very Difficult For Men And Women To Just Be Friends” by Wendy Wilson via The Federalist

“Byrd doesn’t seem to want to give men a say if their perspective contradicts hers, nor does she seem willing to give women who support measures like the Pence rule a fair hearing. Like secular feminists, she is adamant that such safeguards objectify women, reducing them to temptresses while reducing men to predators.”

https://thefederalist.com/2018/05/29/difficult-men-women-just-friends/

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“A Byrd’s-Eye View For Remodeling The Church: A Review of Aimee Byrd’s ‘Recovering From Biblical Manhood & Womanhood’” by Bill Smith at Kuyperian Commentary

“This patriarchal structure that governs the new creation is to be imaged in the world. Men should be leading societies, the church, and the home. Isaiah says that when women and children lead, that is an indication that a society is being punished. (Isa 3.12) Men are created to be oriented to the creation in a way that women are not. Women are created to be oriented toward men in a way that men are not oriented toward women. (1Cor 11.8-9) This is creation glorified, not transcended.

Because a woman can do something doesn’t mean that she ought to do it any time or in any space she wants. The same goes for a man. We have God-given lanes to stay in to use the abilities God has given us in the structures in which he has commanded us to use them. Not to stay in our lanes as men and women will be debilitating to our kingdom mission. Consequently, we don’t need to recover from biblical manhood and womanhood. We need to grow into and delight in the beauty of them.

Despite her best efforts to distance herself from egalitarianism, Byrd, in the end, practically promotes a baptized version of egalitarianism. In the end, I don’t think Byrd has a good eye for redecorating the church, so she needs to be careful about ripping down wallpaper in the church.” 

http://kuyperian.com/a-byrds-eye-view-for-remodeling-the-church-a-review-of-aimee-byrds-recovering-from-biblical-manhood-womanhood/

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“Men Of Straw” by G. Shane Morris via Breakpoint

“Aimee Byrd of Carl Trueman’s popular ‘Mortification of Spin’ podcast recently shared how ‘triggered’ she is by the ‘pervasive’ emphasis on masculinity in the evangelical church. In reaction to a Patheos blog post by one pastor who advised men to give firm handshakes and limit how often they touch other men’s wives, Byrd heaps 1,600 words of scorn and 1950s caricatures on the very idea that we need to raise men to act differently from women. This is the same Aimee Byrd, by the way, who thinks the ‘Mike Pence Rule’ is ‘pickpocketing purity,’ and argues in a recent book that men and women ought to have more frequent and intimate one-on-one friendships with one another (what could go wrong?).”

http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/01/men-of-straw/

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An Anonymous Customer Review (many people are afraid to address Byrd publicly since her followers punish people with slander, doxing, and cancelling)

“As one who holds to the complementarian position, I did not find the book particularly helpful or insightful.
The critique that there should not be separate bibles for men and women was odd. Men and women use the same bible. Just because a publisher decides that it would be nice to supplement a particular bible translation with devotions for men or women is not the same thing as saying that those men and women have different bibles.

What is more troubling though was the exercise throughout the book of ‘finding the woman’s voice’ in scripture. The Word of God is primarily and preeminently God’s voice: ‘for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will’; and the Word of God was delivered by men, ‘men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God’ 2 Peter 1:21.
The notion that we need to find ‘women’s voices’ in Scripture is deceptive and contrary to the doctrine of divine plenary inspiration.

Indeed, there are women quoted in the Bible and whom we acknowledge and value. Some, such as Deborah and Huldah, were even identified as prophets (or prophetesses). But unlike Aimee’s description, they were neither authors of the Scriptures, nor functioned as authenticators of the Scripture. Throughout the book, Aimee uses terms like ‘gynocentric interruption’ to describe narrative discourse that features women in the midst of the ‘androcentric’ text. She characterizes the women portrayed in scripture as ‘tradents’ of the faith, without regard to the technical use of the term. Another claim is that women actively participated in the role of canonical selection which contradicts the nature of how the church received the canon of scripture.

Furthermore, a large portion of the book puts forth the egalitarian arguments for passages of scripture that specifically relate to the ways in which women participated in the covenant community, both in the old and new testaments. In so doing, she overstates her case. Do we need to continue to grow in how we value and see how God used women in the scriptures? Absolutely! Do we need to invent or borrow categories from those who have taken unacceptable positions on the nature of God’s Word? Absolutely not. The book puts forth exegesis of New Testamant passages used by egalitarian scholars who argue for women’s ordination and equal access to the pastoral/ priestly offices with men. While Aimee stops short of affirming female ordination, the exegesis by egalitarians is copiously used throughout without any practical engagement with traditional scholarship of the passages under review. Finally, the book neglects any engagement with 1 Timothy 2:12-15 or Titus 2, which was disappointing considering the nature of the topic. If Aimee wants women (and men) to ‘recover from’ their biblical understanding of womanhood and manhood, those passages seem important to the endeavor.

I cannot recommend this book to other readers, except for those who are equipped to understand the many serious errors within and to understand the ways readers will be misled. The idea that the church needs to value women more is important. This is not the answer because it swings the pendulum over to the other side and invites as many issues and errors as it attempts to dispel.”

Originally: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2SFCXXNCXEHC4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07TF3TC2J

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“I would now turn to plainly warn the reader against the errors that render this work ultimately a threat to the sound doctrine and practice of Christ’s flock. In so doing, it is my aim not to mock nor ridicule, but rather to labor to recover those who are being drawn towards error.”

“A Review of Recovering From Biblical Manhood & Womanhood (Part 1)” by Pastor Bryan Peters

https://westportexperiment.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/rfbmwreviewpart1.pdf ‬

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“In conclusion, while Byrd does have a few legitimate grievances over some practices in the wider church, her book is soaked through with an unbiblical hermeneutic and unbiblical interpretations of the biblical texts. Her hermeneutic is subjectivist in nature, contrary to the Reformed objectivist hermeneutic. She is less than honest about her opponents, constantly misrepresenting them and doubling down on her misrepresentations when confronted about it. Her interpretations of difficult texts are contrary to what the texts actually teach, and no amount of hand-waving against “biblicism” is going to save her from that. Byrd’s book therefore is contrary to sound theology, and undermines the Reformed Confessions. While she claims to be Reformed, her hermeneutics is not Reformed. The way she does theology is not the Reformed manner of doing theology, and this book is not recommended for anyone wanting to know about biblical manhood or womanhood, or even what the Reformed tradition’s view on women in the church is and should be.”

“Review of Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by Aimee Byrd”

http://puritanreformed.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-review-recovering-from-biblical.html

If You Aren’t The Victim

  “...Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

If you aren't the victim, you are the perpetrator. Or so they say.

What is it with kids (men, women, actual kids, and uniquely-self-identified individuals) these days? Well, sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning say that we are in the midst of a transition of moral cultures, from a society that used to be honor based, then was dignity based, to one which is victim based.

In an honor-based society, people were obligated to maintain their reputation through direct, forceful responses to insults or slights. Think duels and such. In a dignity based culture, people maintain their dignity by ignoring insults and slights, “rising above them” and then using the force of government or other authorities to step in if things get crazy. But in a victimhood culture, the first one to cross the victimhood finish line wins! Slights and insults are to be uncovered, their naked wickedness publicly exposed and then assaulted through “empowered victims” who “are given a voice” and “a seat at the table” where they can use power to eradicate “systemic injustices.”

The implications for educational environments are already being seen. During my first undergraduate and graduate studies (1993-2001), I did not experience this approach. I reentered the education environment in 2008 for graduate studies in nursing, and I’m working on my second nursing degree now (update: finished in 2016! Now I’m a nurse practitioner in family medicine—Whoop!). At both a major private university and two public universities, I have personally witnessed the massive inroads this way of thinking has made. “Safe spaces” are being created for the student who is “triggered” by an “uncomfortable discussion.” Special educational plans are being developed for students individually, so that their special specialness is never slighted and always celebrated. Aggrievement processes and sensitivity discussions occupy a large percentage of lecture content. And “I don’t feel safe” isn’t about being mugged or raped, it’s about being “attacked” verbally, which sometimes means simply overhearing something you don’t like.

As others have noted, a victimhood culture creates perpetual conflict: drama, inefficiency, perpetual discussion and litigation.

Where does this leave us as Christians? Here are a few modest proposals for navigating this new cultural morass.

1. Be wise.
   As people around us (and we ourselves) are influenced by this way of thinking, notice it, discern when it is happening, and watch your step. Perpetual fighting, visits to HR, social media shaming, and lawsuits are in your future. So pay attention, think, be careful: “The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.” Proverbs 14:8

2. Don’t let this nonsense infiltrate the church.
   I have already begun to witness both within the churches and its governments the sad drift toward this approach. Is the aggrieved to be listened to more because he or she (or ze?) is more “hurt” than the one they accuse? Are we to parse the words of others to find hidden oppressive meanings and subtle “attacks” against us or whomever we are choosing to “give a voice?” Do we foster a “brokenness” culture in our churches where being a “beautiful mess” is lauded? Unless we see that this victimhood culture approach is a substitute for biblical living, we will begin to co-opt this foolish way in our lives and congregations.

Follow the Ten Commandments.
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul” Psalm 19:7 The way of wisdom is expressed perfectly in God’s law, and it is a light to our feet so we will sufficiently know how to live in this world. The days are evil, but the way of the righteous will prosper.

How do the Ten Commandments provide an alternative to the victimhood culture? Primarily they do this by rightly orienting all of our relationships under the saving kingship of the Triune God. Because He is our Savior in Christ, we now have the true and living God over us as our only “end game.” Our finish line is not dominance over others, by the means honor cultures, dignity cultures, or victimhood cultures offer. Our finish line is the full maturity of the complete man in Jesus Christ. The Ten Commandments lived out in faith, hope, and love point the way forward. If we believe this and are buoyed up in hope by God’s promises given to that way of life, we will navigate this cultural change just fine.

(originally posted at Torrey Gazette November 2015)