"By What Standard" Trailer, the 11th Commandment, and the CT Outrage Machine

Greetings and welcome to the dividing line. My name is James White. Coming to you live from beautiful evergreen, Colorado. We come to you live from up here each July. Well, not all of July, but it's a good time to to be up here and not in Phoenix.

I've seen a few one elevens one twelves down there while I've been gone. Not really missing that but up here and It was because I was coming up here. I had been up here A couple of weeks ago. I flew up that time and This time I drove up after spending some time in New York with Jeff and Luke.

We were doing some stuff on Mormonism while we were there and this time I drove up which is what I normally do. So I can bring my own bike. There's nothing like having your own bike. I can show you that especially on a hundred mile bike ride anyway.

While I was driving up on Tuesday of This week I stopped in as I recall I think that was in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Maybe.

Maybe is before that and I I Don't I don't remember in that particular area where you're in Sort of corner of Utah into Colorado is not the most remarkable area of travel So it's hard to remember exactly where things are.

Anyway, I stopped get some gas and I got a text message from Tom Buck the troublemaker from Texas now the doctoral troublemaker from Texas and He basically said well, I'm glad someone's still taking my phone calls and I'm like I'm literally standing there Putting gas in the car having just Barely gotten my car up to the pump because some guy decided with this Massive long trailer that he deserved all the pumps at that particular gas station at that time And he was gonna go in and buy some chips and have a hot dog or something and leave all the rest of us sitting out there anyways.

It's rude. Anyhow. And I'm like Talking about and he says you don't know what's going on and I'm like no I'm driving to Colorado and I Don't think it's overly wise to be driving on interstates While Twittering or Facebooking or anything else and.

So.

He starts filling me in on the fact that the trailer for by what standard had come out and the world had exploded and So I stopped long enough to Get a get a bite there. They had an A &W at the gas station warning.

The A &W at the gas station Grand Junction. Don't do it. Got some. I got some chicken fingers that I'm pretty certain if I thrown them down like that they would have bounced. Rubbery. Oh, I think it was a rubber chicken they got instead of the real thing.

Anyway, it was. So I was there long enough though waiting for the rubbery chicken fingers to cook.

To.

Start looking at some stuff seeing a few things on my phone while not moving obviously.

And.

Then I got a hold of rich and said hey, could you look at this? I've heard that was Tom told me this this and this. Could you look this up and send me something about this and and. So I started catching up but to be honest with you the initial explosion had all taken place while I was.

Blissfully or not so blissfully Moving along various interstate highways. Getting to it's a third. It was almost 14-hour trip. That's a long time. I'm sort of glad that happened because I got I wasn't apart.

Now full disclosure I had been sent a link to the trailer With a password and I could have watched it. The problem was it was sent. I think. It may have been the day that I had a I flew back from New York six hours worth of delays.

Got got home much later than I expected to. Preach on Sunday had to pack on Monday leave on Tuesday.

Just.

We did the divide of the radio free Geneva on Monday. I did not have time to look at I had not seen the trailer Until I heard all the rest of stuff about it. That's an advantage and a disadvantage. So I was up here in Colorado before I finally was able to fire it up and Watch it, but I already knew what some of the conflicts were what some of the accusations were even before that.

Even at that I had to roll it back to find the big point of conflict. They won the second blur shot.

And.

Then right around that same time or just before that The statements started coming out coordinated statements from the heads of Baptist some Baptist institutions. Basically saying we shouldn't do this.

You know Eleventh Commandment to the wall. It's the Eleventh Commandment has never been written anywhere, but it has been engraved in the soul of Southern Mass Convention. That's the best way to put it.

And if you're not sure the 11th commandment is the Eleventh Commandment is that Southern Baptists are not allowed to criticize fellow Southern Baptists in public as and and the Eleventh Commandment has a gradation just sort of like a like a Graded curve, you know for the guy in the pew but the the higher up you get as soon as you work for a Southern Baptist entity of any kind as.

Many people found out a year and a half ago a year and a quarter ago. When they dared say something about what was being said at the MLK 50 stuff or what followed after that? Where your job was being threatened for what you put on Twitter or Facebook?

The more authority you have or the higher your position then the more the Eleventh Commandment applies to you and. The idea is if we if we don't have public fights, we'll all stay unified. Think about that one for a while because it speaks to what you think is the basis of unity and The only kind of unity that could possibly continue to have any meaning in a culture.

That is going to put it be putting more and more and more pressure upon us as believers.

The.

Foundation or unity will have to become more and more and more.

Defined and.

Central and definitional and. That's not what you get when you. Have a unity that is based out of. Let's just not talk about what we disagree on and we're not talking here.

About.

Arguments about eschatology or issues regarding church polity. We really really are talking about the future of the Southern Baptist Convention. For example today, there is a brouhaha going on because someone outside of.

Well outside of Christianity as a whole not even a believer, but someone who is very much involved in the analysis of critical theory in Western culture. Responded to.

The.

Rather mundane in my Opinion statement from Union Theological Seminary that social justice is the gospel. Well, you'd expect that from Union. Union has been there for decades. Union responded to the statement of social justice in the gospel by denying scriptural sufficiency inerrancy.

You know, it's that they are the very essence of this and The idea is not that Union is a Southern Baptist Seminary because obviously it's not nowhere near it but that. This is the trajectory. This is the direction that critical theory and cultural Marxism and social justice and whatever terms you want to use to describe the complex of Concepts that are being used in light of the degradation of Education in the West over the past 50 years that has removed Critical thought logic reason and the subjugation of emotion.

To.

Transcendental values. Has removed that as the central aspect of what defines mature thought let alone mature Christian thought. These complex of ideas are utilizing that fundamental cultural change at that very important level to create systemic change across society.

And now what we're seeing as if a a switch was flipped in March of 2018. The the memo went out go. We're ready.

Go.

Part of this has to do I honestly believe if you'll take the time again, this is something it takes time this is why. The social media platforms are producing schism and division amongst people who used to walk together is because we have bought into the need for immediacy at the cost of depth.

Immediate responses that are shallow and Shallow responses always appeal to the emotions. We are human beings who can create the image of God. He has given us minds. We are called to have the mind of Christ as a result.

We as believers especially are shocked to see within the church this kind of thing happening and The speed with which we are asked to respond to things is breeding this incredible shallowness a lack of depth a lack of connecting the dots and instead an elevation of emotionalism of Emoting.

Rather than devoting serious time to reflection to consider The history of ideas the relationship to one another what is the long-term effect of these things? All that stuff has been pretty much put to the side because in our society.

Those.

Transcendental truths That we once believed as image bearers of God we were to embrace to value and then in a disciplined fashion to apply in our thought. Always keeping our emotions bridled and disciplined and under control.

That's no longer what we see going on in the culture amongst the cultural elites in politics. And now as of last year We've and it's been in liberalism for a very very long time within what calls itself the Christian Church.

But now all of a sudden we see it in our own ranks and we are left wondering what in the world Is going on. What in the world happened. That's background. A Couple things about the trailer. A I have nothing to do with it.

I Like I said did not even see it until after the explosion took place. I would like to start with a word of criticism.

And.

I I do so having thought about these things for a few days.

And.

Trying to put aside the emotionalism of the outrage That has been generated. I think purposefully. That doesn't turn you into conspiratorialist. There is cooperation amongst people even who have different motivations.

There can be cooperation to try to accomplish things. I mean just look at the current political situation. The one thing that I did not understand when I first saw it. But you see when I don't understand something it doesn't automatically mean that I'm going to Question the motives or in impugn the the Reasons for that what white people did what they did.

That type of emotional response. We have to reject it. But I did not understand. I fully understand why for example.

The.

Interviews that were done at the Southern Baptist Convention focused upon the critical resurgence. Because and by the way for the few people who don't know this I'm not a Southern Baptist. I was I was ordained in the Southern Baptist Church.

I've taught in Southern Baptist institutions. But I am not associated with Southern Baptist Convention in that way. I have many many friends who are and I think that those of us in who are Reformed Baptists Those of us who are conservative Presbyterians should be a very concerned About what's going on in the SPC as a whole.

Because we we're in this together whether we whether we like it or not. We're in this together.

The.

Conservative resurgence is being undone by this movement. That's that's obvious. The redefinition of inerrancy the redefinition of scriptural sufficiency the redefinition of gender roles. It is one social justice train blowing through the front door and the brakes have not been applied and.

And.

So it has everything to do with the conservative resurgence that has everything to do with what happened in the past and Why that's being undone now. So the discussions concerning Scriptural sufficiency identity politics critical theory and especially the resolution 9 at the convention what took place at that time.

The the issues surrounding that the identification of critical theory is merely a analytical tool. And the things associated with that. Makes perfect sense. If you're going to address those things, you've got it.

That's what you got to talk about. No, no choice. But what I did not understand Was the Matt Chandler context. When I saw the brief clip of Chandler saying something about we're not experts I knew what that was from.

I had not watched all of that. But I knew it was about the sexual abuse stuff and I'm guessing I didn't want to actually contact the founders guys and ask questions about the production of the material so I wouldn't be unduly influenced by that but My my Understanding is I could be wrong, but what I thought was the video of the brief video of Beth Moore, I.

Think.

Was from the same Thing at the SPC about sexual abuse, I'm not sure if that's what the Matt Chandler one was from. I think it might have been. I don't know but I knew the context was the same of those two and.

By the way, I think that's where the Rachel Rachel Denhollander Blurred vision a blurred image came from too. I think it's from the same thing.

And.

I don't know. I don't know what that has to do with the film other than this theory and here's where I. So much of the response has just been your standard outrage impugning of motives. These people just they're just the worst people on the planet and so we're going to just assume the worst motives for anything the idea of.

In fact, if you even said well, let's give the benefit of the doubt and see the movie. You need to repent you sinner and I have tweets of that. I Want up right now? I wrote on Twitter on July 24th. So here is my novel idea how about we wait till the film comes out listen to it carefully take notes and Discuss the topics with open Bibles and a commitment to use the same standards We use for the central doctrines of faith and discussing these controversial issues.

It could it that be any more vanilla and could that be any more non-disputable. I Mean what I'm calling for is patience. Let's not make a decision based upon a three-minute trailer. Secondly Careful hearing of its arguments because you don't make arguments in a three-minute trailer that it's a little bit more time to do that.

That would be the listening carefully taking notes Discuss the topics with open Bibles. Let's actually Do what we say we believe. That we believe and believe in scriptural sufficiency and go to the word With a commitment to use the same standards we use the central doctrines faith.

In other words, let's not allow critical theory. Let's not allow whatever the popular thing is right now.

To.

Determine our Exegesis, but let's use the same hermeneutical principles that we use to defend the deity of Christ resurrection atonement everything else.

To.

Analyze what the film says. That shouldn't be controversial. But a fellow by the name of Jason Harris to Jason Harris on Twitter Responded to that tweet With these words. This is the sort of abject moral ineptitude That has made it increasingly difficult to endorse you.

I Urge you brother with deep sadness to serious soul-searching and repentance. Okay, so.

My.

Novel idea of Patiently waiting for the video to come out. Listen to it carefully honestly and discuss it on the basis of having an open Bible and sound hermeneutical principles is according to Jason Harris who identifies himself as a theologian a.

A.

Abject moral ineptitude that should require on my part serious soul-searching and repentance. This is the kind this is when I when I've been talking about outrage. This is what I'm talking about. Another guy just a few moments ago that I've seen before before Jay Faust.

Joel Faust. This was literally 857 this was half an hour ago. The trailer is the problem. I don't care if the follow-up movie is the Jesus movie remastered. The trailer itself is an objectionable product production worthy of rebuke.

So there you go. We have to worry about the movie. Don't have to worry about what its arguments are. We can respond simply based upon this. This is what I mean when I'm talking about just abject outrage.

That is.

Filled.

Has filled social media now back to my criticism, um, I Don't know what the sexual abuse scandal has to do with the substance of the film, but here's my guess and This is what this is how you do it when you actually are willing to to go.

You know, and and I know I know Tom Askew. We don't call each other up on the phone and chat about the Tour de France though that stage today. Oh, yeah. That's terrible if that ends up determining who won that.

Anyway sadness, um, and if you don't know that don't worry about it only my fellow Cycling fans understand what happened today. But we don't do that. Tom and I we know each other. We've spoken at numerous conferences together.

We get along real well. But you know, he's there in the Southern Baptist Convention, I'm not there any longer and so. But I but I know he's he's just Extremely careful. He does not he does not want to.

He has been forced by conviction to deal with this issue. I can just tell he would rather Not be dealing with it at all. But he's been forced to recognize that What gave them the opportunity to Make the historical argument that the founders of the best convention Included a large number of committed reformed men.

That conservative resurgence that was necessary for that because liberals could care less what the founders actually believe. That's the whole point that that conservative resurgence is.

Doomed.

If the the current social justice invasion Being led by Russell Moore and by others in high positions have taken very high positions in the convention is Allowed to go unchecked. So here's my guess. My guess is that the connection that if it's even a part of the film will be drawn is that One of the primary criticisms of The panel at the Southern Baptist Convention that was supposed to be talking about the issue of sexual abuse.

Many people on that panel hijacked the topic to attempt to promote egalitarianism and a fundamental reorientation of gender roles in the thought of The leadership is about Southern Baptist Convention and therefore down the line in the congregations themselves, that's my guess and I don't know.

That's the best way to have approached it. But my guess is that that's where it came from. Open to being corrected, you know if the film comes out and there's a whole bunch of stuff on that I don't see that I have no reason to believe that but that would disprove my theory.

But the film comes out and that's what that's the connection is made is that there is this egalitarian movement and it is. Impacting gender roles and hey what we've talked about regarding Beth Moore the removal of that whole section homosexuality from the book without notation Without even noting it until it was discovered and then hey What's going on here?

Oh, well, we just felt this out of the other thing you know, that's not how to do it and. So maybe that's where it was coming from. That's that's my guess.

Anyway.

Must understand that There were two there's two sources here of the outrage and They are. What's interesting is you have two very very different Forces here coming together in an unusual collaboration.

The first is as mentioned before the 11th commandment of the Southern Baptist Convention thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Southern Baptist Which may have helped in the past During the period of the conservative resurgence, but now it has been co-opted by the very forces that would turn The trajectory of Southern Baptist seminaries into future Union theological seminaries.

It must be understood that The continued obedience to the 11th commandment will result in the fundamental degradation and denial of the night and When you have individuals who are willing to quite simply in a fundamentally political fashion Utilize funding from sources that most Southern Baptists would be shocked are actually having influence upon the Southern Baptist Convention and upon reformed seminaries in general.

And utilizing political terminology and mechanisms.

Are.

Purposefully seeking to alter the course of the convention and It's Its application of Biblical principles to the current social system and the current social situation. That I think is really really where?

The 11th commandment is allowing them to do this almost unchecked and so when founders comes out and says we are going to address and have you noticed that. That as long as somebody appeared in.

The.

Trailer. The assumption is that person is being identified as a heretic or a non brother or whatever else it might be. And one of the things that I know I've been criticized for and I know Tom Askelton criticized for is Attempting to deal with this issue as if we are dealing with brothers to take Seriously the profession and to try to keep this even this debate in the sharp disagreement within the bounds of fellowship.

The assumption on the other side is Interestingly enough they don't do that for us. You know, I just read read one hey you need to repent. You're this is this is sin on your part. You're you're out there.

Or let me just read you. A tweet from dr. James R. Riley. This was This morning a couple hours ago.

Two hours ago.

Dr. James R. Riley. Evangelicals do not have to accept understand or respect the teaching slash application of social justice. When they refuse it highlights the fact that they have never had a true encounter with Jesus Christ.

It's hard to understand oppression when you've always been the oppressor. So there you have someone. Plainly operating within the categories of critical theory. Oppression. Oppressor. That's what everybody is.

Doesn't matter what you yourself have done. You're a part of a group. This is critical theory. Run amok. And what's it being used to say? Everybody. Christian first ones and. So we're hearing this more and more.

It's the logical outcome of the application of critical theory. So that's what's being said. That's that's what's out there. We're not making this up even though there are people who are saying that we're creating all of this that none of it really exists.

I'm not sure how they how they say this how they get away with it given the obvious nature of these things right in front of our eyes, but.

Anyway.

I've been criticized. Tom Astrell's been criticized for attempting to pursue this issue amongst believers and hence not utilizing the political mechanisms that people on the regressive left are well known for using.

And what's causing a lot of us certain causes me a tremendous amount of pain is to see Inside what is called the fellowship of the external church the very same methodologies and actions being undertaken that we see every single day in the political machinery around us.

Which is not much of a if a machine is supposed to accomplish something. Our machines busted and the same things happening within within the church the exact same methodology is being utilized over and over again.

So I just I just don't think.

That.

This knee-jerk reaction that I'm that what founders is saying is that everyone that they showed a picture of is.

A demon.

Or.

Principality in power. I Could not believe how many people saying rational people in other areas We're actually thinking that what you do is Whatever is on the screen when the audio is taking place Automatically means that there's this connection being made and you're accusing this person that accusing that person of that.

Especially with the blurred image thing was like really seriously. Because as I pointed out one of the first things I pointed out is if you go like three minutes and 15 seconds into the end of the trailer right for the end There's a close-up of Tom Askew not looking overly happy either.

And the narrator is saying we've been played well automatically because everybody was saying every frame is chosen and it's a it's all a purposefully you're supposed to be doing that's the other thing and That means that the founders were saying that Tom Askew has been playing.

It was really face palmingly amazing the stuff that was that was being said If it was if it were consistently applied, but of course, it's not you only apply it to what you want to apply it To and that is that that that other thing was just random.

That was just but this is purposeful.

Whatever.

The assumption that I'm going to make In looking at the trailer is I know these guys have good motives their fellow believers in Christ and they believe in the sufficiency of Scripture and therefore I'm going to assume That the reason that the sexual abuse quotations were used was in relationship to the egalitarian movement and that was explicitly Put out there With the quotation from Dwight McKissick from the debate that he had with Tom Askew.

So.

For me.

Was pretty obvious. There wasn't any reason for all of the beating of the chests and the Burning of the Tom Askew figurines that were going on in in Twitter and obviously for me. Since I'm the object of that kind of behavior and treatment all the time then I want to be somewhat sensitive to not necessarily just jump on that bandwagon and.

So.

All of that being said The 11th commandment is the one source. So you have certain people Embedded in the power structure of the SPC. Who have decided that the SPC needs to go this direction? Social justice.

Movement.

Again, we've discussed social justice over and over and over again. We've pointed out the vast difference between a biblically defined concept of justice and Identity politics racialism gender confusion egalitarianism the whole Gamut of Tools that are being used to disassemble and take apart the past to create a new future.

But it's not a new future based upon biblical categories or a biblical vision of mankind the church the gospel things like that. It's a very secularly defined perspective that Most of us believe will be absolutely disastrous.

And in fact people like me believe is a part of God's judgment upon Upon Western culture that has had so much light and has sinned against that light. But I said it was there were two sources for the outrage.

The other is simply the social justice movement as a whole and the idea. That of what we're seeing all across this is this is the same thing the exact same motivation the part of these people that motivates the students who run into classrooms or amphitheaters Stand outside.

When a conservative is attempting to speak in a university and bang on windows beat on drums. Scream like children. And we're seeing this all across Western culture. We've seen it for at least a decade now and You know that if you attempt to say anything against the narrative.

That you're going to encounter people like this. There is only one side that is allowed to speak. Only the oppressed. Get to speak and If you're a part of the oppressor class, you can speak as long as you do.

So as a Demi Let's let's cross categories here because that's what's being asked of. People that would not be considered in one of the oppressed groups. Intersectionality again, if you have a low intersectionality score, then you have to act as a Demi.

You have to act as a person.

Subjugated I.

Agree, and I am bad and my ancestors were bad and Western culture has always been bad. And the morals and ethics we used to have about marriage is such a bad. And so I will confess to all these things and I will I will stay on my knees with my head bowed.

Then you can speak as long as you continue to just mouth what you're told to mouth. That's that's how it works In the critical theory world and so they're the those the only people who can speak. Just watch what happens.

When someone who plainly is going to say, you know, what this is self-destructive. It's going to it's going to ruin everything. It doesn't make any sense. Let alone says hey, how about we actually debate this?

Yeah, that's never gonna happen. As soon as they arrange a meeting anywhere watch the very same outrage machine. Kick into gear now. We've almost become accustomed to this. That's not a good thing. But we've almost become accustomed to this in the society.

Now. We're seeing it in the church and. Now we're seeing hey if you dare talk about Intersectionality if you dare talk about.

The.

Race relations and say that the paradigm that is being forced upon us. Which is not a biblical paradigm by any stretch of the imagination and could not survive. Biblical debate, but you'll never hear a biblical debate on that subject.

If you dare raise these issues and say this is an error. We will shout you down. You need to repent. You need to be shamed. How dare you have already rated the tweets? Of our rigid where. That's where my.

Daring to not jump on the burn the founders to the ground bandwagon.

Sinful, you're blind. You need to join in.

What in the world has happened? Saying the same people who only two years ago was said. Hey chill. Let's see what the video says. Let's analyze it. Or now. Oh, no. Got it. Got it. Act now got it or you're you're no longer my friend.

I'm not gonna be a supporter of you.

So.

Those are your two sources and.

I.

Don't even know how to demonstrate that the second source is indicative of Fourth stage cultural cancer. I don't I don't it's so obvious. It's so plain When you cannot have Liberty of thought you cannot have meaningful exchange.

You cannot have debate When one side is just simply told to shut up You can not speak. And I think that's what you know people have objected to. Well, why was that one thing? Included in the trailer where you just need to be quiet and listen because That's exactly what we're being told there cannot be any Interaction there cannot be give-and-take We are to a we are to allow the imposition of racialist categories Rather than Christian categories, and I'm sorry not a one of you people and you know it Not a one of you people can back any of this up in a debate.

You know it You know that you have absolutely Picked your verses But anybody with any background could demonstrate that you're doing it out of context Against the apostolic witness against the practice of the Apostles in the early church that what you are Suggesting and demanding we embrace would have led to the absolute destruction of the apostolic church in the Roman Empire, you know it.

That's why you will never think you'll never do it and So the only way since you can't debate it and when the debate is to just shut the other side up based on racial categories based on sexual categories gender categories.

Whatever.

This same Train that has mowed over the core of Western society Law ethics morality that was based upon the shared Imago Dei of man. Well, that's now busted through the front door of the reform slash evangelical church and that's the situation that we that we face and.

So what are your hearing calls for? Boycotting founders and don't let them come to convention next year and. You know the whole nine yards. It's it's just a.

A.

Full-on frontal attack and crusade. Impugning motives. Doing everything that they then say founders is doing. So founders can say we need to talk about these subjects. That means you're attacking these people.

So you're a terrible horrible person. This is the very essence of what we see on our university campuses what we see in politics what we see amongst cultural elites. It's just it's everything and now it's it's in the church as well.

And that's the source of the Outrage and that's the only way to describe it the outrage that has been expressed at the very.

At the.

Willingness of someone to stand up and say, you know what this this is not right let's talk about this and shine a light on it and.

And.

No, we will shut you down. We will shut you down. And so. Immediately there were media sources ostensible journalists Who were on top of this and just accepting every accusation and every you know I know we're just not to be associated with this and that where it's not allowed to allow this to be discussed it was so obviously coordinated and so obviously a part of a General.

Intentional movement.

That I don't know how anybody who didn't just sit back for a second go. Oh, that's pretty weird. How fast that's happening. Hmm and look at that. It's almost like they had that written up already. It's that's right.

Not allowed to not allowed to recognize those things anymore. I guess I don't know. So let's talk about the the non-issue and I I'm sorry. I think it's a non-issue When you have something like this that the best way to derail something like this is to jump on something invest it with massive emotional weight and Hope it blows the project up and that's what happened with the Rachel Denholm Denholm.

When I first started hearing this I was just like, I'm sorry, they're saying what what's what's going on what and.