@NeilShenvi I’ve always had the same innate desire to be polite to the machine but it’s unnecessarily expensive to do so and it humanizes AI in our minds
These conservative purity tests are making us look ridiculous. @gavinortlund is outspokenly...
1. Pro-life
2. Not affirming of LGBT agenda / sexual ethics
3. Complementarian
5. Pro conservative historical retrieval for many other ethical, philosophical, & theological issues
It is sad to see @megbasham do a tour of interviews with non-Christian conservatives to promote a book criticizing legitimate Pastors like @gavinortlund over secondary political issues.
Who is more your brother? The person with similar political or theological views to you?
🧵 Honestly, @gavinortlund is probably one of the most fair, charitable, well-researched, and well-presented Christians with an online platform. He’s not reductive, as many of his videos are intricately long and well-cited. He’s a strong defender of classical theism and has done great work defending Anselmian theology. I don’t consider myself Protestant anymore, but Gavin is one of the best apologists of it that I’ve ever seen. He’s well versed in historical theology and is a formidable opponent for Eastern and Roman apologists. His ecumenical spirit is also a net-positive for the church as theological triage (which he is also well versed in) is something often lost amongst Christians in our era.
The criticism he’s receiving by other brothers and sisters of Christ shows their profound lack of understanding of the current situation, despite claiming to “know what time it is,” they really don’t. They are going after a dude who’s bringing classical theology back to the sad state of evangelicalism. Cutting one vid he did on climate change and pasting an odd critique of him in a book titled “shepherds for sale” then calling him a “bully” when he tries to rightly defend/clarify himself. Then critics try and dig up excerpted vids to paint him as some liberal to cancel him is precisely what’s wrong with the present state of evangelicalism.. like notice that that’s where they go first. They look for “left-wing content.” They just can’t break partisan lense. The goal is to paint an opponent as left-wing and say that settles it. If they try and complicate that narrative then the next step is to paint him as being “reactive” to the “truth.”
It’s crazy seeing people like Wolfe & Basham (who are much more known for their political personality than a theological one) critique Gavin for being a Big Eva political sell out, when he’s far more known for his defense of Anselm, classical theology, and Protestantism than left-wing political ambitions.
Here’s my ultimate problem. Basham narrows in on leftism. Whereas Gavin’s focus is much larger and deeper; “seeking to exhibit irenicism in its defense of Protestantism and historic Christianity, and harnesses historical retrieval and theological triage to champion unity in the gospel.”
It’s bonkers to see all you conservative Prots who take to social media to defend classical theology and scholastic resourcement pile on someone like Ortlund for a short climate change vid when he’s been a scholar in the fight with you, debating, publishing, and researching, for a long time now to revive historic Christianity in a very shallow reductive evangelical world.
All of our guys: “Are you Trinitarian?”
@gavinortlund: “Yes.”
“Are you a WASP?”
“Yes.”
“Reformed?”
“Yes.”
“Biblical inerrancy?”
“Absolutely.”
“Against abortion and homosexuality?”
“Of course.”
“Support male-only eldership?”
“Definitely.”
“Climate change is a lie?”
“Eh, I don’t think so.”
“So you’re saying climate change is a gospel issue?”
“What? No.”
“No you definitely are.”
“………….. bruh.”
This proves the point. Gavin does not say that it's irresponsible to differ on the near consensus on climate change as is claimed in the book. He says it is irresponsible to do so without doing the necessary reading and looking at the data. Not the same thing.
So many are saying God intervened and saved former President Trump's life. I get the sentiment, but I do not believe God intervened here - or ever, for that matter. Let me explain....
To say that God intervenes is to imply that most of the time God is up in Heaven twirling His anthropomorphic thumbs without very much to do. Every once in a while, He sees things getting a little out of balance and off-kilter so He reaches down to "intervene" and get things back on the right track.
But that is not the picture scripture paints of God. God is not only the Creator of the universe, but He is also its Sustainer. Hebrews 1:3 states that Christ "upholds all things by the word of His power."
Every atom in the entire and incomprehensibly vast universe is being held in its proper place this very moment by the constant exertion of God's power. There is never a time when God is not working. There is never a time when He is not sustaining. If God were to ever cease working even for a single millisecond, the entire universe - right along with you and me - would experience instant de-creation. Everything would cease to exist.
Did God protect Trump's life yesterday? Yes, of course He did. Was that His intervention? To be theologically accurate - No. It was one fleeting moment and one tiny expression of His unceasing work, providential rule over and ongoing sustainment of His own creation.
Selah.