Is Douglas Wilson dangerous?

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No one

No one

Puritan Board Freshman
Greetings, I have been reading posts about Douglas Wilson on here for a few months now but most of them seem a bit older and I wanted to know if anything has changed regrading his status as a false teacher? The reason I ask is because I am seeing many reformed Baptists not only recommend him but cite him frequently. Specifically, My former churches elder board was a fan of him. Any thoughts would be helpful and appreciated.
 
He is very dangerous, both theologically and pastorally. He formally holds to the 2007 FV Statement. He has not repudiated the essence of FV, merely the name. He also encouraged a parishioner to marry a pedophile and he sided with rapists (as defined by the law) in court.
 
BayouHuguenot said:
He is very dangerous, both theologically and pastorally. He formally holds to the 2007 FV Statement. He has not repudiated the essence of FV, merely the name. He also encouraged a parishioner to marry a pedophile and he sided with rapists (as defined by the law) in court.
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Could you send me links on this. Then why are reformed Baptists recommending him if he is do dangerous this is what I don't understand
 
I think we have to consider matters and teachings that require humility and potential disqualification.

I'm too swift to write people off. However, I would look for DW to acknowledge shortcomings and poor judgment as a teaching authority and church leader, if warranted. I tend to avoid the 'where there's smoke there's fire' types. Too many solid teachers and leaders to go there.

Just some initial thoughts.
 
No one said:
Then why are reformed Baptists recommending him if he is do dangerous this is what I don't understand
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Douglas Wilson and others offer an appealing alternative to the flimsy, feminized version of Christianity that has in our day spread its shallow roots so far. There are Christians who, fleeing from that evil, hurry into the waiting jaws of wolves. They go from one social justice gospel to another on the other end of the spectrum. Either way, once they have made social issues the main thing, they've lost sight of Christ.
 
Tom Hart said:
Douglas Wilson and others offer an appealing alternative to the flimsy, feminized version of Christianity that has in our day spread its shallow roots so far. There are Christians who, fleeing from that evil, hurry into the waiting jaws of wolves. They go from one social justice gospel to another on the other end of the spectrum. Either way, once they have made social issues the main thing, they've lost sight of Christ
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What should I do if I run into teachers/ pastors online or in churches who recommend Wilson?
 
Reformed Baptists are flocking to him because James White (Calvinist baptist) has grown closer to him. RB like White. But James White himself is dangerous. But also I’d say what others said above too.
 
Yes he's dangerous
Check out the Facebook group "Examining Doug Wilson & Moscow, ID"
 
He's dangerous, but no more so than the church fathers some here seem to hold in unnecessarily high esteem.

Some here confuse their sour grapes with objective fact.

He's a mixed bag - so mixed that I don't recommend him uncritically. On most formal doctrinal issues and matters of exegesis he's got nothing to say that I can't hear better from others. BUT... And here's the big but: He's better than almost everyone out there when it comes to matters of analyzing the culture and thinking in terms of a robust Christian engagement with culture.
 
Romans922 said:
Reformed Baptists are flocking to him because James White (Calvinist baptist) has grown closer to him. RB like White. But James White himself is dangerous. But also I’d say what others said above too.
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Could you explain why James White is dangerous? I'm not trying to argue I just don't know. But What James White said about those who don't like Douglas Wilson really bothered me.
 
SolaScriptura said:
He's dangerous, but no more so than the church fathers some here seem to hold in unnecessarily high esteem.

Some here confuse their sour grapes with objective fact.

He's a mixed bag - so mixed that I don't recommend him uncritically. On most formal doctrinal issues and matters of exegesis he's got nothing to say that I can't hear better from others. BUT... And here's the big but: He's better than almost everyone out there when it comes to matters of analyzing the culture and thinking in terms of a robust Christian engagement with culture.
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And that's why reformed Baptists recommend him?
 
SolaScriptura said:
He's dangerous, but no more so than the church fathers some here seem to hold in unnecessarily high esteem.

Some here confuse their sour grapes with objective fact.

He's a mixed bag - so mixed that I don't recommend him uncritically. On most formal doctrinal issues and matters of exegesis he's got nothing to say that I can't hear better from others. BUT... And here's the big but: He's better than almost everyone out there when it comes to matters of analyzing the culture and thinking in terms of a robust Christian engagement with culture.
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And thankyou
 
No one said:
Could you explain why James White is dangerous? I'm not trying to argue I just don't know. But What James White said about those who don't like Douglas Wilson really bothered me.
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well for one you have this:

He’s been known to lie and be deceptive. As well when you critique his position he often just attacks you as a person instead of interacting with the critique. But his interactions now with Doug Wilson only show that his theology is flawed. As you can see with the others who have stated what they have about Doug Wilson and his false theology.
 
Quite sad, I noticed during their talks many of Wilson's errors not only in evangelism but in the sacraments in general and white said nothing unless I missed something or a follow-up comment from Mr. White. It troubles me.
 
One cannot equate a man like Doug Wilson with the Church Fathers. That is a false equivalence as we live centuries after the Protestant Reformation.

The Fathers' theology was still in development. However, Wilson has rejected sound Reformed theology - see his book - "Reformed is not enough". I also cannot help but think they would have censured someone who wrote a pornographic book about a sex robot like Wilson has - "Ride Sally Ride".

The primary draw toward him is the same draw as to non-Christians like Ben Shapiro and other 'culture warriors'.
 
DW is a charmer, a charismatic personality type who knows how to gather a following; which is how he took over leadership of the church he attended, and made himself a pastor; and afterward, successfully brought in other churches to join his "federation," in which he continues as the top-dog. DW is not accountable the way pastors in an actual P&R denomination are--not to the elders of his congregation, not to a wider church. All the constituents of his federation are essentially independent churches, most of whom baptize babies and practice paedo-communion. So, the setup is functionally little different from a Baptist convention, plus sacraments. Except...

Most RBs won't sanction one of their own who is self-ordained. And yet, because they can identify a degree of separation from DW--"He isn't one of us, but more of a presbyterian"--they think to themselves, "His ordination issues are a problem for his own kind to deal with. We like his cultural polemics, his salty dialog." DWs own congregants consider him to be their pastor, so in the eyes of that all-important group he occupies the office. Then, he has all those sister-churches who recognize him, so they functionally regard this self-made pastor as a legitimate minister.

If you see it in a certain light: isn't that what denominations are about? Fellow churches and churchmen who regard one another as legitimate churches and ministers? That may be what it looks like from the perspective of Independency, but not from inside a properly constituted, organized P&R denomination. Men are called to the ministry by the church, not by themselves. The church recognizes and ordains a man to the office. They tell the rest of the church, "We're putting our stamp of approval on this man, and if you regard our judgment as anything you should feel safe regarding him as we do." Yet, we see ministers and congregations even within the P&R world granting DW the place of teacher; not just a dispenser of knowledge, but a spiritual guide for the immature and ignorant.

This is, frankly, madness. But when you ADD to that massive red-flag waving right out of the gate: all the rest of the aberrant theology, the pastoral misconduct, the coarseness of his tongue, his appalling reputation among outsiders (1Tim.3:7), etc.--it is clear that what attracts people to him is not theological care and precision, or the gentleness and pure spiritual greatness and mediatorial authority of Jesus whom he claims to represent. To have and project that is not a matter of charisma, but of calling. When RBs and P&Rs simply grant DW a platform, formally or informally, they are crediting him with authority he only has from them, whether they think he has his from Christ or not. Thus they validate him in the eyes of their brethren.
 
kodos said:
One cannot equate a man like Doug Wilson with the Church Fathers. That is a false equivalence as we live centuries after the Protestant Reformation.

The Fathers' theology was still in development. However, Wilson has rejected sound Reformed theology - see his book - "Reformed is not enough". I also cannot help but think they would have censured someone who wrote a pornographic book about a sex robot like Wilson has - "Ride Sally Ride".

The primary draw toward him is the same draw as to non-Christians like Ben Shapiro and other 'culture warriors'.
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Sex robot huh?
 
kodos said:
I would like to say I am joking. It takes a tremendous amount of spiritual blindness to not see the man for what he is.
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One more question what is patriarchism? I hear this alot in connection with him?
 
Contra_Mundum said:
DW is a charmer, a charismatic personality type who knows how to gather a following; which is how he took over leadership of the church he attended, and made himself a pastor; and afterward, successfully brought in other churches to join his "federation," in which he continues as the top-dog. DW is not accountable the way pastors in an actual P&R denomination are--not to the elders of his congregation, not to a wider church. All the constituents of his federation are essentially independent churches, most of whom baptize babies and practice paedo-communion. So, the setup is functionally little different from a Baptist convention, plus sacraments. Except...

Most RBs won't sanction one of their own who is self-ordained. And yet, because they can identify a degree of separation from DW--"He isn't one of us, but more of a presbyterian"--they think to themselves, "His ordination issues are a problem for his own kind to deal with. We like his cultural polemics, his salty dialog." DWs own congregants consider him to be their pastor, so in the eyes of that all-important group he occupies the office. Then, he has all those sister-churches who recognize him, so they functionally regard this self-made pastor as a legitimate minister.

If you see it in a certain light: isn't that what denominations are about? Fellow churches and churchmen who regard one another as legitimate churches and ministers? That may be what it looks like from the perspective of Independency, but not from inside a properly constituted, organized P&R denomination. Men are called to the ministry by the church, not by themselves. The church recognizes and ordains a man to the office. They tell the rest of the church, "We're putting our stamp of approval on this man, and if you regard our judgment as anything you should feel safe regarding him as we do." Yet, we see ministers and congregations even within the P&R world granting DW the place of teacher; not just a dispenser of knowledge, but a spiritual guide for the immature and ignorant.

This is, frankly, madness. But when you ADD to that massive red-flag waving right out of the gate: all the rest of the aberrant theology, the pastoral misconduct, the coarseness of his tongue, his appalling reputation among outsiders (1Tim.3:7), etc.--it is clear that what attracts people to him is not theological care and precision, or the gentleness and pure spiritual greatness and mediatorial authority of Jesus whom he claims to represent. To have and project that is not a matter of charisma, but of calling. When RBs and P&Rs simply grant DW a platform, formally or informally, they are crediting him with authority he only has from them, whether they think he has his from Christ or not. Thus they validate him in the eyes of their brethren.
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What hai reputation like among outsiders?
 
Thank you contra and kodos for your mature advice, I expected this thread to go much differently. Glad to know there are still sound spiritual fathers on this board.
 
DW is a polarizing figure like Donald Trump:
  • People who oppose Trump do so outlandishly, far beyond what is reasonable.
  • The people who oppose Trump are rarely genuinely upset about the specific criticism they make in the moment, but just venting general opposition to everything about him
  • Trump was absolutely the right person for the time and regardless of your thoughts on him, if you don't see why he was needed you are part of the problem
  • I wouldn't want to get my whole life philosophy from Trump despite him being pretty good on most points
 
Ben Mordecai said:
DW is a polarizing figure like Donald Trump:
  • People who oppose Trump do so outlandishly, far beyond what is reasonable.
  • The people who oppose Trump are rarely genuinely upset about the specific criticism they make in the moment, but just venting general opposition to everything about him
  • Trump was absolutely the right person for the time and regardless of your thoughts on him, if you don't see why he was needed you are part of the problem
  • I wouldn't want to get my whole life philosophy from Trump despite him being pretty good on most points
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There is a 3rd way. Most here fit in that category.
 
Ben Mordecai said:
DW is a polarizing figure like Donald Trump:
  • People who oppose Trump do so outlandishly, far beyond what is reasonable.
  • The people who oppose Trump are rarely genuinely upset about the specific criticism they make in the moment, but just venting general opposition to everything about him
  • Trump was absolutely the right person for the time and regardless of your thoughts on him, if you don't see why he was needed you are part of the problem
  • I wouldn't want to get my whole life philosophy from Trump despite him being pretty good on most points
Click to expand...

This post proves the point made earlier. To equate Wilson to Trump shows that his draw is mostly about the culture war.

Officers in the church (which Doug Wilson does a pretty good imitation of) are held to a higher standard than politicians.

Romans 16:17-18, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."

Or James 3:1, "My brethren, be not many masters [teachers], knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation."
 
MODERATION

Just a reminder folks--stay out of political discussion on this thread!

(I almost jumped in myself....)
 
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