“slapping the bitch around to put her in her place”

Suppose we went out and found some old school missionary who wanted to insist on the missionary position for everybody. Without defending his views, I nevertheless guarantee that he would be mercilessly harangued as an oppressor of women, and a hazard to the public weal. However, comma, if that same man changed direction suddenly, lurching, shall we say, and started writing about fur-lined handcuffs, blindfolds, and slapping the bitch around to put her in her place, we could probably find a place for him on the New York Times best seller list. And if he got himself some bling and an over-sized white windbreaker, shot a few people, and put a seething hatred of women into metrical rhyme, we could probably get him an invite to an Obama fundraiser.
Douglas Wilson

7 Comments

  2. I’m not complaining . Its just burdensome that this is such an important topic in the church at large. If elders and deacons took their positions seriously with God, the greater church at large would not have to do the policing.

  3. Since when is it acceptable for a Christian pastor to be so crass and vulgar (whether it be from the pulpit, in print material, or online)? Aren’t church leaders supposed to be above reproach? I would think decorous speech and writing counts in the ‘above reproach’ concept.

  4. “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:1–7)

    I get the decorous and I get the “above reproach” — but I believe it’s the gratuitous nature of these quotes that is the aggravating circumstance. He goes a long way to frame these strawman scenarios that ostensibly justify the crass language. Moreover, the violent imagery he invokes is both disturbing and revealing — it reveals the abundance of his heart.

    1. Yes! At the very *least* he can show some restraint for the sake of basic decency and propriety. But he is so over the top and practically trying too hard to be coarse that it is mind-boggling.

      How is it that kirkers can reconcile his vulgarity with the sexual purity principles that are the pride of the church? Like Donna said, if he were any other church member, he would pulled aside and reprimanded…

    2. “How is it that kirkers can reconcile his vulgarity with the sexual purity principles that are the pride of the church?”

      Wilson extols sexual purity for one reason: To establish bona fides, grow followers, and give John Piper a reason to invite him to the annual big jamboree. Once established, he then erodes those sensibilities, on purpose, to spawn followers such as Wight and Sitler, whom he enjoys unleashing on the community.

      And kirkers don’t need to reconcile anything because Wilson has effectively framed two universes for them and they have accepted it. One universe magnifies the glory of “sexual purity principles that are the pride of the church.” The other universe encourages thuggish behavior, such as Jamin Wight’s — the kind that slaps women around, demeans them publicly and privately, and lives to shock normal sensibilities.

      Two universes. Two realities. Two standards.

      No one can reconcile what he says on Sunday mornings with what he writes on Magog all week long. They don’t even try. They just accept it, like they accept the letters to Officer Green and Judge Stegner.

      And don’t forget this, because he said it best:

      “The whole point is to shock and insult those who don’t know that they are being played. Take that away and the whole game collapses.” (“Learning to Hate Their Dog”)

      This is the point of his so-called ministry.

  5. Wilson is setting the standard for his followers and he has no one to blame but himself when the good Lord brings down his house of cards. His language is shocking – I agree with the comment (and scripture) which points out that out of the abundance of the heart one speaks.

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