It has been a few weeks since I came across this and wanted to make sure that I left it here for your consumption. It is a stellar piece about the topic of biblical honor by Doug Phillips, and I commend it to your reading.
Jonathan Edwards
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Doug Phillips has some excellent things to say. Doug is also a very effective marketer; “honor” sells and it sells big. But talk is cheap, so let’s talk real-life application, shall we? Honor is easy to theorize and discuss when everything’s going fine for us and for our friends and family and our pastor. The real test of honor is when we or they are being disciplined, or even being persecuted. Do we humbly submit, or do we grouse and retaliate? It’s one thing to defend ourselves, our friends and family or our pastor when they’ve been unjustly condemned. Even still, honor demands that we do so in light of the 5th commandment, particularly when we’re having to deal with those in authority over us. But what if we or they haven’t been unjustly condemned? Then we’d better be especially guarded in what we say.
I’m troubled by how Doug Phillips, Doug Wilson and others have acted in the RC Sproul Jr defrocking. Their example is deplorable. They call it “honor” but it is no such thing. While they point the accusatory finger at those who refuse to “honor” the great, now defrocked, RC Sproul Jr, they’ve completely ignored the fact that Sproul and his session have slandered the RPCGA (talk about dishonoring). They started in slandering within hours after they’d been defrocked and they’ve continued slandering and telling blatant falsehoods. Given how dishonorable their conduct has been how can they expect to be honored in return? Indeed, by the very example they have set they should only expect to be dishonored.
Moreover, given that they’ve been lawfully defrocked they’re not ordained ministers/pastors/shepherds/overseers anyway. What authority do they have? None! Their ecclesiastical authority has been stripped from them. The only people that they presently have any authority over is their own wives and children. Biblically they don’t warrant receiving any more honor than any layman does.
The message that Sproul and Phillips and Wilson have been sending is that it’s a violation of the 5th commandment to ever say anything negative about Sproul (even if it’s just to repeat what’s already been stated in the public documents such as the RPCGA’s Declaratory Judgment) but it’s perfectly acceptable for Sproul and his fellow defrocked elders to slander the RPCGA. Some might buy that, but I don’t. I think that’s nothing but hypocrisy.
Writing such a fine article on honor doesn’t mitigate Doug Phillips’ hypocrisy, it only magnifies it.
I’m not currently familiar with the situation about which you write. I was tempted to pull the post, but I’ll keep it and say that 1) I don’t know all the persons and facts, 2) I aspire to ideals and high values and will promote the high end of them in their best presentations and 3) I don’t know all the persons and facts.
I generally appreciate the things I hear from Phillips. I have a hard time with some of his ideas and think some of his marketing is a tad hokey.
He is doing a good work, and I am glad to present the high aims of his best parts rather than repudiating the whole for a dislike of a part…though that is sometimes necessary.
That’s at least an honest response Ryan.
Please understand that I’m not advocating throwing the baby out with the bath water. Doug Phillips has a lot of good things to say, but on the RC Sproul Jr issue he’s all wet.
Phillips is no different than anyone else who blogs. He writes articles in the context of certain events and certain contexts. His article on honor is no exception. Though he doesn’t name names it’s obvious to those of us who’ve been following this story exactly who he’s talking about. The event and the context in which he wrote that article was as a direct result of RC Jr’s defrocking and the fact that it’s been a hot topic of discussion. Merely talking about it is to “dishonor” Sproul. The context was also immediately after Phillips spoke at RC Jr’s Generations Conference. Phillips has had to answer a lot of critics over his support of RC Jr and sadly he decided to play the “honor” card.
It’s an excellent article, so don’t get me wrong. I’m just not impressed by how in the process of “honoring” a man who’s been defrocked that Phillips has effectively dishonored the denomination that defrocked Sproul by effectively disregarding that denomination’s church discipline and treating as though it never happened.