Dear readers: Today I want to alert you to a blog that might interest you — Derek L. Ramsey. If you want high intellect and strong reasoning discussion, he’s your man. It’s quite possible you will grow attached to him as a persona on the Net. He’s not a bad guy at all.
If you want to know more about the Bible and divine revelation, you might want to look elsewhere. Derek is all about that Aristotelian epistemology, something entirely foreign to Scripture.
There’s no ill will here Derek, it’s just that your writing and thoughts are totally impertinent to what my blog does. Go ahead and keep writing about my ideas, but the links won’t be posted here. Your comments about this blog, Catacomb Resident, and Radix Fidem in general all miss the mark. You clearly have no idea what we are talking about. In fact, I’m willing to bet you have never looked at the Radix Fidem pamphlet or Radix Fidem Booklet.
For years this blog has addressed the vast gulf of between the intellectual foundation of the Bible versus modern western rationalism. My readers know this drill — Jesus Himself was a Hebrew man, preaching a Hebrew religion, and the Bible is essentially a Hebrew book. The Hebrew culture was a part of the Ancient Near East (ANE). The ANE is intellectually quite different from the West. I’ve noted on this blog for many years that the bulk of American religious scholarship might know this, and yet that scholarship in itself insists on clinging to the western approach. There are precious few sources of scholarship encouraging people to become more like Jesus intellectually.
The western approach is wrong. It means you’ll read biases into the Bible and come away with a false notion of what the Lord is trying to say. I’m not suggesting I have all the right answers; I’m referring to the approach to those answers. This is not about me, or you, but the ideas themselves, Derek.
On the other hand, Jesus and His followers never hesitated to engage in ad hominem attacks. Jesus cracked a whip at least once. Paul and John castigated several men and women by name. It wasn’t always about the ideas, but often quite personal.
That’s because faith in Christ is personal, not a mere collection of ideas. It’s not that ideas don’t matter, but that they must stand on the personal relationship. They have no meaning by themselves. And I assert flatly: God will lead His servants in different directions, and in ways that cause conflicts between them. Not because His leading causes conflicts, but because of their fallen human nature, conflict is inevitable. The human form is inherently disabled. So rare is the escape from it that only two men in Scripture have been recorded as so pleasing to God that they didn’t die, but simply left his life.
And it wasn’t because of their ideas, but because of their very personal bond with the God who called them. Elijah, at least, still had conflicts with others who claimed to serve God, but apparently that wasn’t an issue with God.
You have your thing, Derek. Run with it as your calling and conscience demand. I have no problem with it. But I am called, too, and my calling is not invalidated by your reasoning. I hear from God, too. Up to now your writing is wholly impertinent to mine. You aren’t talking to me at all; we are on different planets. I left your planet years ago, and I’m not coming back.
You mention me often lately, big long walls of text. Can you find no better targets for your picking? How did I become so significant? I’m mentioning you just this once, and it won’t happen again until you change your intellectual orientation. That would be a miracle, of course. When you start talking about the Covenant of Christ as it is revealed in Scripture, then we might have a conversation, but you have made zero effort to converse with me at all.
When I say that you are the Christian equivalent of a Pharisee, that’s not attacking you personally. It’s just shorthand for how you approach things and what kind of thinking that goes into your writing. My readers will understand; they won’t be hostile.
Folks, let’s pray for Derek. I think there’s hope for him.
When you first started posting on Sigma Frame (I believe it was in 2019), I started reading your work and I have been reading your posts on and off for years. I also am subscribed to Catacomb Resident and his posts are delivered to my email every day.
I have read the Radix Fidem Booklet (or perhaps it was the same content in HTML form), but not the pamphlet. I’d like to think I’m quite familiar with what you believe but merely disagree on a number of key points. It is also quite possible that I completely misunderstand and, as you say, have no idea.
How can I consume so much and yet remain so different and outside? I don’t know and can’t tell you. But I fully agree with this:
Many things you write strike me with the force of truth that I do not find in the writings of others. They resonate with me. They challenge me.
A follow a number of people—including Bruce Charlton—that I rarely converse with. In these cases, I’ve realized that conversing tends to be counterproductive and almost never results in effective communication. Since nothing productive comes of it, I would be a fool to do so. No disrespect is intended.
A long time ago on Sigma Frame you expressed that you are not interested in arguing your position. You made it clear that you do not debate and find it counterproductive. I respect this. So while I can and do benefit from what you have to say, I think we both agree that I have nothing to offer you (and that’s fine).
I realize that we are not on the same wavelength and it is unlikely that we will ever see completely eye-to-eye, but this has never concerned me. We can disagree without it resulting in conflict. And so, I will continue to watch your movement with interest, albeit from the outside looking in.
Thank you for your kindness.
Derek, communicating doesn’t always mean debating. Have you ever heard of fellowship? I realize the Net isn’t really the best way to do that, but it does allow some measure of friendship, some means of sharing and blessing each other.
I know, I do. Don’t mistake my hesitancy for a lack of desire for fellowship. I’m only trying keeping a respectful distance. Fellowship is why I have a public email address on landing page of my website and it is open to all.