I have been accused by at least one reader of treating Pastor Doug Wilson unfairly, and think it is only fair that I dedicate a post to allowing Wilson’s defenders to defend the positions I’ve criticized. Commenter BJ says I have labeled Pastor Wilson “a raging left wing feminist”. I am certain that I have written no such thing, but if I have I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to correct such an obvious misstatement.
More broadly, I would appreciate it if readers would point me to a post where I have either criticized him without specifically quoting what I was criticizing, or where I have misquoted him or misrepresented what he wrote. If you find an example of this, please provide a link to the post along with quotes of what Wilson and I both wrote, along with your explanation. To make the search easier, here is a list of all posts related to Pastor Wilson.
Lastly, I would encourage defenders of Pastor Wilson to point out the times I criticized what he wrote when they feel he was right. For example, if like Wilson you believe it would be morally wrong to pass a law that punished a woman in any way for deliberately killing her unborn child or enlisting someone else to help her do this, please respond in the comments saying something to the effect of “Wilson is right. Such a law would be morally wrong because even after the law was passed, women couldn’t possibly understand that it was wrong unless they are an abortion doctor”. Likewise, if you agree with Wilson after further consideration that it is possible to imagine a scenario say 1,000 years from now where it might be moral to pass such a law, please state so in the comments.
Here are some other examples where you may disagree with me and agree with Wilson:
- You think it was right for Wilson to criticize men who listened to their pastor when their pastor told them they needed to keep mama happy, and you don’t think it was right for me to point out that Pastor Wilson teaches in his book Reforming Marriage that the way to tell if a husband obeys God is if mama is happy.
- You don’t think it was inflammatory when Pastor Wilson titled his post “And Now A Brief Word to the Wife Beaters”, nor do you think it was inflammatory when he compared unhappy wives with abused slaves. But you think it was unfair when I quoted Wilson’s inflammatory comments on American slavery.
- You agree with Wilson in his book How to Exasperate Your Wife that “The wife is to be the ruler or despot of the home.”
- You agree with Wilson that in 1 Cor 7:10 when the Apostle Paul wrote “A wife must not separate from her husband” that this was merely friendly advice, and not pastoral instruction. Specifically, you agree with Wilson when he wrote: That is his apostolic counsel, but it is clear from the context that it is merely advice. If she sees that his generally good advice is not pertinent to her situation, she is left free to leave without being hassled about it by the apostle. So if he would leave you alone in this decision, then so should the elders of your church.
- You agree with Wilson that when women sin sexually, it is because a man has somehow failed them causing them to crave security.
- You agree with Wilson that if a Christian husband is not obeying the word, Christian wives need to follow the example not of Sarah, but Abigail, and “need to learn how to bring things to a head“.
- You agree with Pastor Wilson when he writes regarding a wife denying sex to her husband: The most common way this happens in marriage is that a man does not treat his wife right, they start to quarrel and drift apart, and this naturally includes their sex life…
