Blog on the Lillypad
Saturday, March 06, 2004
 | Clarifying but not rescinding
Got an e-mail earlier today from a friend who warned me that on the boards, my comment to Evangelist Tim Lee, "It's the Bob Gray, Jim Vineyard, Jack Hyles scenario all over again, preying on young people who are easily led; just on a delayed timer with you. You advocate disobedience to Scripture and encourage the worst in others." could be construed as libel. I told him that I've made it clear that I don't think Evangelist Tim Lee is the sort of person who would cheat on his wife or even tell outright lies. I think he's incompetent with Scripture, that he did misrepresent Scripture (or used it incorrectly) in the "butcher" thread, and that he appealed to the worst in his readers rather than appealingto Scripture. I tossed off the warning. |
Meanwhile, in the forum, Evangelist Tim Lee, in a painstaking way that's kind of funny, is bringing dictionary definitions to the Texas Baptist College Forum to show that the statement was libel. My friend then told me just to go clarify it on the board. I got interested in this and wrote the following:
OK, I'll clarify it
Posted by BASSENCO on Mar-6-04 1:44pm
(In reply to: This is a libelous statement posted by Marine on Mar-5-04 10:21pm)
In the thread titled "Molesters should be butchered like Hogs", and the threads that were started within two hours of it beginning, you derided a person who presented a Scriptural rationale, presented a de facto agreement with the idea of torture/vigilantism by expressing scorn for views that opposed it, said plainly that you would "mess with" somebody who harmed a family member of yours and then return to a "spiritual plane" (thus expressing contempt for the very life that we are to live in Christ), and used Scripture incorrectly by taking a verse out of context.
In short, you relied on the devices that many of us recognize as being typical of Jack Hyles, Bob Gray, and Jim Vineyard: emotional manipulation, an appeal to machismo in place of Scripture, and an utter disregard---and scorn---in your conversation for any appeal to the authority of the Scripture and its coherent presentation.
In that sense, and in that sense only, I believe that you are like them, and you are repeating the tactics they used in the early stages of their ministries.I believe that you are out of control. And I believe that great harm can result from your advocacy on dealing with crime personally instead of by the means God has ordained. You are dealing with an audience that has a lot of young men in it, and you are an evangelist. You are shaming that office, and you have displayed such gross ignorance and contempt for the Bible that I think you are unfit for that office. And I think that what you've said is dangerous to society and dangerous to any person foolish enough to believe you.
BASSENCO
Meanwhile, there have been a lot of posts in the Texas Baptist College forum, but I went in, did a word search for "libel," posted my two posts, and went out again. I got an e-mail urging me to change the jpg of Evangelist Tim Lee to something else, so I did that. I guess the Reverand Lee doesn't care to have his face associated with his words on my blog.
There is a historical link between Fundamentalists and vigilantism (all those abortion clinics). I think it would be to my benefit in any court to just present Evangelist Tim Lee's posts and my argument from Scripture that affirms that God is the ultimate judge of criminals (not individuals), then his attack of that position, and defiance of it. Evangelist Tim Lee's response---inextricably tied to his influence as an evangelist---represents a dangerous mindset. He was not able to resort to a Biblical justification for his point of view; he did encourage an attitude of dealing with crime personally and then "returning to a spiritual plane", and he defied a presentation of Scripture with ridicule. With the body of evidence that already exists regarding Fundamentalists and vigilantism, I'd gladly put my case before a group of 12 ordinary people to decide. Christians are not to take the law into their own hands, and we are to observe even capital punishment with a dignity and sobriety that testifies of our faith in God. If Evangelist Tim Lee could not see his way clear to agree with that, I have not libeled him to point it out. And I have not libeled him to say he holds a view that will cause suffering if anybody takes his words seriously.
