Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Tree Beard and the Case for Thoughtful Conservative Baptist Collaboration

To facilitate greater cooperation within the Southern Baptist Convention (and one could argue within broader evangelicalism) conservative Baptists who cherish scriptural fidelity need to embrace the reasonableness of J.R. Tolkien’s Treebeard. In other words, if conservative Baptists hope to nudge their convention back towards right doctrine, they must allow for diversity on nonessential Baptist doctrines and practices, embrace all who follow the essential doctrines, and oppose all who oppose the essential doctrines.  

A Quick Trip to Middle Earth

Treebeard, the mythical tree shepherd of Fangorn forest, first appears to the hobbits Merry and Pippin in the second volume of the Lord of the Rings. After telling Treebeard of their quest to keep the all-powerful ring out of the grasp of the evil Lord Sauron, the hobbits ask Treebeard the all-important question of whose side the Ent was on. ‘“And what about yourself?’ asked Merry (74).”

Treebeard responds as follows: “I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even the Elves. Still, I take more kindly to Elves than to others…And there are some things, of course, whose side I am altogether not on…I am against them altogether…these Orcs, and their masters (Two Towers, 75).”

In this short paragraph Tolkien moves his plot forward and provides conservative Southern Baptists with an analogy for proper, meaningful, and yet wisely limited cooperation.

Allow for Diversity on Non-Essentials

First, conservative Southern Baptists must allow for diversity on non-essential doctrines and issues, acknowledging that no one else will ever be fully aligned with them on every subject and topic. No person in this fallen and confused world will be perfectly aligned with his brothers and sisters at every point. To borrow from Treebeard, no one will care for the woods, one’s secondary theological priorities, and one’s pet projects with the same fervor as the one who made them his pet project. Even the most seasoned and friendly of reformed Baptist can and will diverge at points as Albert Mohler and Danny Akin’s controversy over the rightness of sporting a hoodie in the pulpit has made clear. If conservative Baptists make absolute fidelity to their personal worldview the test of cooperation, they will find themselves isolated, alone, and able to influence precious little outside their homes.

Embrace Those Who Follow The Essentials

Second, conservative Southern Baptists should partner with anyone who supports the essentials of the Baptist Faith. When putting together coalitions to define marriage as between a man and a woman, to end abortion, or to restrict the office of pastor and elder to biblically qualified men, conservative Baptists should walk beside all who share their convictions even if they diverge over secondary matters such as politics, education, the plurality of elders, spontaneous baptisms, and Calvinism.

In arguing for broad cooperation, I am neither attempting to minimize nor cancel the debates being had by the Never-Trumpers and the Pro-Trump advocates or those being had by Calvinists and Arminians. Such robust conversations over these and a host of other issues should continue in Christian charity. I believe the SBC is better for such discussions. But I also believe that we can still partner with those with whom we disagree on lesser things to advance the essentials of the Baptist faith. In other words, instead of criticizing Ents for not being more Evlish or Elves for not being more Entish, some Baptist for not being more Trumpish, conservative Baptists should embrace the spirit of Merry and Pippin who promised Treebeard that, “We will do what can (77).” Wherever the roads traveled by the various tribes of conservative and even pragmatic Baptists “go together (77)” conservative should embrace those who will walk with them.

Oppose Those Who Oppose the Essential

Third, conservative Baptists must not partner with Orcs who openly undermine the essentials of the Baptist Faith. Conservative Baptists cannot cooperate with those who do not share their view of salvation, the authority of Scripture, and Baptist Confessions because such individuals traveling away from and not further into the historical Christian.

For example, Southern Baptists cannot partner with those who deny the trinity or the doctrine of justification by faith alone. To walk with them, Baptist would have to surrender the essential claims of the gospel. As a theologian of old noted, “Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity; it is the very unity of hell (106).” Conservative Baptists cannot partner with fellow Baptists if the deny essential elements of the gospel.  

They also cannot partner with those who deny the authority of Scripture.” Those who follow the path of “Thus says the watching world’ or the path of “Thus says the attorneys” or the path of “Thus says the latest public opinion poll” will in short order cease to walk the path of “Thus says the Lord.”  As the authors who helped compose the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 note, “We believe that true cooperation is grounded in a common commitment to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and in a common obedience to the Bible as the Word of God (145).” Baptist unity flows through scriptural authority.

Lastly, conservative Baptist cannot walk with those who seek to undermine Baptist confessional statements. While confessional and doctrinal statements fall short of the authority of Scripture, they do form the foundation of Baptist cooperation and preserve the SBC from rejecting the clear teaching of the Bible. For example, if the SBC allows messengers to interpret the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 in a way that allows for practices that contradict a direct reading of their confession, then the basis of SBC cooperation will shift from its doctrinal statement to the whims of its messengers’ feelings about those doctrinal statements. In other words, the basis of unity will shift from a shared understanding of the Scriptures as articulated in the document to a shared understanding of someone’s opinions of that document. Such a shift leads one away from the path of historic Baptist faith and until it places them at odds with the essentials of the Baptist faith. Conservative Baptists must reject such cooperation. They cannot partner with Orcs on their path to Moria.

But they can work for the betterment of Orcs and extend grace to those that turn from their Orcish errors. Past mistakes and divergence on essential doctrines should not keep conservative Baptists working with those newly return to historic conservative Baptist positions. Instead of chiding their slowness, conservative Baptists should praise their transformation. If ever a people understood the need for grace, mercy, and forgiveness it should be conservative Baptists who value the gospel precisely because they have experienced the unmerited forgiveness and love of the Lord and Savior. May we have a heart like Treebeard and Merry and Pippin make common cause with all who long to advance the essentials of the Baptist faith.

Peter Witkowski Apologetics, Discipleship

Young Men Don’t Surrender to Madness of Gambling

Young men do not allow the gambling platforms targeting March Madness to drive you into the madness of sports gambling and prediction markets. They promise that their platforms will transform your sports knowledge into the cash needed to live out your fantasies and to provide for your family. They encourage risk which appeals to your impulses to lead while promising you security which appeals to your more rational side. Even if you lose that first bet, many apps will refund your bad decisions with in-app credits. In other words, follow the adrenaline and pursue the cash because you have nothing to lose…well, almost nothing.

The Spiritual Cost

In reality, the apps will cost you your soul. Life is not found in securing quickly gotten fortunes but in obedience to the word of God. Jesus calls young men and all others not to lay up “treasures for yourself on earth…but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be (Matt. 6:19-21).” The faithful man pursues not wealth that perishes but holiness, which last for eternity. Those who get this wrong – even if they attain wealth – will lose their contentment, their happiness and their soul. King Solomon warned his sons to be wary of covetousness and greed warning them, “Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors (Prov 1:19).”

No Work Around

Now some young men will seek to squeeze past Jesus’ teachings with appeals to altruism. They gamble not for themselves but for others. They are placing those $500 bets because they want to buy a new home for their wife or to free their parents from the oppressive weight of their student loans. They are not pursuing greed for greed sake but for the sake of loving others.

Though such ideas glimmer with propriety, they still reside outside the bounds of Scripture. To gamble is to earn income apart from work. When the young man receives his gambling payout, he has not produced one of those widgets from economics 101 or any other good or service. He has not created a pizza for his neighbor, produced a report that helps his company adjust their production numbers, or transferred the knowledge of the multiplication tables to his third-grade class. In placing online bets, young men seek gain apart from all those things…apart from the hard work of studying books, twisting bolts, and crunching numbers. Though our society glorifies such ill-gotten gains, the Scriptures warn young men to avoid that which costs them nothing. Proverbs 20:21 proclaims, “An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.”

Moreover, the mindset of gain that chases wealth apart from work has, either knowingly or unknowingly, embraced a hope that runs counter to the hope of Christ. Those who chase easy money believe that money can heal their heart and wash away their sins. They think their earnings will lead to less stress, which in turn will lead to better test scores or to a better relationship with their young wife. But such hopes will always disappoint for they lead away from the light of Christ. Jesus warns: “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt 6:22).” As Jesus concludes in Matthew 6:24: “You cannot serve God and money.”

Even if you win your millions, you will ultimately lose. The influx of cash will not change, but exacerbate the selfishness that led you to waste m and to fight with your parents or your bride. You will just do so wearing nicer clothes or living in a nicer home.  As Jesus notes in Matthew 16:26: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

The Financial Cost

And most of you will not gain the whole world. The gambling and prediction market apps can afford to refund that first loss because they know an overwhelming majority of bettors will never ultimately win. According to a study from the University of California only 4% of gamblers earn a net profit.

The other 96% lose their hard-earned money. A U.S. news report found that the majority of gamblers (66%) wager $100 or more a month and that 27% wager $500 dollars or more a month. Those losses often reverberate through the gambler’s life. More than 30% of online gamblers carry debt because of their bets.  A quarter (25%) of them have missed a bill payment because of their bets and a quarter (25%) of them now worry that they have become the slave of the app that was supposed to liberate them from financial troubles. In short, those apps will happily cover the young man’s first loss because they apps know that the odds of that the young man become a lifetime loser are in their favor. This is why those running the apps can afford a suite at the Super Bowl and their clients cannot.

Flee the Apps

Young man, flee from gambling apps and prediction markets that seek to entice your souls. Though the apps promise you the glories of this world, they will not give – but take. What Solomon says of the adulterous woman in Proverbs readily applies to the gambling apps seeking to get space on your phones, “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword (Prov 5:4).” Young man do not follow the gambling apps to your earthly ruin and to your spiritual death. Close your ears to their cries, do not give them access to your phone, and do give them your hard-earned money. Flee from them.  

Determine now to acquire wealthy justly and honestly through the godly means of hard work. Slowly and faithfully expand your bank account through plumbing buildings, producing reports, and earning degrees and certificates that will lead to more opportunities for more promotion and gain. As Proverbs 13:11 notes: “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Gain wealth little by little.

Godly Adrenaline

Lastly, prove your manliness not through foolish risks shaped by ill-gotten gain but through taking biblical risks shaped around a love of the Lord and others. Endure the teasing of those who mock you for passing on the next adventure so that you can save for your first apartment or home. Embrace the possibility of rejection and pursue and then marry a godly woman. Then, invite the challenges and blessing of children into that marriage. Risk becoming more involved in your church and bearing the burden of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Venture past the limits of social convention and share the gospel with a coworker and lovingly confront a friend over his sin. Take a chance and pursue political office to promote the flourishing of your neighbors. In other words,  chase the adrenaline rush that comes with securing heavenly and avoid those that will fade with the playing of “One Shining Moment.”

Final Thoughts

Young men, the betting apps and prediction markets are calling to you. Guard your life and soul. Do not surrender to the madness of ill-gotten gain which leads to death. Layup for yourself treasures in heaven.  

Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Would Jesus Protest Cities Church?

The videos of protesters storming into Cities Church in Minneapolis with whistles, curses, and chants of “Ice Out” has raised all kinds of legal questions and one important theological question: would Jesus approve of this church storming?

Scriptural Support?

Seeking to justify the actions of the protesters, several social media theologians and personalities have referenced the time when Jesus’ flipped over tables in the temple. The gospel of Matthew provides the following summary of that event: “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. (21:12).” These commentators equate the protesters’ belligerence that left children in tears with Jesus’ smashing of pigeon cages.

Were the Protesters Justified?

While Jesus’ actions in the temple were unquestionably disruptive and angered the self-righteous leaders of the temple, thoughtful readers will look beyond the action in an effort to discern their purpose. Jesus did not advocate for disruption for disruption’s sake. He had more non-violent interactions with the temple and other places of worship (shaped by dialogue, Scripture readings, and sermons) than violent.  When Jesus did breakout the whip, he did so not to prevent worship but to prevent others from preventing worship. Jesus offers the following commentary on his actions, “He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers (Matt 21:13).” He cleansed the temple because he longed for the temple to proclaim the glory of the Lord so that all the nations might worship him and spirit and truth. Any spiritual practice that runs contrary to the worship of Jesus (even if profitable and sanctioned by someone with reverend before his or her name) was to be purged from places of worship.  

Even if you grant that one cannot be an ICE Agent and a Christian (which I do not – the Scriptures permit men to defend the state – see Lk 3:14), the one thing he would need most would be the worship of this church which transforms people more into God’s image.

In other words, Jesus would not have joined these protesters as they brought and end to true worship for the sake of a political point. Jesus would have support those who shared his vision for spiritual worship and were “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col 3:16).”

In short, Matthew 21:12-13 condemns the protesters’ harassment of Cities Church. And the passage will also condemn any future protest of a local church that seeks to worship the one true, and triune God in accordance with Jesus’ teaching.

I share the pastor of Cities Church – Jonathan Parnell- assessment of the protest: “This is shameful.”