Back in December 2021, Derrick Brite, a pastor in Alabama, posted an article on Reformation 21, the blog of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. That article was supposedly a response to Dr. Owen Strachan on the latter's defense of ESS (Eternal Submission of the Son). I asked Brite if he was genuine in his desire for conversation on the matter, and he replied that he was. Therefore, on December 16 2021, I posted a reply to Brite on the issue. Given the history of misrepresentation of ESS, and non-interactions with any serious response to the critics, I was not very optimistic for a reply but was willing to give Brite the benefit of the doubt.
After my post, Brite sent me a PM saying that he was busy but would get back to me in time, noting that the time between completion of the article and posting of that article on Ref21 was about a month. As I am not a modern American, waiting is fine with me. However, as I checked out Brite's profile, I noticed that the profile has mysteriously disappeared. Again, that could be due to a lot of reasons, one of which might be he running afoul of the Twitter overlords. That is unlikely the case however since his profile does not deal much with political issues.
Now, I am not saying that Brite has any ill motives, or that he deletes his profile for any nefarious reasons. I also do not exclude the possibility that a response could come later. However, I find it intesting that he had stated he was open to talk with anyone, that he was working on a response, and then suddently, everything went quiet. It is almost as if he either decided not to respond and didn't want the hassle of explaining it to me, or decided not to respond but didn't want me to notice and thus question him, or that someone told him to do so in order to remain in good company with the powers that be. I am not stating which is the most likely option but I have my suspicions. Nevetheless, unless something changes, the record of critics of ESS deciding not to respond when called out on the issue continues to be unbroken - a record of almost 6 years by now.
[Update: Rev. Brite has reached out to me (see comment section) and it seems everything is fine after all. My suspicions are laid to rest.]
Hey Daniel,
ReplyDeleteMy response was posted on Ref21 yesterday. I apologize it took so long. The reality is, I am a solo pastor who is also working on my PhD. My grandfather passed away recently and my wife and I are currently trying to work through the adoption process. So that's why it took so long. I also like to take my time and read over things and challenge my own views and don't feel the need to conform to the rush and hustle that so much theological discourse succumbs to today.
Lastly, I should have told you before I deleted Twitter since we had been in dialogue. That was an oversight on my part. The reality is, I have been kicking around the idea of Twitter for many months. I feel it is a soul and time killer for me, and felt it needed to go. Nothing nefarious nor did I get in trouble with the overloads!
Hi Derrick,
ReplyDeletethanks for letting me know that. I understand the busyness, and I'm happy to know that you are happy to continue our conversation. Yes, the deletion of your Twitter account in the middle of our conversation was a major cause for concern.
I will respond within one week when I am free; Work calls.
Hi Derrick,
ReplyDeletejust in case you subscribe to comments on this thread, I have written my response. I admit it is long, but I hope you will agree that careful thought requires a decent amount of explanation.