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A Good Way To Irritate Me

Start pronouncing heresy on everyone who does not agree with you. Better still, remain blissfully unaware, not only that this is the most blatantly obvious violation of the "arbiter/receiver" rule that could be conceived, but that, frankly, you don't have anything close to the credibility to actually pull this off. Leithart may be in Catholic denial; he may be, with respect to the arbiter/receiver rule, "Rob Bell with a bigger bookshelf," but say this for him: he actually has things on that bookshelf. With what do you come? A Coke and a smile?

You're young and passionate; I get that. I like that about you. But wisdom is counter-intuitive; it actually consists in knowing when you're in too deep, rather than in knowing what you know. Every single day, I meet people who know more about what I claim to know than I do. That's humbling. The question is, do you have the courage to recognize it, and become a learner and a listener, rather than a talker? We are not always in that position. Whether we earn listeners and learners in our own time depends on how well we handle it when we are.

Just as a practical matter, I think the pope knows more about his own theology than you do. I think he knows more about pastoral theology than you. I will even allow the distinct possibility that he could speak and has spoken imprudently on matters of consequence. Reams of books will be written about this, when it's all said and done. I'm not an apologist for the pope. He doesn't need me; he's a big boy; he can take care of himself, with the sure aid of the Holy Spirit. But here's the thing: You really aren't equipped to make the judgments in this case.

And please feel more than free to take a contrary position on something, owing to a broadly Reformed commitment. But recognize, that came from somewhere. It's not yours; someone gave you that. You are as bound to that heritage as I am to mine. No one cares what you think; they might care about what you have learned, depending on its source, and the quality of its content. But it's not about you, and it never will be.

The rest of you, who may have been inclined to make judgments about the content of my character based on a few vague, ill-considered expressions of frustration about something that isn't about you, either may now "cool your jets." If you have a general objection to my tone,--even given the fact that you haven't been in on the conversation, and don't know the context--write me privately. I admit, I don't take kindly to sweeping generalizations about me that have no context themselves. Call it a flaw.

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