Cyber Melt Down

I received an email that asked me “What happened to Simon of ThinkingDeeply? It appears he has taken down his blog and left a few parting shots.” I was unaware of this so I took a look. Take a look for yourself.

I have to worry sometimes when I see younger men heavily engaged in internet debate. Too much of a diet of intellectual debate is destined for destruction. Have you ever noticed the apostates to Romanism? Those Romanists which later embrace a Protestant theology are usually lay people which hear the gospel for the first time in their lives and respond. Living in New Orleans, I’ve experienced this on a regular basis. It doesn’t take much heavy intellectual dialogue to “bring them over;” they just need the gospel of grace to be illuminated to them and they’ll experience something for the first time in their lives. However, such is not the case for the apostates to Romanism. They are usually men who have been in the Protestant church for years. Perhaps they were very knowledgeable, even a pastor. But the problem is that they involved themselves so heavily in intellectual debate so that it exhausted them. I fear that one of the main reasons we have apostates to Romanism is because we have a venue that encourages non-stop intellectual debate. Eventually, the poor souls involved in this venue will seek rescue from this realm. Thus, they plug into the IV of Rome and receive truth injected directly. Easy is always best.

Yet, such a diet of debate does not always result in the IV of Rome. Sometimes, it just results in an emotional meltdown. This, I’ve seen many times as well.

Well, Simon has cracked. I don’t really know if I can describe it differently. He’s taken down his blog and replaced it with quotes from the Reformed blogosphere (I’m featured on there as well, how nice), stating, “Don’t forget, Calvinists know best” and later, “The quotes above are examples of the kind of stupidity from professed Christians that make atheists comfortable with their atheism.” What are the quotes? Well, let’s look at mine:

“A Biblical doctrine of the complete depravity of man assures us that the idea that God would leave salvation open to the unaltered, ‘free’ will of man is one that is destined for a failure. If our perspectives are Biblical, no one would be saved. But synergists, of course, deny this perspective.” (Evan May, Veritas Redux)

When reading this, it is really a wonder why Simon finds this so surprising. Surely Simon has interacted with Reformed theology before! Surely he knows that the Reformed have always affirmed that total depravity means that no one can be saved apart from an efficacious working of the Holy Spirit. Surely he remembers that we believe our doctrine of the inability of man necessitates monergistic regeneration. Is this anything new? Is this really cause to simply throw your hands up in the air, shut down you blog, and contemptly quote a few Calvinists?

Awhile back, Simon and I were scheduled to debate John 6. He later declined, telling me that he did not believe he was yet ready to debate the text. I wrote back and thanked him for his humility. But it has to make me curious why Simon is willing to be so outward in his disagreement but so unwilling to engage in the disagreement? Why does he have the energy that it takes to destroy his website in order to put up a few gut-shots but lacks the energy to engage in honest, fair debate?

Word to the wise: avoid cyber melt downs. They aren’t healthy to the Christian life. Don’t bring unnecessary stress upon yourself. Share the truth in love, give a defense for the hope that is in you, and then go home and play with your kids.

Evan May.