About That Boilerplate

The Golden Rule, Reformed Ethics, &tc.

Dear Friends,

It is one of those days where, so far, I’m batting .500. I read a wonderful quote on the Internet from John Calvin, but the person did not bother providing a citation. If you’re unaware, between his Institutes and his commentaries and his sermons, Calvin authored a massive number of volumes in his brief lifetime. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. But with the help of search engines, I tracked it down in chapter 41 of his sermons on Galatians. More on that later.

Then I remembered an anecdotal illustration in Thaddeus Williams’s book Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth (a terribly underrated book you should buy!), but couldn’t put my hands on the actual book for the life of me. Sigh. It’s on a shelf … somewhere. When I someday build my dream library I will take the proper time to organize my books.

But I’ll summarize the illustration as best I can. Years ago Jordan Peterson did an interview with a Canadian journalist that went so awry it became an Internet meme. Peterson would make some thoughtful and reasonable comment and the lady would immediately respond: “So what you’re really saying is…” followed by some ludicrously twisted interpretation of his words. He’d say something about the downsides of the sexual revolution or some such, and she’d say something like: “So what you’re really saying is you want women to be subservient to men?” On and on it went, on every topic. He’d say something measured and reasonable, and she’d reply by telling him that what he really meant to say is this other ridiculous thing.

It’s a phenomenon so common that it has become a central feature of online “debates.” And it reveals, I’m sorry to say, not only a lack of general intelligence but a basic moral failure. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a command from Jesus Christ. And since no one, presumably, wishes to have their words twisted or malicious intentions imputed to them, then no one should be doing it to others. But people do it all the time. It has almost become a sport. You see it in politics routinely, but also in professed Christian sectors of social media. Just recently in a certain comment section (I know: terrible idea to read those, but this one was my responsibility) someone posted a pretty benign claim, to wit: while racism is not a characteristic of the whole of the New Right, it is a problem that needs addressing. That elicited this response:

“So you support homosexuality, transgenderism, and wokeism?”

I almost want to bottle that in formaldehyde and put it in a museum.

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While I’m on the topic, Stephen Wolfe took to X to share with us his deep insights on Christian ethics: