Good grief, I should not be watching soap operas. Days of our Lives, Guiding Light, or in this case, “As The Reformed World Turns.” I “shouldn’t” be, because there’s a really fine line between following this rubbish as it unfolds and just engaging in gossip or perhaps even voyeurism.
I simply set out to review Stephen Wolfe’s book, “Christian Nationalism,” when the poo began to hit the fan and the whole thing kind of just imploded. If you want some backstory, Rod Dreher just wrote, “Thomas Achord Confesses” in the American Conservative.
Basically it amounts to the fact that even the new and improved, “light” version of patriarchal Christian Nationalism has a seedy underbelly involving fake twitter accounts “where out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Also one of the players would be the headmaster of a Classical Christian Education homeschool group, who was allegedly falsely persecuted by some “bad people” who were making false allegations until he finally lost his job over tweets he didn’t send and books he didn’t write….. until he later realized wait, actually, he did write those things.
I just want to say two things, first of all, red pill ideology just ruins everything. What is red pill ideology? This kind of cult of broken masculinity that tends to manifest itself as deep seated misogyny, racism, pornographic sexuality, and oddly a desire to save Western Civilization.
I have absolutely no desire to police grown men in a shaming way. Like, just dust yourself off and do better. I am not the least bit interested in any weird psycho-sexual repentance games, and in Christ there is no condemnation. I really don’t care who sinned where. There’s enough sin to require hip boot and waders, maybe even a manure cart and a shovel. This isn’t about one individual, the whole lot of them are all rotten within. Actually, my heart kind of bleeds for the train wrecks who do eventually get exposed. I’m telling you, red pill ideology just ruins everything. It takes the hot mess of a weak man and just drives the crazy train right off the tracks so everyone can gleefully point, stare at the mess, and feel all morally superior.
It offends my soul! On some level these hapless fellows who fall victim to red pill ideologies and brainwash themselves with it are my brothers. So first off, red pill rubbish comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. It is evil. Pluck it out when you see it, especially within faith.
At one point in my life I had hoped I could appeal to Pastor Doug Wilson on Christian grounds since he is very familiar with this red pill rubbish, he is a pastor, and also a man. Here is a beautiful opportunity to lead men out of the darkness, out of the abyss of red pill foolishness, and turn them towards Jesus. Obviously I was naive and mistaken, but I’m not apologizing. I still have that same expectation and I am not the one who is failing to rise to the occasion and take the opportunity and do some good in the world while you still can.
Make no mistake however, when a pastor leads people astray in this manner and tries to stamp God’s approval over the whole manure pile, it is a far more serious matter then some guy creating a phony avatar so he can go LARP out some racial hostility and woman hatred on Twitter.
Second of all, my main issue with Wolfe’s book,”Christian Nationalism,” (besides the obvious kinism, racism, and misogyny,) is that he based a good chunk of it on Reformed Theology. Not on the Bible mind you, but on Reformed Theology. Is there a difference? Well yes, there kind of is, or at least there is if you try to separate Reformed Theology from the Bible, take Jesus out of the picture, bend it a little, and use it to “credential” the points you are making. Like, the teachings of Jesus and His disciples are not really Wolfe’s reference point for anything. Anywhere. This book is based entirely on Reformed Theology. Well, what is Reformed Theology supposed to be based on? Anyone? Hello!
I didn’t even realize it was possible to completely separate your theology from Jesus. I have been wrestling with the question, “how in the world can so much good theology produce such rotten fruit?” Well there you go, our theology doesn’t save us, Jesus does. Grace doesn’t align with natural law and creeds, it defies them. Grace is the wild card in this equation. Grace isn’t “natural” at all. It challenges us to aim higher, to adopt His standard, and not a worldly one of our own making based on our alleged interpretations of the natural order of things or our supposed “design.”
Like it or not the Bible says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
See, there's this thing called biology... 
“Red Pill” is a metaphor for seeing reality in a way that one was unable and/or unwilling to see it before. As such it can’t possibly be the cause of evil attitudes and behaviors, it can only be a lame excuse for such.
Otherwise, alternatively, it would logically be morally and functionally preferable to continue to live in a fantasy world of illusions and misapprehensions; I categorically reject such an idea. Even if opening our eyes makes us see ugly disturbing things it’s still better to see the truth so it can be dealt with.
It’s easy to judge “Red Pillers” who act ugly and mean, but, it must be remembered that what they’ve woken up to is an ugly and mean world, much uglier and meaner than they had previously expected.
Since it’s impossible to tell people that the world is a nice place, it’s better to help them deal with it positively. I try to tell people I know who are experiencing “Red Pill Rage,” many of whom happen to be women, by the way, it’s not a good solution to mirror the horrible rottenness of the world, but rather to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us.
Bottom line as far as I’m concerned is that it’s a good start for people to learn not to love the world, neither the things in the world, because as long as they love the world the love of The Father cannot abide in them.
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Yes, “red pill ideology” is hard to attempt to define because in it’s broadest sense it does just mean seeing reality for what it really is. And yes, amen, when people are experiencing red pill rage, point them to Jesus, show them how to express it in positive ways. That’s an awesome thing!
I should mention that Achord’s alleged “sin” here amounts to creating a fake avatar so he could vent his hostility. Well shoot, who hasn’t done that kind of thing on some level? I’m not even sure I’d label it “sin.” I’m not judging him at all, in fact, his stuff is relatively tame if we are grading vulgarity on a curve. No, the problem is the double-mindedness and dishonesty, the denial, lies, and cover-up by those around him.
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It would seem to be harmful and dangerous to run around slipping “Red Pills” in to people’s drinks like roofies, which I think is sort of what is happening a lot. “Red Pills” are like LSD, er, I mean, what I heard LSD was like, that set and setting and having friendly people around to help you stay mellow and not freak out was really important.
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I kind of like that analogy! Good point. In faith we would call that discipleship. In an AA meeting it might be called having a sponsor.
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I agree with you Jsolbakken.
I do not think I.B’s characterization of “Red-Pilled” as including deep seated misogyny, racism, pornographic sexuality, and the desire to save Western Civilization is correct.
To me, Red-pilled simply means waking up to the lie of mediated reality/fake news and then opposing/resisting the Globalist world order.
Of course, like anything with a label, there are plenty of crackpots and hateful nutcases identifying as “Red-pilled”…
I find it hilariously ironic that the originators of the term Red Pill (Matrix directors) went tranny on us.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wachowskis
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Oh dear… Christian Nationalism? “Reformed” (really Calvinist ‘Deterministic’) theology? Red Pill? When did we get so lost in the -isms and “sects” that we lost sight of Jesus?
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Ha! I think that happened a few thousand years ago?? Today we call them pastors and postdoctoral fellows with PhD’s, but back in the day they were just called sadduccees and pharisee. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Is Reformed Theology the equivalent of the Constitution being a living document, i.e., twist something that it isn’t into something you want it to be? 😉
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Yes, good point. It really is the same kind of thing. Jesus wrote a much better Bill of Rights for us, but yes. 🙂
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I heard it said that one evidence of the truth of the gospel is that it has survived two thousand years of the “bovine poo” of its followers.
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Yes, amen! Someone once shared that truth with me in such a perfect and timely manner! I had literally just prayed in complete confusion and frustration when this guy I didn’t even know just crossed the street, walked right up, and blurted that truth out. I kid you not, it was so startling, I looked over my shoulder. I really expected to see a hidden camera or something.
Indeed, one reason why the gospel is true is that it has survived for so long in spite of our worst efforts. 🙂
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Red pill is just another kind of woke ideology, except the metaphor implies one has to take drugs to become enlightened. That is a really bad idea and foolish to believe it is an honest look at reality. While I don’t believe reality is what we make it, in a sense it is because our perspective operates as a filter. At best, we are only seeing part of the truth at any given time.
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“Red pill is just another kind of woke ideology”
According to the way IB describes it, it sounds pretty woke. But I tend to think of Christianity as a sort of “Red Pill” process. “Ye must be born again” works out to be a lot like what I think of as my own “Red Pill” experience. And I wasn’t even very woke when I began to be born again 40 years ago. I was a lot woker than I am now, though, that’s for sure.
The Christian version of what I’m comparing to a “Red Pill” has made to see and understand that I’m not a sinner because I sin, but instead I sin because I’m a sinner. And no matter how you slice it that’s a bitter pill for proud human to swallow.
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It’s such a shame so many of these terms have been hijacked and co-opted, because yes, Christianity is the ultimate woke, but “woke” only in the sense that it is an awakening, it is coming to new life, being born again, revived, gaining a new perspective, renewing our mind, all things which do change our entire reality.
One problem I have with a lot of ideology, including the woke and red pills, is it’s like all the bad news without any of the grace, hope, or a Savior.
Ha! And when it comes to literal pills, one of my favorite saying is, “She who has the Most High needs no other high.” That is really true. I’m pretty risk adverse, I can only have my mind blown so many times. Fortunately the Lord is exceedingly kind and gentle, because sometimes it does feel like being blasted with a fire hose. 🙂
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“One problem I have with a lot of ideology, including the woke and red pills, is it’s like all the bad news without any of the grace, hope, or a Savior. ”
Yes, that would be the problem when using any of this world’s terminology. It can’t be avoided, but we have to make sure we define our own use of terms as we go along.
Regarding this “Red Pill” thing, I’d just say that, even though most red pillers are rude and obnoxious, and some are violent and dangerous, it’s probably unavoidable for these people as the leave their old illusions and become available for actual salvation. I don’t think anyone can be saved unless and until they reach a point of dissatisfaction with the world and themselves first.
I know I had to be a Christian, as soon as the Lord gave me the gift of faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because I already knew in my heart that the best this world has to offer could never satisfy me, mainly because I didn’t know what I really want, and still have no idea, I want things I can’t even imagine, which is a problem only God can solve.
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Seems like Reformed stuff triggers you. Why?
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There are some very poor representatives of reformed theology all over the internet. There are also some pastors, like Doug Wilson, who are making a real mess of things. I suppose it triggers me because they are just stomping the life out of all my beautiful tulips.
Reformed theology was never supposed to be about kinism, racism, Christian nationalism, the oppression of women, engaging in cancel culture of the non elect, promoting works based theology, and advocating for federal vision.
There are a tiny handful of reformed pastors addressing some of these concerns so that’s hopeful.
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Understood. Also, there is some great reformed RAP out there, especially Shae Linne:
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Oh my goodness, I love that! “Reformed rap,” who knew? Thank you for the link. There are some really cool spoken word testimonies, like the old beatnik poetry but with a purpose and a message, one that I really enjoy listening to.
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