Conversation between Wes White and Steve Wilkins on the Federal Vision

I had the privilege of connecting Pastor Wes White and Pastor Steve Wilkins on the phone for a discussion about the Federal Vision.  This conversation was to give Wes White, a theological blogger and critic of the Federal Vision, the opportunity to ask Steve Wilkins directly about some of his positions relating to the Federal Vision.   During the course of this controversy, there has been very little direct communication, and very much talking past each other.  It was a real blessing to hear these brothers in Christ talk about their positions, differences, and concerns to each other directly.

Wes White and Steve Wilkins on the Federal Vision (download link)

Edit: Steve Wilkins let me know of a correction to something he said: “I need to correct something I said regarding the number of AAPC members who have left here for the Roman Church. I said one man had done this and actually that’s not correct — the correct response is that no one has left AAPC for the Roman Church. The individual I was thinking about left AAPC to join the Episcopal Church and about a year later joined the Roman Church. Just for the record.”

Context and Pretext

Steve Wilkins, Pastor of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church, explains how his words have been twisted once again:

…I always thought it was sort of a rule required by the 9th commandment that we try to understand one another’s statements in context. Is that so?

I’ve always assumed it was and that is why I had no qualms about writing what I wrote on page 261 of The Auburn Avenue Theology Pros & Cons. I didn’t have any idea anyone would twist my words on page 261 in such a way as to ignore what I said a few lines before on page 260 where I affirm the historic Reformed definition of election and seek to distinguish what I’m talking about in the paper from this historic doctrine (which, by the way, I fully embrace and believe to be totally biblical).

Read the rest of his post HERE.

Conversation with a (Real) Federal Vision Pastor

Pastor Wes White, a critic of the Federal Vision, recently posted an imaginary conversation [note: he has since deleted this post and most of his writings on the FV] with an Federal Vision minister, which he claims represents the Federal Vision. He was then challenged on his understanding of what a pastor and advocate of the Federal Vision would actually say, and therefore put together a series of quotes to back up his claims here. We believe that he does not treat these texts in their proper context. Pastor White appears to be unwilling to admit that he has taken quotes out of context, and he also is unwillling to contact the individuals who wrote them to clarify what they meant.

We felt that the best way to illustrate his faulty understanding was to replace his imaginary Federal Vision Pastor with a real one.

Pastor Douglas Wilson, of Christ Church, in Moscow, Idaho answers these same questions. Pastor Wilson is a proponent of the Federal Vision, and drafted the Joint Federal Vision Profession. Prior to the following recording, he had not read Pastor White’s imaginary conversation.

Part I

Part II – a follow-up Q/A.

In Part II we followed up on the questions and answers from an imaginary “confused parishioner.” Since the original video was deleted by Wes White, some of the back-and-forth represented here doesn’t fully make sense. The dialogue included “so I can lose my justification?” answered in the affirmative by the “imaginary FV pastor”. And obviously here Doug Wilson contradicts that assumption of Wes White.