An Apology to Dee Dee
* An Apology to Dee Dee
Recently I made what I saw as a joke (which looking back had implications that I did not think about) regarding a pic of Dee Dee.
When I made the joke about the pic. that she had posted on her website I had sent it to Sam and Jason and Rod (just these 3) in comparison to the Harlot of Babylon pic. that was posed similarly in a Dispy rendition of the Harlot.
It was because of the way they were posed and dressed and unusual hair style that Dee Dee had that day that I made this connection. I called no one any names. I called it "Pret. Idealism" because of the pose "re-fulfillment" so to speak.
I sent it to RE. I would have never sent it to RE if I thought that he was going to take it serious and the way that they did. RE and I have had times of good convos and times of head butting, so I thought a joke would break the ice. Apparently a bad joke and poor judgment on my part, to make that connection.
Dee Dee had mentioned that some FP would run with the pic. when she had posted it, which is why I said "couldn't resist" in my email. At the time they were being very friendly to Pret. Idealism which is "modern" according to TD and still sees the Res. of dead / 2nd Coming etc. as past but ongoing, so really should not be accepted by anyone arguing from the "2000 years of church history" view IMO. I saw it as a way to "kill 2 birds with one stone" so to speak.
It was meant as a joke (poor judgment on my part looking back) but was aimed at taking a "pop" at not only the Pret. Idealist view of what I percieve to be a "re-fulfillment" view, but also the "harlot" in a Preterist view of any type. We all know that the harlot was Jerusalem, and she was a harlot not because she literally was one but because she persecuted Christians which I honestly do see that this is happening to us.
Revelation 18
20Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!
God has judged her for the way she treated you.' "
I apologized in a private manner already for any misunderstanding of what I meant, but the apology was not accepted. Admittedly maybe it did not have enough sincerity behind it, because I have trouble understanding that someone could be upset about being compared to a harlot (when I was just comparing the pics / pose etc.) when they don't mind taking on the persona of Xena who is an open lesbian on TV. But that does not excuse my action. I should have thought about misunderstandings about what I had sent. I certainly did not mean what I sent to be a commentary on Dee Dee's marriage etc. when I have never met her and know really nothing abot her personal life. I only know how she has treated people that I care about in the Full Pret. community which was what my email was really a commentary on.
Those at the other camp have done the parodies / "flying monkey" comments / "pup" comments etc. and have been doing so for years now. This does not excuse anything that I did in retaliation, but it does help put things in the proper perspective. I believe this quote below to be true, but this however does not excuse what I did and how I used poor judgment.
"...I don't want to gut the force of what I want to argue in this article, so let me limit my "qualifications" about all this to this introductory section. I write this knowing fully some of the provocations my brothers have gone through. C. S. Lewis once wisely said, when comparing the heated rhetoric of Thomas More and William Tyndale, that it had to be remembered that Tyndale was the one being persecuted for his faith. It was not a level playing field. Lewis said something similar about Bunyan, and I believe there is a similar asymmetry in this situation. Exasperated rhetoric in self-defense is a very different sin than slander and accusation from one in authority or a doctrinal bounty-hunter out to make a name for himself." - Doug Wilson
Also, I might mention that Sam and Dave Green tried to get a "reconciliation" where we would all forgive each other of past issues on both sides and move on and avoid ad-homs etc. We wanted to have Dr. Talbot and Ken Gentry involved. The other side refused to do this. I will leave it to them to explain why as I do not want to put words in their mouths.
I don't believe that Dee Dee is going to "forgive" without conditions, as we have seen her lay them out. I do not think that is biblical where no one was bodily harmed / broken a law etc. But I do still want to apologize to her and her family for any misunderstanding. I am sure (though I do not know her on a personal level) that she is a good wife to her husband. I also want to apologize to him too. Dee Dee I am also sorry about a past email I had sent (I think in 2004 or 2005 that you brought up where I said I would post your "ugly pic" with your failure to answer my questions (I think it was in regards to Daniel 12). I had called your pic "ugly" only because you had joked that you had "warts and a goiter" and so I was just joking because of what you had said in your previous email. Obviously I had no idea what you look like at the time as I had never seen you.
Daniel 12 BTW still goes unanswered by Partial Preterists. Though they insist that they have still done nothing wrong, I do hope that they also would humble themselves and do less "attacking" on a personal level and be more focused on the scriptures themselves. I do hope that we can have some sort of civil conversations down the line with our opponents about scriptures like Daniel 12 and the Preterist hermeneutic and logic etc.
Again, I still see as CS Lewis / Doug Wilson put it...
"Exasperated rhetoric in self-defense is a very different sin than slander and accusation from one in authority or a doctrinal bounty-hunter out to make a name for himself."
But I do want to apologize for my fault in any of the things that I did that were poor judgment on my part.
I sincerely apologize for any wrong doing on my part.
MB
Recently I made what I saw as a joke (which looking back had implications that I did not think about) regarding a pic of Dee Dee.
When I made the joke about the pic. that she had posted on her website I had sent it to Sam and Jason and Rod (just these 3) in comparison to the Harlot of Babylon pic. that was posed similarly in a Dispy rendition of the Harlot.
It was because of the way they were posed and dressed and unusual hair style that Dee Dee had that day that I made this connection. I called no one any names. I called it "Pret. Idealism" because of the pose "re-fulfillment" so to speak.
I sent it to RE. I would have never sent it to RE if I thought that he was going to take it serious and the way that they did. RE and I have had times of good convos and times of head butting, so I thought a joke would break the ice. Apparently a bad joke and poor judgment on my part, to make that connection.
Dee Dee had mentioned that some FP would run with the pic. when she had posted it, which is why I said "couldn't resist" in my email. At the time they were being very friendly to Pret. Idealism which is "modern" according to TD and still sees the Res. of dead / 2nd Coming etc. as past but ongoing, so really should not be accepted by anyone arguing from the "2000 years of church history" view IMO. I saw it as a way to "kill 2 birds with one stone" so to speak.
It was meant as a joke (poor judgment on my part looking back) but was aimed at taking a "pop" at not only the Pret. Idealist view of what I percieve to be a "re-fulfillment" view, but also the "harlot" in a Preterist view of any type. We all know that the harlot was Jerusalem, and she was a harlot not because she literally was one but because she persecuted Christians which I honestly do see that this is happening to us.
Revelation 18
20Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!
God has judged her for the way she treated you.' "
I apologized in a private manner already for any misunderstanding of what I meant, but the apology was not accepted. Admittedly maybe it did not have enough sincerity behind it, because I have trouble understanding that someone could be upset about being compared to a harlot (when I was just comparing the pics / pose etc.) when they don't mind taking on the persona of Xena who is an open lesbian on TV. But that does not excuse my action. I should have thought about misunderstandings about what I had sent. I certainly did not mean what I sent to be a commentary on Dee Dee's marriage etc. when I have never met her and know really nothing abot her personal life. I only know how she has treated people that I care about in the Full Pret. community which was what my email was really a commentary on.
Those at the other camp have done the parodies / "flying monkey" comments / "pup" comments etc. and have been doing so for years now. This does not excuse anything that I did in retaliation, but it does help put things in the proper perspective. I believe this quote below to be true, but this however does not excuse what I did and how I used poor judgment.
"...I don't want to gut the force of what I want to argue in this article, so let me limit my "qualifications" about all this to this introductory section. I write this knowing fully some of the provocations my brothers have gone through. C. S. Lewis once wisely said, when comparing the heated rhetoric of Thomas More and William Tyndale, that it had to be remembered that Tyndale was the one being persecuted for his faith. It was not a level playing field. Lewis said something similar about Bunyan, and I believe there is a similar asymmetry in this situation. Exasperated rhetoric in self-defense is a very different sin than slander and accusation from one in authority or a doctrinal bounty-hunter out to make a name for himself." - Doug Wilson
Also, I might mention that Sam and Dave Green tried to get a "reconciliation" where we would all forgive each other of past issues on both sides and move on and avoid ad-homs etc. We wanted to have Dr. Talbot and Ken Gentry involved. The other side refused to do this. I will leave it to them to explain why as I do not want to put words in their mouths.
I don't believe that Dee Dee is going to "forgive" without conditions, as we have seen her lay them out. I do not think that is biblical where no one was bodily harmed / broken a law etc. But I do still want to apologize to her and her family for any misunderstanding. I am sure (though I do not know her on a personal level) that she is a good wife to her husband. I also want to apologize to him too. Dee Dee I am also sorry about a past email I had sent (I think in 2004 or 2005 that you brought up where I said I would post your "ugly pic" with your failure to answer my questions (I think it was in regards to Daniel 12). I had called your pic "ugly" only because you had joked that you had "warts and a goiter" and so I was just joking because of what you had said in your previous email. Obviously I had no idea what you look like at the time as I had never seen you.
Daniel 12 BTW still goes unanswered by Partial Preterists. Though they insist that they have still done nothing wrong, I do hope that they also would humble themselves and do less "attacking" on a personal level and be more focused on the scriptures themselves. I do hope that we can have some sort of civil conversations down the line with our opponents about scriptures like Daniel 12 and the Preterist hermeneutic and logic etc.
Again, I still see as CS Lewis / Doug Wilson put it...
"Exasperated rhetoric in self-defense is a very different sin than slander and accusation from one in authority or a doctrinal bounty-hunter out to make a name for himself."
But I do want to apologize for my fault in any of the things that I did that were poor judgment on my part.
I sincerely apologize for any wrong doing on my part.
MB
17 Comments
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Comment by David Lee on March 8, 2009 at 3:05pm - Proud of you MIke!!
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Comment by David Green on March 8, 2009 at 3:51pm - Thank you Mike. :)
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Comment by Sharon Nichols on March 8, 2009 at 3:56pm - What a wonderful post Mike! Ditto David Lee's comment! I'm proud of you bro!
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Comment by Selina on March 8, 2009 at 5:11pm -
Mike, I've always been happy to know you, learn so much from you over the years, proud to have you as a brother.... and this.... this is like... The Grinch's heart... "that grew 3 times that day"
Thanks for making the apology public. (Never uploaded an image on here before, hope this works.) God bless you wonderfully,
Selina
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Comment by Selina on March 8, 2009 at 5:13pm
- ... not that you're usually a grinch... hahaha Ü
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Comment by Michael Bennett on March 8, 2009 at 5:32pm - I love the dog in the grinch - classic =)
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Comment by Jean-Pierre on March 8, 2009 at 8:01pm - Psalm 130:3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
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Comment by sam on March 8, 2009 at 8:04pm -
Mike,
Well written and crafted. I might write something to further clear the ground. Depends.
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Comment by sam on March 8, 2009 at 8:30pm
- Sigh.....I just, unfortunately, read Dee Dee's response to this. I will add my two cents, then. Decision made. Bear with us, folks. The air has to be cleared, as Dee Dee has been writing article after article about us. Mike, as far as I am concerned, and those on this site, you are free and clear. After my forthcoming article, I am finished with all of this nasty business. I have to respond, though. If one or two articles, whatever. But, after ten or so articles about this, something has to be done. Sorry if some on this site do not understand. But, when a wasp flies around your head, you either move (which I will not), or swat it. I choose to swat it.
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Comment by Sharon Nichols on March 8, 2009 at 8:56pm
- Doesn't matter what DeeDee does with this apology Mike. You've done what you should do and it is the proper thing. God knows each parties intentions in all of this. People can play games, but God knows what the score is.
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