@ReformedArsenal That’s ok Tony. I still appreciate you. Though I think you’re wrong
English
Zachary Dotson
81 posts
Zachary Dotson
@Zvdotson
Christian. Husband. Father. Pastor of Ulverstone PCEA. An Appalachian in Tassie
Ulverstone, Tasmania Katılım Mart 2026
345 Takip Edilen91 Takipçiler
If we're not to admit a charge against an elder on the basis of one witness, I'm not going to admit a charge against an entire presbytery of elders on the basis of speculation and a truncated screen shot.
English
Is there anyone out there who can appreciate the fact that I just happened to see Martyn Iles in the gift shop at Mount Vernon? 😄
English
@stephenspin There are Presbyterians outside the PCA though you americentric bigot!
English
PCA General Assembly, for most, is like the Olympics.
99.9% of normal human beings don’t care about curling save one week every four years.
99.9% of normal Presbyterians (if there is such a thing) don’t care about comma placement or whether to strike the word “the,” save one week every year.
English
Thomas Goodwin the Younger with some preliminary remarks prior to responding to this position:
'Well then, when we meet with the word law, if we would not be imposed on by the mere sound of a word, we must carefully view the text on all sides, and survey and consider all its circumstances. When what is proper to the gospel is attributed to the law, the word law is not to be apprehended in the strict sense, as signifying a rule of duty and threatening penalties to the disobedient, or as importing a doctrine of works, but a doctrine of grace. Thus, when the law is said to turn the soul and to rejoice the heart, Psal. 19. 8, 9, since these are not the effects of the law as a doctrine of works, for that rather effects a sense of wrath than any hope in the heart of a guilty, condemned sinner, and its efficacy is more suited to wound him with anxious fears or tormenting despair, rather than to comfort him, Rom. 4. 15, we must by no means conceive a proper law, consisting of precepts and menaces, to be meant, but the doctrine of the mercies of God in Christ, which only can have those virtues and influences.
And so when the Apostle too calls the gospel a law of faith, since he makes the righteousness of the law opposite to the righteousness which is of faith, Rom. 10. 4, 5, 6, and Rom. 3. 20, 21, 22, he must consequently mean not a law in the strict sense, not a doctrine of works, but of pure grace. And by this rule we are to proceed: when we find the gospel called a law, we are not to understand it in the strict meaning, as a rule of duty with a sanction, which is the proper and peculiar nature of the moral law, but as a revealed instruction to us what the mind of God is concerning our recovery and salvation by Christ.
And when we hear of the precepts and threatenings of the gospel, and read them in that part of the Bible which we call the New Testament, whether in the sermons of our Saviour or in the writings of the Apostles, we are not to surmise presently that these are any parts of the gospel properly so titled, as it is a word of grace and the doctrine of our redemption by Jesus, though they are contained in that book to which we commonly give that name. For this would be to perplex our notions of things which are entirely distinct in their natures and ideas, and to jumble them so confusedly together that we should not be able, upon sight, to discern and know one from the other.For by the same method of proceeding, I might frame an imagination to myself, and strive to impose it on other men, that the moral law is the gospel, because there are so many declarations of God’s love to sinners, of his mercies to pardon them, and so many promises of grace interspersed in the Psalms and Prophets and other books of the Old Testament; all which, though so much of the gospel be contained in it, is so frequently called the law both by Christ and his Apostles, the primitive Fathers, and Protestant divines. So that, in a word, as the promises of the gospel spread through the books of Moses and the Prophets is no argument to prove the law to be the gospel; so it is as false a demonstration that the gospel is a law, because there are so many precepts and threatenings repeated in the Evangelists and Epistles.
All that can be concluded is, that as there are promises in one volume of the Bible, so there are commands and menaces in the other: but yet, as it is the gospel which promises grace in the first, so it is the law which commands and threatens in the second. And to clear the equation, it is only needful to bring all the precepts in both to one side, and the promises to another, and then we have distinct law and gospel.'
play.google.com/store/books/de…
Summum@7ummumbonum
𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐰—𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐦. 𝟖:𝟐, “𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡”: “First, In opening the words observe,— 1. Here is law opposed to law. 2. By the one we are freed from the other. […] The covenant of grace is called the 'law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' A law it is, for it hath all the requisites of a law, a precept, and a sanction. They err certainly, that tell us the gospel is no law; for if there were no law, there would be no governor, and no government, no duty, no sin, no judgment, no punishment, nor reward. […] That the gospel hath the force of a law, I shall evidence by th[e] consideratio[n] that man, being God's creature, is his subject, and standeth related to him, as his rightful governor, and therefore is to receive what laws he is pleased to impose upon him: Is. xxxiii. 22, 'The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king, and he will save us;' and James iv. 21, 'There is one law-giver, who is able to save and to destroy.' […] The gospel, which is both our rule and charter, is the law which in Christ’s name is given to the world. That appeareth,— [1.] By the titles or terms wherein it is expressed ; as, Is. ii. 3, ‘Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of God from Jerusalem.’ So Isa. lxii. 4, ‘The isles shall wait for his law ;’ and Is. li. 4, ‘A law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light to the people.’ And in the New Testament it is called ‘The law of faith,’ Rom. iii. 27, and the ‘Law of Christ,’ Gal. v. 2, so that the doctrine of salvation by Christ is that law which we should abide by. [2.] The reason of the thing showeth it. For here is a governor or ruler, the Lord Christ, who hath acquired a new dominion and empire over the world, to save and to rule men upon his own terms…Christ being possessed of this lordship and dominion, hath made a new law of grace, which is propounded as a remedy for the relieving and restoring the lapsed world of mankind to the grace and favour of God; granting pardon and life to all that sincerely repent and believe in him, and live in new obedience; and peremptorily concluding and damning those to everlasting death that shall refuse these terms. This new constitution and gospel covenant hath all the formalities of a law…it is not only enacted pleno jure, by an absolute and uncontrollable right; but proclaimed by authorised messengers sent by the Lord Christ, who in his name were to require the obedience of the world to his new law, cf. Mat. 28:19-20. There is not only direction given to us to obey the gospel, but a charge and obligation is laid upon us…There is a coactive power in laws; God hath not left the creatures to comply with his directions if they please; no, there is a strict charge laid upon them; they must do it at their peril. Laws have a binding force, from the authority of their law-giver…Therefore we read much of the 'Obedience of faith' (cf. Rom. 1, 16, Acts 5, 6, 2 Cor. 10, 2 Pet. 1)…All this is said to show it is not arbitrary or indifferent, but we are bound by the authority of this new law. This law hath a sanction, otherwise it were but an arbitrary direction, though delivered in a preceptive form. The sanction is by promises of reward, or by threatenings of punishment…The law of grace threateneth us with the highest penalties (cf. John 3:19, Heb. 10:29)…This sanction supposeth an exercise of government according to law; and so that there is a just governor and administrator, who will take account how this new law of grace is kept or broken…God's external government is according to the law of the gospel.”
English
@JamesRiver63635 @dylanmorscheck I didn’t know you were still alive.
English
If the X interaction that’s been circulating is the basis for the Rio Grande Presbytery suspension of Garris, then it’s a ridiculous action.
But avoid faulting the PCA as a whole or lamenting the state of the denomination. Let it be appealed first then make a judgement.
English
@totusjustice You know, if you were part of a real denomination you would actually be suspended for unwholesome speech.
English
I'm not your friend, Zach. If I were, you'd have defended me in your GC, not only here but from the many slanders of your lying, vicious covenanter compatriots. Instead, you recruited them to aid Eli in his persecution. Now you play the part of defending Garris. Horseshit. May God damn you if you do not repent.
English
Shouldn't you be colluding with Eli McGowan to persecute good Christians and their church?
Zachary Dotson@Zvdotson
@ZGroff @ZacharyGarris For a guy so widely acclaimed by the New York Times for your lyrical abilities this is a surprisingly based take.
English
@totusjustice My friend. I am not going to hell. I sent Eli a link to your website. I didn’t realise that he was out to get you. Do I deserve hell for that? This was all like 3 years ago. He could have found the info anyway, it was public.
English
@ZGroff @ZacharyGarris For a guy so widely acclaimed by the New York Times for your lyrical abilities this is a surprisingly based take.
English
Catching up this AM…
My good friend @ZacharyGarris, his sweet family, and his wonderful congregation deserved better treatment from Rio Grande Presbytery.
It is astounding to me that the men responsible for pastoring the regional expression of the PCA in New Mexico decided to bar a preacher from fulfilling his calling and rob a church of their minister over what amounts to banter on @X. I’ve seen the supposed victim of said banter post far worse (i.e., malicious) things online.
It is hard to conclude anything other than Rio Grande Presbytery chose vindictiveness over equity in finding Zach guilty and then levying a censure of indefinite suspension. This result is prima facie so incredibly over the top, out of balance, and inappropriate. But I confess that I don’t know all the facts of the case, and I’m certain that more of the story will be told on appeal to the PCA’s Standing Judicial Commission of the General Assembly.
May Christ’s honor and ministry in His Kingdom prevail over all folly and wickedness in His Church.
God bless the PCA.
English
Just wanted to promote and encourage the purchase of another high quality piece of Historical Theology by @ZacharyGarris . I loved the volume particularly the discussion of differences between Calvin and Knox on female civil rulers.
English
@JohnAndersonAC @ChavuraStephen @Sargon_of_Akkad I didn’t think this day would ever come! But man am I happy to see it.
English
@TheConservati19 @OzraeliAvi I thought you need a slightly more nuanced take on Tucker. But I haven’t kept up with the stuff down here.
English
In the USA we have watched the complete 180 of Tucker Carlson and Crew from what were thought were conservative to Islamic-shilling propogandists.
Are we witnessing something similar with @OzraeliAvi here? Avi was universly popular through the BLM riots and Covid-19 years, but now he and his crew seems intent ondriving a wedge between those that support and recognise heritage Australia and recent Australians who immigrated here from the 1990's onwards.
All this will acheive is a splintering of the centre-right giving Albo yet another term. Is Avi a fraud like Tucker who presented himself as on board with MAGA but now seems intent on destroying it?
I don't know, but the question needs to be asked, one I never contemplated asking just a few weeks back.
To be clear I have had my own difference of opinon with @shallowchal and @2worldsPodcast but I've enjoyed respectful conversations with Scott and beleive I would do so with Sam. Would Avi be interested in a chat on my podcast to clarify his position?
English
@TheHeroesForge @ZacharyGarris I don’t think they are ready for the backlash. I don’t think they will understand it. The leftist mind loves sort of self righteous judgements that can’t be easily articulated, but they understand power. So when they lose they will feel chastened.
English
@Zvdotson @ZacharyGarris Probably not. However, if they have the stones to go through with this kangaroo court in public, I suspect they care not for any backlash they’ll rightly receive.
English
That @ZacharyGarris was convicted on this charge is deeply disturbing. Not because I like him and his work but Christ is the King of Church and all power is delegated. Church courts must act in line with the delegated authority of Christ and when they don’t- Matthew 18:6.
English
@TheHeroesForge @ZacharyGarris Well, I would imagine this is won’t end well for those that convicted him.
English
@Zvdotson @ZacharyGarris This sounds an awful lot like last straws being broken in many households over this.
English
@ThomLately Not defrocked- just suspended. He is still a minister that just suspended him *if* the process was done correctly to give space for repentance and as corrective action against bad behaviour. At least that’s how it should work.
English
They just defrocked a good pastor for these tweets…
Sean McGowan@irishpresby
At trial, the Rio Grande Presbytery (PCA) found Rev. Zachary Garris NOT GUILTY of Charge 1 regarding his comments on slavery from June 2024. However, Garris was found GUILTY of Charge 2 for “unwholesome speech” per Ephesians 4:29, based on a 2023 interaction on X with Anthony Bradley. The Presbytery has indefinitely suspended him.
English
@Zvdotson @not_our_guy @ZacharyGarris I don’t know, no one online is showing the indictment or saying what all happened in the two-day trial.
English