Rev. McAtee Takes Alienist Rev. James Norris to the Woodshed

Over at the E-zine Reformation 21, one Rev. James Norris inks the typical bilge that tends to flow from Alienist ink pens. I haven’t repudiated everything Norris writes there but I have refuted enough here to demonstrate that his putative reasoning is of the Swiss cheese variety, which is to say Norris’ reasoning is full of holes.

Rev. Norris writes,

“It cannot be denied that that there has been a small, yet growing trend in the church in recent years for some young men to embrace racist views. They go by various names: Kinists, Racialists, Race Realists, Familyism and use terms like “Natural Community.” These views may be summarized as a belief that different races have not only different physical characteristics, but moral, spiritual, and intellectual qualities which are immutable and that the white race or races have superior qualities and therefore they oppose interracial marriage and insist that society and the church ought to be governed by those whom they claim have superior intellectual, moral, and spiritual qualities. In short: white supremacy.”

James Norris
Ref21 Webzine

Bret Responds,

1.) Small but growing? Probably not so small but definitely growing, and frankly we are scaring the pants off the James Norris types in their denominations. Here is what is going to happen. Eventually, given the irrational behavior of the putative conservative clergy against what the Church Fathers have taught throughout Church/Christian history, there are going to be new denominations arise that leave the NAPARC churches to gnaw on the bitter roots of their alienism, egalitarianism, and proto-Marxism.

2.) The fact that exhaustive research has been done (see the book “The Bell Curve”) confirms that different intellectual qualities are normative among different races. To refuse to concede that is just a matter of making noticing differences a sin.

3.) Moral qualities being immutable are likewise testified to by observation. Not only by observation but Holy writ itself testifies that moral differences exist as Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teaches that, “all Cretans are liars.”

4.) As to spiritual qualities differing and being immutable… Mr. Norris would have to explain exactly what he means by “spiritual qualities.” If by “spiritual qualities” Norris means that Kinists think that people from other races can’t be spiritual… well, that’s just a lie that Norris is spinning.

5.) This Kinist believes churches ought to be governed by the people group that they are comprised of. If it is a Korean church it should be ruled by Koreans. If it is a Hmong church that church should be ruled by Hmong. If it is a white Church that church should be ruled by whites.

6.) Speaking for myself, as a Kinist, I have always said that superiority and inferiority, in terms of differing abilities, will exist concurrently in different areas in different races. Although, I do believe that Christian whites have historically demonstrated that they are superior at building civilization than Christian non-whites. (Have there been any non-White explicitly Christian civilizations?)

7.) So, whites are supreme in the areas they are supreme in and other races are supreme in the areas they are supreme it. For example, white are NOT supreme in the NBA.

8.) As to interracial marriage … along with my Reformed Fathers prior to 1950 or so, I do agree that interracial marriage should be opposed by all wise Christians, though I have often consistently said that once a inter-racial marriage covenant is struck between two people who claim Christ the Church should do all it can to support that marriage short of allowing their children to inter-marry with the miscegenated children resulting from a inter-racial marriage.

____

“One matter that Ketcham and other Kinists repeatedly reference is something orthodox Christians need to face: There have been many Christians over the centuries who either held to racist views or who at some point said and/or wrote prejudicial remarks. We need to come to terms with this.

Reading Kinist literature, it quickly becomes apparent that appealing to authority is one of the primary arguments used to support their views.”

James Norris
Reformation 21 Webzine Article

Bret Responds,

1.) Not merely many Christians, but rather nearly all Christians before 1950 or so save for the Anabaptists and a handful of Covenanter nutcases. Nearly all of Church history is against people like Norris and the Alienists. Have any doubt? Just purchase a copy of “Who Is My Neighbor,” and “A Survey of Racialism in the Sacred Christian Tradition.”

2.) I would LOVE for Norris, or one of his Alienist compatriots to publish a book full of quotes from Church history that supports his egalitarianism and crypto-Marxism. Go ahead James … publish an anthology and show us your appeal to authority.

3.) Note what Norris has done here. He has accused Machen, Dabney, Thornwell, Luther, Calvin, Viret, Althusius, Turretin, etc. etc. etc. of being racist. The man has the cajones to indict pretty much all of church history. Only maniacs or madmen insist they alone are correct over all their Fathers.

____

“This highlights a fundamental error found that runs through the writings of many Kinists: they replace God’s covenants with race. For Kinists, many Old Testament prohibitions against marrying outside Israel are read not as prohibiting marrying outside the faith, but along racial lines, or some will simply claim that it’s both/and. Even if a token nod is given to covenant theology, it is done so in a way so that covenant texts can still also be applied racially, which they do in their opposition to interracial marriage.”

James Norris
Reformation21 Webzine

Norris’ reasoning fails here by not taking into account the books of Ezra and Nehemiah where the covenant is clearly also racial. There in Ezra and Nehemiah it is not only the foreign wives that are to be dismissed but it is also the covenant mixed raced children that are to be dismissed along with the foreign wives. If, as Norris errantly presumes, the problem with the marriages/children had only been about covenant God would not have required the covenant children to be dismissed along with the wives. Clearly, there was an ethnic/racial component to what is going on in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Perhaps, the most straightforward question that Norris’ silly argument needs to answer is, “How is it if in the Old Testament prohibitions were merely against marrying outside the faith, why were the Levitical priests forbidden from marrying outside the tribe of Levi?”

Alienists, such as Norris, argue that Kinists err by advocating for ethnicity/race over Covenant, but juxtaposing and contrasting covenant and ethnicity/race the way that Norris does, as if the Covenant stands naked apart from heritage, only eisegetically imputes to the Covenant the Jacobin/Marxist concepts of Egalitarianism and Propositional/Civic Nationalism. If Norris and his Alienist ilk were consistent with Norris’ line of “reasoning” and critique against Kinism as stated in the Norris quote above they would have to denounce infant baptism since infant baptism marries covenant with lineal descent.  Infant Baptism is consistent with Kinism which doesn’t abstract covenant from lineal descent as if the two or not intimately related, yet because Kinists are consistent here the Reformed Gnostic/Alienists like Norris find the consistent Reformed to be an offense to their neo-Marxist “Reformed” “covenant” theology.

Alienists have been warned repeatedly regarding their error. They have been reasoned with till the cows come home. Kinists have answered their same objections over and over again. We are at the point now where these vicious Alienists need to be recognized as anti-Christs. Mark them out and avoid them. They are egalitarians and crypto-Marxist.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him.

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