As I said in yesterday’s post, Marty Minto called me yesterday, and we spoke for probably an hour-and-a-half. Despite having a couple of differences of opinion, it was a pleasant-enough conversation. It related to the fact that several people had made posts critical of Marty on this blog, and his desire was that I take the post down altogether. I have not, as you can see, elected to do that, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment. But what I did elect to do was to employ a Biblical strategy, spelled out in Proverbs 11:14, and seek the counsel of some respected Christian friends. Their counsel, with a variation or two, was pretty much unanimous that, at the very least, I should remove some of the comments that had been made, and that is what I decided to do.

It was my decision that allowing the posts to remain, again posts critical of Marty, not in the role of radio host but in the role of pastor, would constitute a violation of some Scriptural admonitions not to entertain accusations against an elder except under very particular circumstances, circumstances that are not really possible on a public blog of this type. I had not considered it from that point of view before; my general rule of thumb has been to leave all comments up except for those which involve profane language. I figured that as long as I maintained “neutrality”, and took no position as to the validity of the comments (or the lack thereof), then I could leave the posts up. I did attempt to maintain this neutrality, but my friends enabled me to see the issue as deeper than merely maintaining neutrality. Marty asked me to consider how I’d feel if people posted negative things about me on a forum such as this (theoretically, open to the entire world). His point is well-taken, and my friends substantiated its validity. Accordingly, I made the decision to take them down.

Now, I want to be clear at the same time that the neutrality which I held while the comments were up is unchanged. I do not have an opinion as to the allegations that were made. I do not in any way, shape, or form doubt the integrity of those who posted, even if my ultimate judgment now is that the comments ought to be removed. I do not dispute Marty Minto’s integrity either; in fact, the original post, made over three years ago, really wasn’t even a post about Marty Minto, per se; if you’ll notice, his name doesn’t even appear in the concluding two paragraphs, my “summary points”! I just want to be clear about what my actions were, and what they were not: they represent no conclusion one way or the other, simply a decision not to allow them to continue on this blog.

I will suggest to any and all concerned that the best thing that professing Christians can do is to seek reconciliation. I recognize that that is sometimes difficult to achieve, but it is never impossible, particularly if two believers are both committed to seeking God’s face and will.

I realize that there might be some who will not be satisfied with the fact that I’ve done this. Marty himself requested that I take the entire post down; I declined for reasons I think I explained above, namely that the post isn’t per se a criticism of him at all. Those who have issues with Marty’s pastoral ministry probably won’t be too happy either. To any and all I say that I have a responsibility first to God, and only secondarily to my readers. I believe, now that I’ve received counsel from some great friends, that this is the best course of action at this time, and I’ll appreciate any understanding that readers can give me as I’ve made this decision.

Thanks, Marty, for having the guts to call me, and I apologize for not being sensitive to the pain that allowing unedited comments could cause. My prayer and hope for you would be the same as for anyone/everyone: that you would be fully submitted to the will of God as revealed in the Word of God, and that God would use you in a mighty way, shaping and forming you as He does each of us in our journeys of faith.

A friend from TPCC