The Puritans, Social Media, and Christian Conflict
Richard Baxter was the first Puritan I ever read. He ministered to me during a particular season of my life when his advice and encouragement proved paramount (for more on that I recommend you check out Michael Lundy’s little book titled “Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life: Practical Wisdom from Richard Baxter”). Hence, despite some strange views on soteriology, Baxter has always had a special place in my heart. I mean, you can’t read “The Saint’s Everlasting Rest” or “The Reformed Pastor” without your soul feeling washed and sanctified. Then came John Owen, who everyone told me was “the” Puritan to read, a guy who literally holds the nickname “The Prince of Puritan Divines.” What Owen did through writings like “Communion with God” and “The Glory of Christ” completely rejuvenated my orthodoxically cold view of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit used Owen to shatter my paradigm of the Trinity being simply a theological mystery; transforming it into being one of the most practical and delightful doctrines in all of scripture.
Hence, I was shocked when I later came to realize that these two Puritan saints, whom the Holy Spirit had used so powerfully as means of grace in my own life, absolutely despised one another! In Tim Cooper’s “When Christians Disagree: Lessons from the Fractured Relationship of John Owen and Richard Baxter,” he does a phenomenal job providing the historical background and context behind this contentious relationship, while providing some powerful implications to believers today. I’ll get to some of those lessons later, but there was one historical fact buried in Cooper’s book that I found fascinating and directly applicable to our 21st Century context; and that was the massive 17th Century expansion in the book printing industry. Put simply, the Puritans were able to write and publish books at a rate unprecedented in human history. While this would significantly bless the church for years to come (reference the existence of Read the Puritans), it would also come with its own baggage, as seen in the lives of Baxter and Owen.
Cooper writes that the conflict between these men did not come from any personal encounter, rather it started from a simple written response Baxter made to a friend’s question about John Owen’s latest book “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.” Buried in Baxter’s 188-page appendix of his own new release titled “Aphorisms of Justification,” he expresses concern over how Owen’s view on the atonement sounds too antinomian and could lead to a form of carnal Christianity. This written response, ironically not even made directly to Owen himself, would ignite years of conflict between these two men, continuing even after Owen went home to be with the Lord. Part of the irony is that during this period both these men saw themselves as champions for biblical truth. Even more ironic, as Cooper lays out, is just how much these men had in common despite these minor differences. Yet their initial written contact, followed by some of the most alarming banter in the form of printed exchanges, would make their first in-person meeting at a 1654 subcommittee (whose topic was ironically centered on “unity”) a disaster from the start. I mean, it’s kind of hard to hope for reconciliation when Owen had written about Baxter’s “pride and passion, magisterial insolence, pharisaical, supercilious self-conceitedness, and contempt of others,” while Baxter had fired back calling Owen a “messenger of Satan to buffet me.”
So how does this all tie in to today and the topic of social media? I would argue that what Baxter and Owen were doing at the speed of the 17th Century printing press is exactly what many in the church today are doing at the speed of Wi-Fi. How many online influencers, many of whom are pastors, spend the majority of their time producing videos casting spears at the latest ministry, pastor, writer or theologian in the name of something which sounds like “fighting for biblical clarity”, “contending for the truth”, or “protecting the body of Christ.” What if what they’re actually doing is hurting the body of Christ, which also happens to be the bride of Christ purchased by the blood of the second person of the Trinity?
Let’s think about this in terms of the church’s marriage relationship with Christ. I heard a sermon preached by Joel Beeke where he recounted a story of how his brother severely reprimanded him after Joel only so “slightly” criticized his brother’s fiancé. He pulled his car over and poked Joel in the chest saying, you can criticize me all you want but don’t EVER criticize my future bride. How different would the church be today if we viewed other believers as Christ’s bride? I know I would take pause at criticizing another man’s wife, especially in front of her husband, no matter how much my intention was aimed at “preserving the truth.” How much more should we use particular discretion when it comes to fellow believers, knowing our mutual husband Christ is always present.
I love Tim Cooper’s takeaway from the fractured relationship of Owen and Baxter, and believe it’s worth repeating here. He provides a checklist of questions for believers to ask themselves prior to any written or verbal engagement concerning another brother or sister in Christ.
Do I really need to respond to the initial provocation?
How much of the conflict can be traced back to personality rather than theology?
Am I overlooking all the things I have in common with the other person and seeing only the small number of differences?
How are my own faults contributing to a poor relationship?
Am I showing the humility, generosity, gentleness, and kindness to which I am called?
How much pride is mixed up in my motivations and actions?
How much damage will be inflicted on those around me and the cause of Christ by my continued conflict with the other person?
Is there anyone in my Christian community who can help repair our relationship or manage our differences?
I think if these 8 questions were thoughtfully considered by believers, most of the conflict and division within the church would dissipate. Yet, if an 8-question checklist is too much, one could boil these questions down to the simple medical professional's charge to “primum non nocere” or “first, do no harm.” I’ve begun to ask myself, “will the action I’m about to take toward another believer, like any potential medical intervention, do more harm than good to the body of Christ?”
Cooper concludes his book by writing that Baxter and Owen are a story mixed with “greatness and fallibility,” showing us that “even the most conscientious Christians disagree.” In fact, he goes on to say that it is the very “conscientiousness” of biblically sound believers that becomes the grounds for disagreement. Yet, may we make it our aim to violently strive for what the apostle Paul exhorts us to in Ephesians 4:1-3:
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”