Dear Pristine Grace Community,

    On the Pristine Grace website there is a disclaimer at the bottom of the page: "Disclaimer: Inclusion of an author or speaker on this website does not constitute an endorsement of everything stated by said person."

    I have been accused of being a compromiser, my family has been defriended, and blocked on Facebook by someone because I mentioned I enjoyed reading Calvin's commentaries. I didn't say I agreed with everything Calvin wrote. I just said I enjoyed reading him in my studies. But by doing so I have offended this person so greatly that I and others in my family are now no longer regarded as brethren.

    Friends, this vicious cruel behavior needs to stop. Our endless tests of orthodoxy toward each other, our constant debating cannot be good. Our constant boasting of "such and such" is a heretic on our Facebook walls is not healthy. Finding a quote from a dead theologian that seems to fly in the face of everything he has ever said is not something to glory in. But on Facebook it's a form of boasting. It's a form of self-righteousness. People take pride in their scalps of dead theologians. If you search long and hard enough, you can find something that EVERY preacher of the Gospel has said or written that can be used to judge him terribly.

    I am grieved over all of it. Others tell me I need to get over it, but I just can't. I need to say something. 

    As a community of believers, we need to stand up and not allow our brethren to treat each other this way online. This sort of stuff would not fly in a local assembly, why would we allow it amongst ourselves on Facebook?

    Anyway, I am sorry for the poor article this morning. It's just something I've been thinking and grieving about today. This person who did this actually lives close to me here in St. Louis and I had been hoping to actually meet with them for fellowship. Anyway, thanks for hearing my burden. 

    Love in Christ, 
    Brandan.