A Clarification Regarding Vision Forum

Something has been on my mind that leads me to make a clarification about Vision Forum for my website readers.

I wrote last April about our decision regarding infant baptism:

We also resolved the issue of infant baptism. This was an issue for us because the church we have been visiting for the past several months is of the Christian Reformed denomination and they baptize infants. When we started visiting there we had no children and, frankly, figured we might never have children. So the baptism thing was a rather non-issue we could choose to ignore. We liked the pastor, the church was close, we liked the smaller congregation, and we liked the service.

Well, enter Peanut on the stage and now we had to decide. We did some reading, had a good conversation with the pastor, and prayed. In the end, we decided that although we understand infant baptism and don’t think it is wrong or sinful (as practiced by those of the Reformed denominations), it was not something we could embrace spiritually. If we lived in a town that only had one good Bible preaching church and it was Reformed, we would go there and “when in Rome do as the Romans do.” We know there are many fine Reformed folks who baptize their babies and we don’t have a problem with it.

But since we do have other options, we are more comfortable with the practice of believer’s baptism which means we are heading back to the Baptist church we visited last fall. We went there last evening and unless the Lord sends us a big red flag, we are assuming that is where we will be from now on. We would prefer a Reformed and Baptist church, but the only one in our city is way too conservative and somber for us. But we are glad to have that decision made even though it was hard to make.

It seems that oftentimes it is easy to let something go until you are forced to make a choice. David and I discussed a lot of things “in theory” in the years before Caroline was conceived, but once she was born it put a whole new light on things. It is one thing to read and discuss ideas, but something completely different to realize those ideas have consequences and you will shape someone’s life by those ideas and related choices.

No Longer Promoting Vision Forum

One thing that I have decided is that I will no longer promote Vision Forum and/or the writings of Doug Phillips here. In the past I have linked to Vision Forum and not thought too much about it, but I find that I can no longer do that in good conscience. David and I are in fundamental disagreement with them regarding some of the views they promote, especially about women. We simply would not raise Caroline according to some of the key teachings they promote. These would include:

• Strongly discouraging women from attending college to the point that attending college and being out from under the father’s immediate supervisory authority is almost seen as sin
• The idea that an unmarried woman should live at home and serve her father until she marries in order to learn how to serve her husband (and if she never marries she still stays home)
• The idea that women should be completely silent in the church – no speaking of any kind
• The idea that a woman is unable to approach the table and take her own communion elements but instead must have them “delivered” by a male (my word, not theirs)
• What David and I view to be an excessive view of male headship in marriage in general

These are just a few things, but they are the most relevant at this juncture. The truth of the matter is that we would not instruct Caroline to follow the ideas I have written above. We deeply desire that she become a godly woman. We desire to raise her to delight in being a female and to enjoy being feminine. We also desire to raise her to be a strong Christian who can think, reason, and hold her own in a theological conversation with women AND men. We want her to understand how to run a home as well as how to be strong spiritually and theologically. We want her to understand the incredible worth Jesus gives to women while still recognizing that there are fundamental differences between men and women.

Vision Forum Controversy

I am sure many people are now aware of the current controversy related to Doug Phillips specifically and Vision Forum in general. I’ve been following it the past couple of weeks, but have not wanted to “get into it” on my blog during Christmas. However, this situation has prodded me to write this post which I probably should have done a while ago.

I do want to make clear that this post is not purely in reaction to the controversy and what I have only read there. David and I have purchased and listened to many CDs from Vision Forum so we are very familiar with the messages they are promoting. We’ve also read Doug’s blog as well as other articles on the Vision Forum site. So this is a post that is based on our first-hand experiences with their materials over the past few years and is not a knee-jerk reaction to the current controversy.

However, I am deeply troubled by the allegations that have surfaced regarding Doug Phillips, the Epsteins, the Allosaur video, etc. I’m disappointed that Doug Phillips and Vision Forum have not personally responded to these allegations. David and I have both suffered through spiritual abuse in two different places and I will freely admit that having experienced it makes me more inclined to believe what I read because so much of it is depressingly familiar. But even if all of the allegations are proved absolutely false, it would not change my feelings on this matter of the teachings on women.

Vision Forum as a Spiritual Stumbling Block

I would be grieved if I learned that someone went to Vision Forum from a link on my site, assumed because I linked that I was in agreement with these views, was influenced to take on some of these views, and it became a stumbling block for them in their faith. I know that many fine brothers and sisters in Christ have been blessed by Vision Forum, but I have also seen first-hand in my own extended family the extreme damage done by some of these teachings. For that reason, I would prefer to distance myself from this ministry. I’m removing the links I have to Vision Forum and I want to express publicly my disagreement with their teachings I mentioned above.

It is my hope that anyone reading this who loves Vision Forum will understand the spirit in which this is written. Just as David and I love our Reformed brothers and sisters in Christ who choose to baptize their infants, we love our brothers and sisters in Christ who choose to perhaps live by some of the views of women mentioned above. I would also be grieved if I discovered someone reading this post felt that I was mocking their beliefs in this area. That is not my intention. I simply want to be “on the record” regarding these issues so anyone who has been coming to my blog will understand where I stand on them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!