I used to be an Owen fan.
I loved seeing that he wrote one of the first anti-woke books when the woke epidemic hit the church. I defended him against attacks on his theology of the Trinity. I listened to his podcast. I supported his decision to leave his previous seminary, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I have recommended his new seminary to people looking for a school. I even agree with his recent controversial opinions on voting.
But then Owen began his tirade against Christian Nationalism.
But this post isn’t about if Owen is correct or incorrect about Christian Nationalism. It’s about what he did afterwards.
He refused to discuss it with the people he was attacking.
I’m not a fan of drive-by attacks. I cannot stand it when someone throws a brick at someone’s house or slashes someone’s tires and then runs off. Owen metaphorically slashed the tires of Doug Wilson, Stephen Wolfe, and other people in their group, graffitied the car with “Wanting a Christian Nation Sux”, and skipped off laughing. Again, regardless of if you agree with Christian Nationalism or not, this is not how we should be treating or enemies. It’s definitely not how we should be treating our brothers in Christ.
This is cowardice.
Not only is it bad form, and something that only a lily-livered spineless coward would do (I’m not saying Owen is spineless, but that’s totally something a lily-livered spineless coward would do), but it doesn’t make him look good.
In any disagreement that I can think of, the side that isn’t willing to discuss their disagreements with the other side is automatically the bad guy. We’ve seen this in culture numerous times with all kinds of things in just the past few years. The attackers are always the bad guys.
I think back to the “discussion” over vaccine mandates. The anti-mandate side was utterly silenced and made out to be bumbling idiots not worthy of being listened to.
Often in discussions about abortion, you see one side trying to discuss when exactly life begins, and the other side does some combination of pointing, screaming, insulting, and ignoring everything they’re saying.
There are plenty more I could come up with, but suffice it to say, one of the worst parts is that Owen would recognize these examples I just gave as really awful. He has even been the victim of this kind of assault online over his views on the Trinity. His opponents want to silence him and are entirely unwilling to listen to him.
You’d think he would recognize that kind of behavior as a bad thing.
Here’s Owen’s response when the victims of his virulent attacks invited him to talk:
Owen’s recent behavior against his brothers in Christ has made me give him a second thought. And a third and a fourth. This isn’t the Owen I used to like.
There’s much more to the story than this tweet alone. You can view this article and this one for more details on what lead up until this point.
Is it wrong to “Platform” false teachers?
If in fact it’s false teachers we’re dealing with, I’d agree. The Bible in various places tells us to divide with false teachers and those who are professing believers who have been disciplined within the church and continue in their sin unrepentantly.
However, none of this actually applies to the people who Owen is attacking.
It doesn’t apply to the people who Owen refuses to talk to about Christian Nationalism.
Owen referenced in a Q&A at the G3 2023 conference, that he doesn’t want to platform someone like Stephen Wolfe, who according to him, gets the gospel wrong due to intermingling (Stephen Wolfe doesn’t do this). Even if Owen’s accusations were true, a racist doesn’t necessarily get the gospel wrong. A person can get something morally and theologically wrong and still understand the Gospel. To say that a person has to have a proper understanding of race to get the Gospel correct is exactly the argument that Social Justice Warriors would use.
“If you don’t have my view of racial justice, you don’t even have the Gospel correct.”
This seems to be essentially what Owen has argued recently.
What the Bible does say if a brother sins against you, go to him. That’s exactly what the Christian Nationalist crew is doing with Owen. And it’s what Owen should be doing to the Christian Nationalist crew if they are, in fact, sinning. Instead, Owen is sinning against them by slandering them and they’re going to him to reconcile.
But Owen isn’t having it.
A Christian ought to seek reconciliation. Especially when the enemy wants to reconcile. They also ought to understand the difference between primary and secondary issues. Owen seems to think that people who call themselves Christian Nationalists fundamentally misunderstand the gospel, but by many definitions, Owen himself could very easily be considered a Christian Nationalist himself. I’d definitely consider him a Christian Nationalist. Not to mention that Owen has said recently that a Christian Nation would be a good thing. At it’s core, that’s Christian Nationalism.
Christians need to do a much better job at keeping their heads on straight.
I’m reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:1
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Similarly, I think even if we’re correct about our belief, but we don’t have love, we’re nothing. A Christian who’s right, but excommunicates everyone they disagree with is worse off than the Christian who’s wrong but is charitable with their brothers.
