I wonder if Kirk Cameron may be an “American Christian,” the sort you describe that was more prevalent before the Brinsmead-led return to Reformation “orthodoxy” in the 1970s. Perhaps as an American, Cameron reads the Bible for himself as best he can, vaguely and charitably hoping the “orthodoxy” of the Reformation institution he attends will be saying the same things. Of course that “orthodoxy” will undermine what he reads in his Bible about the new life, even in the songs they sing up on the screen at Big Box Church, Inc.
Cameron’s belief may be sincere, but he will be constantly undermined by the so-called Reformation “orthodoxy.” The hopeful possibility is that when the cognitive dissonance finally sets in, allowing him to see past all the pious gaslighting of Reformation ideas onto the Bible, he will stick with the Bible. Hopefully when such men read your quotations from the Heidelberg Disputation or Calvin’s Institutes, the Bible readers shake their heads and say, “You gotta be kidding me?!” And at that point they have to make a choice, because different things are not the same: you have to stop believing the new-birthless-ness of the Reformation in order to read your Bible properly.
Yes, I agree. Your assessment is spot-on, particularly concerning pre and post Brinsmead and the Australian Forum. By the way, TTANC volume 2 will be forthcoming in 2026…God willing and the creek don’t rise.
Paul – talking of the keys, if you go to Doug Wilson’s blog ‘Blog and Mablog’, look at the latest answers to letters, scroll down to the third letter about child communion and read Wilson’s response, you will see him state in black and white that the elders have the keys.
It all seems a bit Catholic to me, or as my better half likes to put it ex Catholics who end up Calvinists haven’t moved very far!
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Mr. Dohse,
I wonder if Kirk Cameron may be an “American Christian,” the sort you describe that was more prevalent before the Brinsmead-led return to Reformation “orthodoxy” in the 1970s. Perhaps as an American, Cameron reads the Bible for himself as best he can, vaguely and charitably hoping the “orthodoxy” of the Reformation institution he attends will be saying the same things. Of course that “orthodoxy” will undermine what he reads in his Bible about the new life, even in the songs they sing up on the screen at Big Box Church, Inc.
Cameron’s belief may be sincere, but he will be constantly undermined by the so-called Reformation “orthodoxy.” The hopeful possibility is that when the cognitive dissonance finally sets in, allowing him to see past all the pious gaslighting of Reformation ideas onto the Bible, he will stick with the Bible. Hopefully when such men read your quotations from the Heidelberg Disputation or Calvin’s Institutes, the Bible readers shake their heads and say, “You gotta be kidding me?!” And at that point they have to make a choice, because different things are not the same: you have to stop believing the new-birthless-ness of the Reformation in order to read your Bible properly.
Thank you for shining a light on the difference.
MK
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Yes, I agree. Your assessment is spot-on, particularly concerning pre and post Brinsmead and the Australian Forum. By the way, TTANC volume 2 will be forthcoming in 2026…God willing and the creek don’t rise.
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Paul – talking of the keys, if you go to Doug Wilson’s blog ‘Blog and Mablog’, look at the latest answers to letters, scroll down to the third letter about child communion and read Wilson’s response, you will see him state in black and white that the elders have the keys.
It all seems a bit Catholic to me, or as my better half likes to put it ex Catholics who end up Calvinists haven’t moved very far!
Ken B
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