Federal Schizophrenia

If you haven’t heard, the folks at De Regno Christi are hosting a virtual discussion on the Federal Vision. Thus far (and as expected) no one has achieved anything; however, someone from the Federal Vision camp needs to explain their talking points to James Jordan. Either that or he’s is in the middle of an identity crisis. Witness his own testimony regarding the Federal Vision faction:

First, on Monday, he alluded to the “so-called FVers” and implied that they don’t exist as a sect, group, or faction:

That and that alone is what was controversial about the original conference at Auburn Avenue called “Federal Vision.” . . When the Bible says “washing of regeneration,” so-called FVers say. . . . (9-17-07, 3:36 pm)

Two hours later, he reiterated his implication by referring to the “so-called FV business”:

And I think reducing the faith from confession to ideology (which is how our broad confessions are being treated in conservative circles these days) is a grave evil, tantamount to operating by intellectual sight rather than submissive faith — though this evil is one that the so-called FV business has exposed. My point was that the original FV conference was not a response to some crisis. . . (9-17-07, 5:33 pm)

But in the same comment, he acknowledged the existence of “people involved in FV.” And please notice his appeal to certainty:

But to be sure: The people involved in FV were involved in Christian Reconstruction 25 years ago. . . (9-17-07, 5:33 pm)

On Tuesday, however, his certainty waned and he denied both their existence as a group and their agenda:

Perhaps it’s worth remembering that those of us being grouped as “FV” by others (and we never grouped ourselves that way, nor had we any agenda as such). . . Perhaps some of the fuss over the so-called “FV” lies in. . . (9-18-07, 1:54 pm)

Exactly eight minutes later, Jordan had a moment of clarity and realized that “there is no such thing as Federal Vision”:

I have no idea what the “whole FV thing” is. I and everyone else has said for half a decade that there is no such thing as the FV. . . . (9-18-07, 2:02 pm)

However, this morning Mr. Jordan acknowledged that he contributed a long essay to the book titled The Federal Vision, which was written by a group of men without an agenda about a subject that they cannot identify because neither it nor they exist in any form or fashion.

I have a long essay on this in the book The Federal Vision. Most of us [FVers] believe in . . . (9-19-07, 9:41 am)

Jim Jordan, call a doctor. You need a reality check.

Thank you.