Botkin 2: Geoff Tried to Advise Trump

[Sarcastically spinster]

5 hours ago, Columbia said:

Dr. Joel Beeke, and I have no idea who he is.

He's president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.  Fairly well-known author and preacher within conservative Presbyterian circles.  

[Howl]

16 hours ago, Columbia said:

Mrs. Brown was Scott Brown’s wife, Deborah. Mrs. Beeke is Mary Beeke, wife of Dr. Joel Beeke, and I have no idea who he is.

Thanks, @Columbia.  I wondered if Mrs. Brown was related to Scottie. 

Interesting, but not surprising, that they couldn't find any other SAHDs to round out the panel. 

(ETA: @Sarcastically spinster Sorry, I just realized I missed your post re: Dr. Beeke)

Well, this was quite the little rabbit hole.  I just googled Dr. Joel Beeke.   Dr. Joel Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. His Ph.D. is in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. 

HuffPo has this fascinating article about Westminster from 2014: How Westminster Theological Seminary Came to Define Fundamentalism for Me  Would you be surprised to learn that a tenured professor of the Old Testament is the center of controversy at a Christian seminary? What if I said he’s “retiring” by action of the school’s board — another way of saying “terminated,” according to a former department chair? No? I didn’t think so.

<snip> "Westminster is a conservative, Calvinist-Reformed school and it is currently obsessed with an error-less Bible."

They are also obsessed with Reformed faith being THE most perfect expression of faith, with all other forms of Christianity being, of course, lesser, flawed. 

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by Howl

[CyborgKin]

I didn't know 'Puritan Reformed' was a thing, but of course it is.

I still haven't had time to look at the video.

[Howl]

3 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

I didn't know 'Puritan Reformed' was a thing, but of course it is.

Almost certainly reformed to be more puritanical...

 

Brandon Withrow, who wrote the HuffPo article about Westminster Theological Seminary linked in my previous post, is an interesting guy.  I'm following him now on  Instagram, twitter and I visited his blog.  He's a travel writer, photographer, fellow cyclist, YA fiction, etc.  Link to the "about me" page on his blog HERE, or start with a tasty sampler:

Quote

I'm a freelance travel journalist (originally covering religion) and a writer for hire. I’m addicted to ecotourism, and I frequently connect my writing to issues of climate change, sustainability, and stories that impact social justice. I also cover unique or luxury stays, and the economic impact of COVID-19 on destinations. My work involves extensive interviews (domestic and global), research, and editing. My byline appears in The Daily Beast, Business Insider, Sierra Magazine, The Religion News Service, The Guardian, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post.

It's obvious he's left fundamentalism and religious academia behind although he still covers religion related topics. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Howl

[CyborgKin]

Geoff has a new 40 minute documentary about railroad exec James J. Hill.  His primary lesson and message is "businesses that take government handouts always fail".

He also managed to slip in the line "Lincoln's war against the constitution" though he said it as if he was quoting other people.  Though the way it was said against the villain of Geoff's story (a different railroad guy) implied tacit agreement with that characterisation, and he'd earlier outright said "the war between the states" which happens to be the title of a book Doug Wilson contributed to.

[Jasmar]

6 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

He also managed to slip in the line "Lincoln's war against the constitution" though he said it as if he was quoting other people. 

WTF? I don’t know why these people still manage to amaze me, but they do.

[older than allosaurs]

6 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

Geoff has a new 40 minute documentary about railroad exec James J. Hill.  His primary lesson and message is "businesses that take government handouts always fail".

 

Leaving the Lost Causism aside, did Geoff mention that James J. Hill built most of his empire by buying bankrupt railroads cheap? Those tracks had been built with government loans and land grants. Hill was a savvy guy, and as a titan of industry, you could do worse in terms of his treatment of employees, but he definitely benefited from public money, once removed.

(Railroad history is a big deal out here in Western Washington, where so many towns competed to be chosen as a terminus.)

[Columbia]

37 minutes ago, older than allosaurs said:

Leaving the Lost Causism aside, did Geoff mention that James J. Hill built most of his empire by buying bankrupt railroads cheap?

Nope. I don’t recall him ever saying that. All he talked about was how Hill built his empire all by himself. Doesn’t surprise me that he’s leave that part out. If he’s even aware of it. 

[hoipolloi]

7 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

His primary lesson and message is "businesses that take government handouts always fail".

Thinking we need to go over the PPP loan lists to see if a certain business in TN got any pandemic dollars.

[CyborgKin]

14 hours ago, older than allosaurs said:

Leaving the Lost Causism aside, did Geoff mention that James J. Hill built most of his empire by buying bankrupt railroads cheap? Those tracks had been built with government loans and land grants. Hill was a savvy guy, and as a titan of industry, you could do worse in terms of his treatment of employees, but he definitely benefited from public money, once removed.

(Railroad history is a big deal out here in Western Washington, where so many towns competed to be chosen as a terminus.)

He skipped that detail, which I noticed since I was reading the relevant wikipedia article while listening.  

[CyborgKin]

Ben's latest tweet is quoting Audri as saying "Holy enmeshment, Batman!"

It's so good to see Botkins knowing the word enmeshment.

[Howl]

This Benjamin Botkin thread calling out John Piper (Desiring God) as well as his father may have been covered earlier (it's dated May 1, 2021) but damn it's worth revisiting because it is seriously calling out how Piper, Geoff et al. see themselves as patriarchal god men. I mean, it's a serious smack down of how these patriarchs deify themselves, and it leaves Geoff in the rear view mirror.  (PPK refers to Prophets, Priests, Kings). 

and he continues:

Quote

So why not simply preach these basics? I think that there is a common assumption about the nature of masculinity behind much of this PPK teaching that almost requires we make the simple sound grandiose: males are ego-driven beings. 

Unless they are captivated with a vision of a larger-than-life role, they simply will not be motivated to do the right thing. Thus telling men to be good Christians towards their families is not enough: men need to be PROPHETS, PRIESTS, AND KINGS. Why bother, otherwise?

 

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

The thing I appreciate about Ben and Audri is that they didn’t just leave Fundieland. They left and are outspoken about all the problems in fundamentalism. I understand leaving fundieland and not wanting to talk About it. But more people will see the light through Ben and Audri’s posts. 

[treemom]

I think they are very brave.  Doing the very thing so many of us on FJ wanted to see the people who just quietly started wearing pants and going to college.  Calling out the harm in it.

I am very glad they have each other.  Lots of marriages don’t survive leaving high demand religions.  I’m glad to see theirs did!

[Howl]

19 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

But more people will see the light through Ben and Audri’s posts. 

Yes, because they are still devout Christians, just devout Christians leaving patriarchy and fundamentalism in the rear view mirror and doing so in a very thoughtful way. 

[CyborgKin]

Meanwhile, Geoff's still putting out videos about every week.  I wonder who provides music for those.

[AnnaSofia]

3 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

Meanwhile, Geoff's still putting out videos about every week.  I wonder who provides music for those.

I think at least one of the sisters (maybe AS?) did the musical score for a few of the family projects back in the day. IIRC, they made a nauseating point of talking about how it was an interest of hers, but that she deliberately held back after Ben decided it was what he wanted to do, so that Ben could spend more time at the equipment, honing his craft, etc., 'cause AS was just a girl and her ambitions weren't important. She only stepped in to work on things if Ben was already occupied.

I just typed Geoff Botkin into the search bar on Amazon and this turned up in the results. I swear I didn't Photoshop it

[Columbia]

In which Geoff all but defends apartheid in South Africa. 

[Howl]

7 hours ago, Columbia said:

In which Geoff all but defends apartheid in South Africa. 

I can't even imagine the toxic cesspool of social media that Geoff is currently frequenting. 

[Columbia]

On 7/20/2021 at 5:41 AM, Howl said:

I can't even imagine the toxic cesspool of social media that Geoff is currently frequenting. 

And that he’s contributing to. 

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Columbia said:

And that he’s contributing to. 

*silent screammmmm*  I hadn't even considered that.  

[Columbia]

14 hours ago, Howl said:

*silent screammmmm*  I hadn't even considered that.  

He hasn’t put out a newsletter in a few months, but they were all pretty over the top with the fear-mongering. 

[CyborgKin]

I kinda forgot about the AimBotkin Twitch channel but he's still regularly playing videogames and talking about guns.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Who is AimBotkin?

[Howl]

25 minutes ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

Who is AimBotkin?

It's an account for Lucas Botkin, founder and CEO of T.Rex Arms, a holster and body armor company that supports many Botkins, including Ma and Pa Botkin and the Botkinetti.