That might sound strange to some folks since Silva will purport to represent the true nature of Calvinism and biblical inerrancy. However, this is why he is an idolater:
But unfortunately for Tatusko, he isn’t going to get his fight with this particular caged rat because what he says in his article has absolutely nothing to do with my correct Biblical position on the sin of homosexuality.
Both Silva's arrogation and certainty alongside of his self-justification that only his revelation happens to be indubitable reveal a harmful tendency within the brand of religion that Silva claiming for himself and demanding of others to be "Christians." I have argued the idolatry of this sort of hermeneutic in the past. This is another good moment to be instructive.
Silva's sort of understanding of things makes a worldview assumption. It is not enough to say that one's position is correct without some understanding, even elementary, of the flaws in the assumptions one is making that are inherently rooted in one's time and space. When my four year old son sees an adult he assumes that they know what he did earlier that morning. Why? In his mind since mom and dad seem to know a bit more about what things are called and how things work in the world and can generally answer his questions, most of the time. Of course the neighbor across the street may have no clue what my son did earlier that morning. But my son talks to my neighbor as if it is part of a running conversation. For my son the adult world is kind of mysterious and there is an omniscience to it.
As will all children, when he becomes a teenager, he will find out quickly that adults are not omniscient, not perfect, and often down right worse than what any kid can dish out. He will find this out because he will observe evidence from the world, synthesize that evidence, and plod on his wonderful and painful path of development and change. Our job as parents is to cultivate that development, not halt it by allowing him or his brother remain juveniles jaded by the perpetual assault of adult puerility in the world. We are there to challenge and support their adaption and change so they can reach a point when the no longer needs us to cultivate that development. In short, to get them to a point where they can think and adapt for themselves.
Development means that human beings adapt to experiences as they come to the senses. This is a process, as Piaget called it, of equilibrium. As the mind experiences new things in the world, it shapes those experiences according to the "stuff" that is already there, and in so doing becomes shaped by those experiences to achieve balance with the world.
The same is true in how we come to understand the revelation of God in the worship, discussion, service, relationships, scripture, etc. The inherently incomplete structures of our minds must adapt to new experiences that revelation gives to us as a gift. As God reveals God's self to us, if we do not bend ourselves to adapt to revelation, we are, by default, resisting revelation. This is a choice rooted in the very historical understanding of sin itself which is a misdirection or poorly aimed disposition away from God and towards anything else. The core of human sin is the propensity to make one's self relative to that which is not the revelation of God.
Refusing to adapt to revelation in all of its wondrous forms is the core of idolatrous behavior. Ken Silva's own idol is himself. His idol is his own view of the world because he is assuming he has got it right. He is assuming that everyone should have the same view of things that he does and not to is sin. This is the fundamental problem with many cults and new religious movements. It is not so much the doctrine to which they adhere; which certainly can be problematic on many levels. No, the problem is that the people place their undying faith in the person claiming an indubitable special revelation. The heart of the Reformation is that we all have access to the God's revelation without the necessity of a human mediator to legitimate it.
Silva continually derides those who do not share his understanding of the world so he simply dismisses language that he does not appear to understand namely, my own arguments favoring same gender relationships as revelatory of the love of God. Rather than adapt to God's revelation, Silva has chosen the idol of his own mind as something far greater than it actually is: a fallen, incomplete, and developing structure that could not possibly have it all right.
Scripture actually does have something to say about this by the way. Jesus said to receive the Kingdom like a little child. The term used there is paideion which has a sense of being shaped and formed – or educated. The core is having a faith that seeks understanding not an assumed understanding that shapes what faith is. Faith like a child is not to limit one's self to think like a child, but to adapt and learn like one. Silva has chosen not to approach faith this way. And like a three year old saying "NO!" to everything in an act of self-defense toward the process of adaptation, Silva has chosen to lash out at those who would dare to receive the love of God in new wineskins.
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