Certainly 2 Timothy 2:24-25 teaches that "the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." The elders of Grace Church were not unmindful of that injunction when they disciplined Darwin. I personally spent several hours pleading with Darwin, in that long face-to-face meeting, on the phone, and by letter. In each case I pointed out carefully to Darwin how he was in violation of God's Word. My letters to him (below) reflect the tone and nature of all my communication with him.

What I consistently refused to do, however, was discuss the merits of Darwin's accusations against the various church leaders he had accused. As a matter of fact, 2 Timothy 2:24-25 appears in the context of this instruction: "Foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes" (v. 23).

A simple reading of Paul's epistles to Timothy and Titus will reveal that many of his commands to these young pastors stress the importance of refusing to engage in endless discussions about trivial or insignificant matters (1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 6:4, 5; 2 Tim. 2:14, 16; Tit. 3:9). Since Darwin Fish denies that any point of truth can be trivial, all dialogue with him on matters of doctrine inevitably devolves into arguments about "foolish and unlearned questions" that are wholly unedifying.

Furthermore, having patiently demonstrated to Darwin that his factiousness was a sin, we were bound by Scripture to reject him without engaging in further debate (Tit. 3:10).

Nonetheless, I continued to pursue Darwin and attempted repeatedly to help him see the seriousness of his sin. Again, readers may examine the letters below and judge for themselves the spirit of our dealings with him.