Presbytery to have committee consider 'Gracious Separation' -
11/12/03
So far, nothing about this issue has been "Gracious." But, I wonder, what exactly will determine how a congregation decides to affiliate with one or another of the new denoms? Will it be over the issue of homosexuality? Are we really talking about having one denom ordain homosexuals, and provide for homosexual unions and the other not?
Is this just a vague ploy to establish the Confessing Church movement as a denom of its own? PC(CCM)? Presbyterian Church (Confessing Church Movement)?
Or are there other key issues? What about the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture? The Confessing Church Movement makes three claims in particular - Jesus alone is Lord and Savior, that Scripture is the infallible rule of faith and life, and that God's timeless standards for holy life have not been negated by political, cultural and social changes. I easily agree with the first two, and mostly agree with the last one. It's not that I disagree in substance, I disagree in application. I don't think that God has changed the rules or the standards, but that their application in a society so terribly different than the one in which God's standards first came to us must be examined critically. How do the standards of a pre-literate society (for the most part) apply to one in which technology and information flow from one part of the world to another in seconds? Is there a substantial difference between a society that had standards from God sent on stone tablets and one where a blog can appear within seconds of the thought occuring? (Not that any blog is the Word of God, mind you!!) This is the sort of non-theological wording that leads easily to varying interpretations, causing splits and divisions.
It seems to me that the third part of the Confessing Church movement is overwrought with ambivalence. That is, its just as likely to cause confusion and division in its application as anything in Scripture.
So where would that leave us? With two denoms, split resources and the ability to complain and bitch and moan at TWO General Assemblies each year. I'll bet Bob is salivating at *that* prospect!! ;)
Peace.
11/12/03
So far, nothing about this issue has been "Gracious." But, I wonder, what exactly will determine how a congregation decides to affiliate with one or another of the new denoms? Will it be over the issue of homosexuality? Are we really talking about having one denom ordain homosexuals, and provide for homosexual unions and the other not?
Is this just a vague ploy to establish the Confessing Church movement as a denom of its own? PC(CCM)? Presbyterian Church (Confessing Church Movement)?
Or are there other key issues? What about the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture? The Confessing Church Movement makes three claims in particular - Jesus alone is Lord and Savior, that Scripture is the infallible rule of faith and life, and that God's timeless standards for holy life have not been negated by political, cultural and social changes. I easily agree with the first two, and mostly agree with the last one. It's not that I disagree in substance, I disagree in application. I don't think that God has changed the rules or the standards, but that their application in a society so terribly different than the one in which God's standards first came to us must be examined critically. How do the standards of a pre-literate society (for the most part) apply to one in which technology and information flow from one part of the world to another in seconds? Is there a substantial difference between a society that had standards from God sent on stone tablets and one where a blog can appear within seconds of the thought occuring? (Not that any blog is the Word of God, mind you!!) This is the sort of non-theological wording that leads easily to varying interpretations, causing splits and divisions.
It seems to me that the third part of the Confessing Church movement is overwrought with ambivalence. That is, its just as likely to cause confusion and division in its application as anything in Scripture.
So where would that leave us? With two denoms, split resources and the ability to complain and bitch and moan at TWO General Assemblies each year. I'll bet Bob is salivating at *that* prospect!! ;)
Peace.
posted by Lou Schwing at 9:52 AM
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