Relativism in the Church
It is interesting how many Christens and/or Christian organizations think God forms approval judgments based on relative righteousness.
The assumption is that if good outweighs wrong, then there should be no criticism. However, the economy of God’s Kingdom does not operate by weighing the amount of right against the amount of wrong as a way of justifying the wrong. It is not as if the right counterweighs the wrong then all is well. ... Continue Reading
The Realpolitik of the PCA National Partnership
The National Partnership, while established in “confidence,” is a clearly organized political apparatus within the Presbyterian Church in America.
It is clear that, regardless of whatever disclaimers they proffer, and whatever misgivings its members have expressed in the past concerning the church’s enthusiasm for partisan politics in the national sphere, the National Partnership has essentially become a political party within its own denomination. It is time that the leadership of the National Partnership at... Continue Reading
The NP and the Ninth Commandment.
A general analysis of what the National Partnership emails reveal about its members and their view of the church.
However, if they put their case in such clear terms, it couldn’t do the other thing that such assurances are designed to do: to ease the consciences of the chosen members of the NP that they are not doing anything wrong. As a result, the NP emails almost all sound like this: the PCA is... Continue Reading
Smells Like Party Spirit
The National Partnership, a PCA sub-group, is now out in the open, though not by its own design or on its own terms.
What did eight years of organizational communication reveal? Well, thankfully, nothing terribly personal or scandalous — what has become public is mostly political. The messages show a highly-organized group comprised almost exclusively of pastors (teaching elders in PCA parlance). There are members, though how one becomes a member or who decides is never revealed. What... Continue Reading
A New Exception to the Westminster Standards?
As the PCA affirms, homosexuality is condemned as a sin against nature in Romans 1.
Substitute LGBTQ+ with the words “white supremacy” or “pedophilia.” Does it still work? Of course not! To attempt to be a part of a culture or community that is directly opposed to nature and has at its root a fundamental misunderstanding of the work of the Holy Spirit is dangerous. At that point you are... Continue Reading
Making Sausage with the National Partnership
On the evening of October 26, I (along with others) was sent a cache of emails exchanged among the leadership of the National Partnership.
Among their efforts is identifying the men who their members should not vote for if they are nominated for committees or agencies. For instance, one well known Ruling Elder with a well-earned reputation for faithful service to the Lord and the PCA was recently nominated to serve on the Standing Judicial Commission. In one email... Continue Reading
Tears for the National Partnership™
Whether it was Presbyleaks, or NatPartnergate or the “We Got Owned Scandal,” the National Partnership emails (or some portion?) from 2013-2021 were . . . forwarded, leaked, stolen, made available.
There is a profound and disturbing conundrum humming in the background of these eight years and many emails: the secrecy of the majority. By repeated assertion and articulated reasoning, these emails show a small group of officers claiming to stand for the majority in our communion. Their discussion manifests a concern to ensure that the... Continue Reading
Mentoring Made Simple
A simple approach to mentoring: in a relationship of love and encouragement call others to faith and repentance.
We call them to believe about themselves that God has created them with gifts, abilities, and talents to use for his service, the service of others, and for their own joyful use. We help them to recognize these gifts and talents and call them to believe that God can use them to bless others, and... Continue Reading
When the State Tells Pastors What to Tell Their Congregations
If a pastor in England in the 1630s, or in Canada in the 2020s, can be compelled to speak certain messages at the state’s command, then religious liberties are at risk.
James I “transmitted the Declaration to his bishops with an order that it be read from pulpits, but resistance was immediately forthcoming. Some clergy, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, determined to refuse compliance, while a few bold spirits preached against the royal proclamation.” The king withdrew the order, but the declaration’s impact upon England was... Continue Reading
PCA Standing Judicial Commission Denies Complaint Against Missouri Presbytery
The SJC ruled that Missouri Presbytery did not violate the investigation requirements of the Book of Church Order and did not err when it declined to bring charges against Greg Johnson.
The SJC officially concluded, “Based on the Record, there was no reversible error in the decisions reached by Missouri Presbytery regarding the four allegations. It was not unreasonable for Presbytery to judge that TE Johnson’s ‘explanations’ on the four allegations were ‘satisfactory.’ (BCO31-2).” The Standing Judicial Commission (SJC), the highest judicatory of the Presbyterian... Continue Reading
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- …
- 604
- Next Page »