SJC Sustains Complaint Against PCA Siouxlands Presbytery in Greg Lawrence Case
The case has been sent back to the Presbytery of the Siouxlands for a new trial
Presbytery of the Siouxlands erred because its Judicial Commission made serious procedural errors that undermined the legitimacy of the Judgments proposed. The disposition to be made of this Complaint is that the Presbytery of Siouxlands is instructed to undertake a new trial of TE Lawrence according to the instructions that follow. The Standing Judicial... Continue Reading
A Pastor’s Reflections on the Meeting of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod
An assessment of the 2014 ARP Synod meeting
The final two chapters in the ARP version of the Westminster Confession, adopted in the early twentieth century to emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit and to soften the Calvinism of the Confession, were mercifully removed in a near-unanimous voice vote after no discussion (!). The matter now goes to the presbyteries for their consideration. ... Continue Reading
Some Thoughts on the Sabbath
God has given us the weekly Sabbath because we still need that regular time; time that is not ours, but time for God.
However, Hebrews 4:10-11 is not speaking about our present enjoyment of that rest. It is speaking about our future enjoyment. Hence, the “there yet remains a Sabbath rest” of verse 9, as well as the “let us strive” of verse 11. My sense of this is that while we, by trusting in Christ, have entered... Continue Reading
Southern Baptists’ Paige Patterson Apologizes For Muslim Student As Other Schools Work Across Faiths
The head of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offered an emotional apology to Southern Baptists for accepting a Muslim student into his school’s Ph.D. program
“I made an exception to a rule that I assumed, probably wrongly, the president has the right to make if he feels that it is that important,” Paige Patterson told Southern Baptist delegates on Wednesday (June 11). “He was admitted as a special student in the Ph.D. program.” BALTIMORE (RNS) The head of Southwestern... Continue Reading
Supreme Court Won’t Wade Into Fight Over Graduations In Churches
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that a Wisconsin high school acted unconstitutionally when it held its graduation ceremonies in a local megachurch
The case, Elmbrook School District. v. Doe, involved a high school in a suburb of Milwaukee that rented the nondenominational Elmbrook Church for its graduation exercises multiple times through 2009. In 2012, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the event “offensive” and “coercive.” The church’s banners, pamphlets, Bibles and other religious materials... Continue Reading
Union Seminary Pulls Investments From The ‘Sin’ Of Fossil Fuels
Union Theological Seminary in New York plans to pull all investments in fossil fuels from its $108.4 million endowment
“We have sinned, and we see this divestment as an act of repentance for Union,” Jones wrote in an op-ed for Time magazine. “Climate change poses a catastrophic threat. As stewards of God’s creation, we simply must act to stop this sin.” (RNS) New York City’s venerable Union Theological Seminary plans to pull all... Continue Reading
Meet the ‘Evangelical’ Catholics Who Are Remaking the GOP
The newfound Catholic appeal among the GOP can be seen in the number of high-profile conversions to Rome
What changed? For one, leading Catholics and evangelicals decided they could do more together than working against each other. Twenty years ago, former Nixon aide Charles Colson and the late Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, founder of the ecumenical magazine First Things, started the group Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and the cross-pollination it promoted is having... Continue Reading
Bryan Chapell Elected Moderator of 42nd PCA General Assembly
Dr. Bryan Chapell is Senior Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, IL
Bryan Chapell, 59, is Senior Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, IL. Since 1981, he was at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis where he served as a professor, President and Chancellor. He continues as President Emeritus at Covenant. Before going to the seminary, Chapell pastored two churches, Woodburn Presbyterian Church and Bethel Reformed... Continue Reading
A Response to Professor Mary Stange’s USA Today Article on Bowe Bergdahl
A rebuttal to Stang’s blaming the alleged extremism in the OPC for Bergdahl’s behavior
Because her article ran in an influential national media outlet, and because in it she basically insults the entire OPC and every other allegedly “hyperconservative” Christian, I felt I should try to contact her personally to convey my disappointment, and to call her to publicly apologize for her irresponsible and hateful article. I looked up... Continue Reading
The Pope Affirms Works Righteousness For Those Who Don’t Even Want To Go to Heaven
Can an atheist go to heaven if he follows his conscience?
All of this is the reason there was a Protestant Reformation, and still a need today. When men begin to appeal to logic and reason, instead of Scripture for their understanding of things, then they drift off into apostasy as the RCC has done. We don’t need a pope, we don’t need his declarations of... Continue Reading