Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith

The Basic Method for Interpreting a Bible Passage

1 Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA, Teaching, Women in Ministry / By /

In the last several days I have demonstrated an exegetical method on the topic of women in ministry. It is a relevant topic to one GA commissioner, as noted at the beginning of this series, and to the others who may be searching the Scriptures again as they ponder a migration to another branch of the Presbyterian family. The method generally went like this (though I truncated it somewhat for blog-space purposes): 1. What does the Scripture say—I collected the data from Scripture, in this case using a matrix to sort it by category. For the Bible student who is […]

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The Women’s Question and The Confessions

15 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, GAPJC Decisions, PCUSA / By /

The issues have been confused for years and I’m ready to stop out for a couple of days from the marriage curriculum and address a question that keeps coming up. The second form of the question popped out in the one-minute speech of a GA commissioner, who said, basically, that if it were up to the Book of Confessions, she would never have been ordained. The first form of the question, around for years, asks: “The Bible requires silence of women in the church, yet we ordain women. Why can we not ordain committed homosexuals despite the prohibition of homosexual

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The Link Between Theology and Mission

7 Comments / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, MCC Report, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

I left off last time listing, but not expanding upon, the implication of the MCC Report involving the creation of new presbyteries: Create provisional presbyteries around specific missional purposes.   Right out the chute, the language in the Report is very careful about the formation of non-geographic presbyteries. Those congregations that need a way out of their current presbyteries because of theological incompatibility have a particular challenge because of two conditions given in the report, that 1) these new presbyteries achieve specific missional purposes, and 2) they some how reflect the “rich diversity” of God’s people. In practice over the

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Has the PCUSA Ever Had Moral Authority?

2 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, Moral Authority, New Form of Government (nFOG), Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA / By /

“Dr. Mike” commented this week: “Your article implies that the embattled PC(USA) actually had moral authority at some time in their history? When was this? As I look at its history, the PC(USA) has never had unity or harmony. Seems to me its entire history has been marked with one compromise with the world after another.” This question raises the issue of how one would perceive and measure the moral authority of a church. If a church is not experiencing unity or harmony, does that automatically mean that the church has lost its moral authority? Dr. Mike is quite right

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The Moral Authority Jesus Had in Mind

6 Comments / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Moral Authority, New Form of Government (nFOG), PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

The letters poured in yesterday in response to my last post, “The PCUSA has lost its moral authority.” My midweek schedule here is piled on with presbytery, two classes I am teaching, and various extras, so I cannot write a long post today. But there are several questions that deserve thoughtful answers, and this will be my project the rest of the week, one at a time. As a seedbed, though, it would be good for us to start with the basis for moral authority, out of which grows the implications for what the church is to do.  A church

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Children of a Lesser God?

1 Comment / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, PCUSA / By /

  For why is all around us here As if some lesser god had made the world, But had not force to shape it as he would? Alfred Tennyson Tennyson (1809-1892) The fifth objection raised in comments following the Spahr decision included the claim that LGBT couples are ethically and spiritually equal to heterosexual couples: 5. It is wrong for the church to perpetuate the idea that LGBT couples are “children of a lesser God.” They are the “ethical and spiritual equals of heterosexual couples” in God’s eyes. By emphasizing the traditions of heterosexual marriage, the church has done a

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Second Class Citizenship?

5 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, New Form of Government (nFOG), PCUSA / By /

  The second argument appearing in the Spahr decision comments:  2.  By refusing to marry homosexual pairs, the church is declaring them second-class citizens contrary to the affirmations in the Book of Order where full equality of all people in the church’s life is affirmed (citing F-1.0403, F-1.0404, G-1.0302). Citizenship in the Kingdom of God is granted by God under certain conditions, among them 1) faith in Jesus Christ, as in John 1:12: “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God”; 2) repentance, as in Acts 2:38: “Repent, and

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One Confession, or Many?

3 Comments / EPC, Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Fellowship of Presbyterians, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Teaching, Theological Reflection / By /

As we compare the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and the emerging Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO), the most important consideration seems to be the doctrinal foundations of each. The EPC rests on the Westminster standards (the Confession, Larger, and Smaller Catechisms); the ECO retains all nine Confessions currently in the PCUSA Constitution. In addition, the EPC has listed “essentials” to which every member subscribes. The ECO has launched a Theology Project to identify the essential beliefs of Presbyterians in that fellowship. In the meantime, the ECO statement addresses the great themes of the Reformed Tradition found in F-2.05 as

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Is There a Problem with EPC’s Doctrinal “Essentials”?

6 Comments / EPC, Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA / By /

 My readers continue to bless and amaze me, and I am grateful for the corrective comments to my blog post of earlier this week, comparing ECO and EPC.  I will not repeat them here, but want to continue the discussion, because, clearly, folks are thinking about “Where do I go?” It reminds me of the encounter in John’s gospel (6:66-69): Because of this many of [Jesus’] disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.  So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have

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Crazy Week: Redefinition of “Tomorrow”

Leave a Comment / EPC, Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA, Personal / By /

Since writing the post comparing ECO and EPC the other day, I have had a flood of comments and over 800 hits, so apparently this subject is of interest! Meanwhile, my “day job” has been intensely demanding this week. I am working on a post that compares the essential tenets of the EPC and the Book of Confessions and hope to have it done tomorrow. For now, though, the brain is spent and it’s time to call it quits for the day. Since I addressed the topic of  Sabbath last Sunday, I kinda feel like I should practice what I

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