Southeast Alabama Presbytery is overturing the PCA General Assembly in hopes of making coming under membership of the local church a little more stricter.
Overtures 33 and 34 seek to make it a requirement that one would be required to profess agreement with the Apostle’s Creed in order to become a full communing member. The rationale given for these overtures is that there is no current requirement to adhere to any Trinitarian confession in one’s membership vows.
Overture 32 desires to correct the undefined term in the BCO of “membership” by adding to BCO 6 the terms that more clearly represents what is being referred to, such as “Reaffirmation of Faith”, “Transfer of Letter”, etc.
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Posted by Andrew Barnes on Monday, April 30, 2012, at 9:48 AM | Filed in PCA news | 32 Comments »
The following news release was sent out by Mark Dalbey, Acting President of the Seminary
“At our spring stated meeting of April 27-28, 2012, the Board of Trustees of Covenant Theological Seminary voted to approve the transition of Dr. Bryan Chapell from President to Chancellor, effective June 1, 2012. The Board appointed Dr. Mark Dalbey, currently Vice President of Academics, as interim President. In addition, the Board announced the formation of a search committee to assist the Board in selecting the next President. More information will be forthcoming.”
Source: The Aquila Report
Posted by Wes White on Saturday, April 28, 2012, at 2:50 PM | Filed in PCA news | 4 Comments »
By Rachel Miller
One of BioLogos’ stated purposes is to help the church develop a worldview that reflects the harmony they believe exists between evolutionary science and faith. They:
. . . value gracious dialogue with those who hold other views, and our ever-expanding conversation includes academic and other professionals in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, business and medicine, but also theology, biblical studies, philosophy, history, literature, education and the arts.
While they are open to dialogue and conversation on a number of subjects, there are a handful of beliefs that are not open for debate. Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the NIH and founder of BioLogos, said in an interview with Dr. Karl Giberson:
Again, evolution may seem from the outside to have a lot of complexities and components and, certainly, lots of details—some of which we haven’t worked out—and for anybody to say there are no arguments would be a total mistake. There’s lots of stuff we don’t agree upon. But we do agree upon descent from a common ancestor, gradual change over a long period of time, and natural selection operating to produce the diversity of living species. There is no question that those are correct. Those are three cardinal pillars of Darwin’s theory that have been under-girded by data coming from multiple directions and they are not going to go away. Evolution is not a theory that is going to be discarded next week or next year or a hundred or a thousand years from now. It is true.
Another area that is settled, as far as BioLogos is concerned, is the issue of human ancestry. BioLogos does not believe that the human population was ever just two people:
Evangelical Christians have long suspected there are allegorical components to the Genesis story—a talking snake, for example—but as to whether Adam and Eve were not real people, there has been much more hesitancy–and for theologically important reasons. The science itself is silent—the most it can say is that there were never just two individuals who were the sole genetic progenitors of the entire human race. Several independent lines of genetic evidence unambiguously point to this conclusion. Science also make it very clear that humans developed through an evolutionary process.
So if these are the absolutes, what are the topics that are open for discussion? Here are a few examples:
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Posted by Wes White on Friday, April 27, 2012, at 10:59 AM | Filed in Practical theology | 20 Comments »
Two weeks ago, Ron Gleason wrote a series of articles that pondered the question concerning the PCA, “When Does the “Big Tent” Get Too Big?” Kevin Rogers, over at Vintage73, responded with what follows.
Dr. Gleason is against camping, and Democrats, and Obama, and immigrants. Ok I get that, but what exactly does that have to do with the PCA?
I read pastor Gleason’s recent columns(Part 1, 2, & 3) with interest, and I must admit a certain sense of puzzlement. I know that since I’m way up here in Canada, I am a bit out of the loop, PCA wise. But I must admit I really couldn’t follow my brothers line of argument very well at all. And I am not alone. I have heard from a couple of other Canadian TE’s that they got lost as well, when he veered back and forth from issues facing the church, to issues of American politics.
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Posted by Andrew Barnes on Thursday, April 26, 2012, at 4:15 PM | Filed in PCA news | 29 Comments »
ByFaithonline announces “Grace and the Christian’s Responsibility in Sanctification” as the topic of a discussion at this year’s PCA General Assembly between Dr. Mike Ross and Dr. Bryan Chapell.
The discussion will take place 5:15-6:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, at the PCA General Assembly gathering in Louisville, Ky. Ross, who’s co-presenting the discussion with Covenant Theological Seminary President Bryan Chapell, said this topic can provoke controversy because of divergent opinions between ministry leaders.
“We’re in an age that’s leaning away from sanctification; we don’t want absolutes,” Ross said. “We have a new generation of leaders and churchmen emerging into leadership, through campus ministries, through sonship theology, through the contemporary grace movement, they tend to think the older men and the church are not safe places to talk about doubts, fears, and divergent opinions. They tend to be highly sensitive to moralism and legalism.
“Whereas the older men tend to say, ‘we have a pretty good balance,’ they tend to be more concerned that the younger generation is forfeiting the historic faith, especially in terms of ethics, in order to be culturally relevant.”
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Posted by Andrew Barnes on Wednesday, April 25, 2012, at 7:38 AM | Filed in PCA news | 5 Comments »
Byfaithonline.com has just posted an interview with Dr. C. John Collins, professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, on his new book Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Dr. Collins points to Biologos which, in his words, promotes a “kind of theistic evolution” as one reason why he needed to write this book:
One reason these appeals to the biological sciences get serious attention from traditionally-minded theologians is the work of Francis Collins, the Christian biologist who led the Human Genome Project to a successful conclusion. Collins has written about how his faith relates to his scientific discipline, advocating a kind of theistic evolution that he calls the “Biologos” perspective. Collins agrees with those biologists who contend that traditional beliefs about Adam and Eve are no longer viable.
Dr. (C. John) Collins went on to affirm that his view is that he believes that the simple account as presented in Genesis is how things actually happened:
Now, I hold to a scenario that is simple, namely that God formed Adam by scooping up some loose dirt and fashioning it into the very first man, and then God formed Eve using a part of Adam’s body; there are no other humans around when they sin.
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Posted by Wes White on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at 11:48 AM | Filed in Bible | 9 Comments »
The multisite church has in the past decade come to have its influence on some PCA congregations. Over at the Reformation21 blog, Carl Trueman gives us an important look into multisite and addresses the heart of the issue: presence of a shepherd among his flock.
Any classic rock fan knows that there is nothing quite like hearing a live band. A few years ago, I went to hear The Who (or at least Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the extant members). I remember listening on the way home to a live recording of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ just after hearing the real thing in the stadium. Even without Moon and Entwistle, the live performance was so much more powerful than the recording which, in the immediate aftermath of the concert, sounded like an anemic cover by a wannabe boy band. The same thing applied next day to my watching of the video of the last time the original line-up ever played together, performing that very song. It was simply not a patch on actually being there, despite the absence of Keith and John.
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Posted by Andrew Barnes on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at 7:04 AM | Filed in Presbyterianism | No Comments »
William Evans over at Reformation21 Blog studies the use of Westminster Larger Catechism 144 and the Ninth Commandment to accuse those who bring ecclesiastical charges against others and online bloggers of being ecclesiastical whistleblowers.
Recently the Westminster Larger Catechism’s treatment of the Ninth Commandment (particularly Q. 144) has become an issue in some conservative Presbyterian presbyteries. For example, last fall my own ARP presbytery voted to establish an ad hoc committee “to draft a code of online conduct for ministers and ruling elders, with a special reference to the Westminster Larger Catechism’s teachings on the ninth commandment (WLC 143-145),” and (for my sins, no doubt) I was appointed to serve on it. The context of the action suggests that it may have been occasioned by a particular member of the presbytery whose Internet blog has sought with considerable gusto to expose what he takes to be the institutional foibles of the denomination.
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Posted by Andrew Barnes on Monday, April 23, 2012, at 6:49 AM | Filed in Presbyterianism | 8 Comments »
Kevin DeYoung answers the question in a blog post over at The Gospel Coalition. His concern is specifically what Theistic Evolution means to an historical Adam:
And what’s wrong with this approach? Why can’t we say Adam was a real person and the first person to know God, but not the only human on the planet? Aren’t we still in the realm of historic orthodoxy even if Adam evolved from other beings and may not have been the physical father of all living persons? I am raising these questions not to suggest a single blog post and a few quotations obliterates evolution. The point rather is to examine whether full-blown evolution can be reconciled with complete allegiance to biblical authority.
Listed below are eight problems Wayne Grudem finds with theistic evolution. I realize he may not be an authority on these matters, but in typical fashion he distills the main points nicely and explain succinctly what unbiblical conclusions we must reach for theistic evolution to be true.
- Adam and Eve were not the first human beings, but they were just two Neolithic farmers among about ten million other human beings on earth at that time, and God just chose to reveal himself to them in a personal way.
- Those other human beings had already been seeking to worship and serve God or gods in their own ways.
- Adam was not specially formed by God of ‘dust from the ground’ (Gen. 2:7) but had two human parents.
- Eve was not directly made by God of a ‘rib that the Lord God had taken from the man’ (Gen. 2:22), but she also had two human parents.
- Many human beings both then and now are not descended from Adam and Eve.
- Adam and Eve’s sin was not the first sin.
- Human physical death had occurred for thousands of years before Adam and Eve’s sin–it was part of the way living things had always existed.
- God did not impose any alteration in the natural world when he cursed the ground because of Adam’s sin. (Should Christians Embrace Evolution?, 9)
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Posted by Rachel Miller on Thursday, April 19, 2012, at 8:49 AM | Filed in Practical theology | 2 Comments »
The Biologos view on Adam is not monolithic. It does not adopt one view of who or what Adam was or whether or not any person or any group named Adam even existed. Instead, it promotes tolerance of a wide variety of approaches to reconciling the biblical account of Adam with evolutionary philosophy. How wide? Denis Lamoureux is a leading figure who supports the Biologos position. In the final chapter of Evolution Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution (2008), he opens, “My central conclusion in this book is clear: Adam never existed, and this fact has no impact whatsoever on the foundational beliefs of Christianity.”
Posted by Wes White on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at 8:07 PM | Filed in Bible | 11 Comments »
I may be a bit slower on the blog. I’m at the Twin Lakes Fellowship conference near Jackson, MS.
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Posted by Wes White on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at 9:41 AM | Filed in Random Black Hills thoughts | 5 Comments »
The age-old question concerning free forgiveness in Christ is, “Why, then, should people do good works?” The answer is manifold. We should do good works because God commands them, because they necessarily follow forgiveness, because they are helpful to us and our neighbor, etc.
However, I’m convinced that if we simply meditate on the cross, we will be impelled to seek after righteousness. No one who has been truly struck with a sense of the wrath of God, of the infinite love of God in sending His Son, and of the terrible price that Christ paid can then walk away and say, “Now, I can go do whatever I want.”
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Posted by Wes White on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at 12:03 PM | Filed in Practical theology | 2 Comments »
On April 14, Missouri Presbytery (MOP) declared Federal Visionist Jeffrey Meyers not guilty on five charges. The verdict came after the whole presbytery heard the trial conducted on April 13–14 by prosecutors TE Tim Herrera and TE Jay Bennett on behalf of MOP (per BCO 31-2). The charges with the verdict are as follows:
- That TE Meyers has taught and defended “a view of covenant theology that is contrary to the covenant of works and covenant of grace distinction as set forth in the Westminster Standards.” Verdict: 3-G, 39-NG, 0-A
- That TE Meyers has taught and defended “a view that denies the imputation of the active obedience of Christ contrary to the Westminster Standards.” Verdict: 0-G, 40-NG, 2-A
- That TE Meyers has taught and defended “a view that baptism effects a saving, covenantal union with Christ, and that such union occurs with all the baptized, thus creating a parallel soteriological system contrary to the Westminster Standards.” Verdict: 1-G, 41-NG, 0-A
- That TE Meyers has taught and defended “a view that some can receive saving benefits and then lose them thereby overturning the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints contrary to the Westminster Standards.” Verdict: 2-G, 39-NG, 1-A
- That TE Meyers has taught and defended “a view that justification is not by faith alone, but by personal loyalty to the covenant, which is a form of works-righteousness, and is contrary to the Westminster Standards.” Verdict: 1-G, 41-NG, 0-A
MOP had originally declined to go to trial against TE Meyers. MOP concluded on January 8, 2011, after a BCO 31-2 investigation, that there was no strong presumption of guilt in the teachings of TE Jeffrey Meyers.
However, several members of MOP complained against this decision, eventually carrying the complaint to the PCA’s Standing Judicial Commission. A five-man SJC panel heard the complaint on October 19, 2011. On November 30, 2011 the panel released their proposed decision that the complaint against MOP should be sustained and that MOP must proceed to trial (Note: at this point, the SJC has not completed its decision on this matter).
MOP was not required to act on this panel decision. However, at its January 17, 2012 Stated Meeting, TE Jeffrey Meyers requested that Missouri Presbytery conduct a trial in order to clear his name. MOP appointed TE Tim Herrera as prosecutor to conduct the case, later adding TE Jay Bennett as assistant prosecutor. At this January 17th meeting, MOP scheduled the arraignment for February 10, 2012 and the trial for February 24–25, 2012 in case TE Meyers plead “not guilty.”
At the February 10th meeting, TE Tim Herrera let the court know that he could not complete the trial by the date suggested. The court agreed to an arraignment date of March 22, 2012 but did not agree to TE Herrera’s request for a summer trial, instead setting the trial date for April 13–14. The trial did take place as scheduled.
At this time, no further details are available regarding the trial. MOP plans to release the full transcript as soon as possible.
Posted by Wes White on Sunday, April 15, 2012, at 7:07 PM | Filed in Federal vision | 111 Comments »
When he says, “Let the earth bring forth the herb which may produce seed, the tree whose seed is in itself,” he signifies not only that herbs and trees were then created, but that, at the same time, both were endued with the power of propagation, in order that their several species might be perpetuated. Since, therefore, we daily see the earth pouring forth to us such riches from its lap, since we see the herbs producing seed, and this seed received and cherished in the bosom of the earth till it springs forth, and since we see trees shooting from other trees; all this flows from the same Word. If therefore we inquire, how it happens that the earth is fruitful, that the germ is produced from the seed, that fruits come to maturity, and their various kinds are annually reproduced; no other cause will be found, but that God has once spoken, that is, has issued his eternal decree; and that the earth, and all things proceeding from it, yield obedience to the command of God, which they always hear. — John Calvin on Genesis 1:11–13
Posted by Wes White on Friday, April 13, 2012, at 2:24 PM | Filed in Bible | 1 Comment »
Mission to the World (MTW) has asked honorably retired Teaching Elder Larry Hoop of Iowa Presbytery to begin promoting an “original vision” network. TE Hoop retired this year, and MTW sought him out to promote a new organization. TE Hoop sent out a letter to ministers across our denomination explaining his work and seeking financial support for this endeavor.
According to Hoop, our vision is embodied in our motto to be “loyal to the scripture, faithful to the Reformed Faith, obedient to the Great Commission.” Hoop also notes that the denomination is at a critical juncture, and we need to renew our commitment to being a “denomination based on the inerrant Word of God,” “a denomination committed to a broadly Reformed theological position,” and “a denomination aggressively pursuing the mission our Lord gave His church.”
According to the letter, this new organization will have its own web site that will promote “our original vision.” Hoop also hopes to “put together seminars for General Assembly that will promote this vision and . . . build a network of people throughout the denomination who will join [him] in promoting it.”
You can read the full letter here.
Posted by Wes White on Thursday, April 12, 2012, at 9:54 AM | Filed in PCA news | 4 Comments »
At The Aquila Report, Ron Gleason ponders this important question for the PCA. Here is his conclusion:
The lingering threat in the PCA currently is that if the ecclesiastical tent does not expand exponentially, some pastors and congregations in the PCA might “walk.” All the while, few are asking when the tent might expand to the breaking point. Those adept at church politics are acutely aware that no one wants pastors and congregations to leave the PCA; I know that I do not want that to occur. I know, love, and appreciate my fellow-brothers in Christ. I attended seminary with a number of them. I do not want them to walk away from the PCA.
But I am conflicted at this point. While not desiring brothers and sisters in Christ to leave, I also do not want to see the PCA losing its Presbyterian and Reformed distinctive traits either. I also greatly desire for every pastor to play by the same ecclesiastical rules and decisions. It is my desire for the entire PCA to embrace the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture, to embrace the Westminster Standards, and to embrace what our rich tradition has handed down to us in our Book of Church Order. To reiterate God’s common grace in Camille Paglia’s statement, we have the majesty of history on our side.
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Posted by Wes White on Thursday, April 12, 2012, at 7:42 AM | Filed in PCA news | 37 Comments »
BioLogos is an organization and movement that promotes the acceptance of evolutionary theory among evangelicals. The goal is not to replace Scripture but to synthesize evolutionary theory and the biblical record. Here is a brief statement of what they believe: “It [the BioLogos view] accepts the modern scientific consensus on the age of the earth and common ancestry, including the common ancestry of humans.” In regards to Adam and Eve, the Biologos view is that there are various ways of reconciling the views of biological evolutionists with the biblical record. Consequently, we can summarize the BioLogos view of evolution this way:
- BioLogos accepts the view that the world is billions of years old.
- BioLogos accepts the common ancestry of animal life on earth.
- BioLogos accepts the evolutionary view that humans share a common ancestry with other animals.
- BioLogos believes there are various ways to reconcile the Scriptural data concerning Adam and Eve with the evolutionary view.
Thus, it is important to recognize that BioLogos is not promoting Enns’ view that Adam is a myth. Instead, it advocates that we allow a diversity of interpretations of who or what Adam was.
So, what does this look like in practice? How would a pastor go about promoting this view? Here is one example from an article in which they explain the BioLogos understanding of the image of God:
Humans did not have a fully formed moral consciousness prior to the time of Adam and Eve. However, general consciousness must have already evolved so that a moral consciousness and the associated responsibility were possible. When Adam and Eve entered into relationship with God, they became capable of “imaging” God. . . .
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Posted by Wes White on Wednesday, April 11, 2012, at 7:26 AM | Filed in General news | 8 Comments »
At the 39th General Assembly, GA approved the erection of a committee to study the Insider Movement (read about it here). Today, byFaith Magazine has a helpful article on the progress of the study committee, which you can read here. One item to note from the article is that the committee has not received the donations that it needs. The article states:
[Robert] Berman, who’s served as ruling elder for 14 years at First Presbyterian Church in Crossville, Tenn., said committee fundraising has been “less vigorous” than hoped. While the General Assembly approved $15,000 in fundraising support from the presbyteries for the IM Study Committee, the committee has received about $5,000 to date. Funds have been used thus far to facilitate video meetings and face-to-face meetings among the committee and with missionaries and global church partners.
I would encourage you to consider giving to this important ministry of the PCA’s General Assembly. You can give to the committee through the Administrative Committee. You can give by sending a check or calling them with a credit card number. You can find both at the AC web page here.
Posted by Wes White on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at 9:10 AM | Filed in PCA news | 1 Comment »
According to Book of Church Order 14-6, they are as follows:
- To receive and issue all appeals, references, and complaints regularly brought before it from the lower courts; to bear testimony against error in doctrine and immorality in practice, injuriously affecting the Church; to decide in all controversies
respecting doctrine and discipline;
- To give its advice and instruction, in conformity with the Constitution, in all cases submitted to it;
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Posted by Wes White on Monday, April 9, 2012, at 7:16 AM | Filed in Presbyterianism | No Comments »
First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he won for us by his death. Second, by his power we too are already now resurrected to a new life. Third, Christ’s resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.
Posted by Wes White on Sunday, April 8, 2012, at 3:03 AM | Filed in Bible | No Comments »
