Ga ga for Gaga? PCUSA Backs American Capitalism
“It has been some months since I last had a rant about Lady Gaga, so I am grateful to the good old PCUSA for giving me the chance. Yes, the people whose General Assembly a few years back brought you the Carnival of Animals, presided over by some kind of Aztec divinity on steroids, and issued free masks of Mandragora to celebrate Calvin’s birth and evangelise Whovians at the same time, have now gone ga ga for Gaga. It seems her music, along with that of other titans of modern pop culture, featured somewhat significantly at the meeting of the highest court of the church, the General Assembly…”
– Insightful commentary from Carl Trueman at Reformation21.
A question for PCUSA Conservatives: Why now?
In his column at Reformation21, William Evans asks if something more obvious than the current issue of homsexuality has been overlooked…
“Even as PCUSA liberals were busy dismantling the confessional heritage of the church, evangelicals were repeatedly stepping back and stepping back and stepping back from decisive confrontation…”
Read it all at Reformation21. (We earlier incorrectly attributed this to Carl Trueman – oops! our sincere apologies!)
Mexican Presbyterian Church breaks with PCUSA
“The National Presbyterian Church of Mexico … has voted to end its 139-year partnership in mission with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in response to the PC(USA)’s decision earlier this year to allow the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians. …”
– news from The Presbyterian Outlook. (Related.)
A prophetic word to the PCUSA
I
n 2010 an Orthodox Arch-priest from Belarus, Siarhei Hardun, spoke plainly to the PCUSA General Assembly as they debated gay marriage and ordination. Worth watching, even if the advice was not heeded.
Justin Taylor has the story and some useful links here. (Related posts.)
PCUSA ‘plants seeds of self-destruction’
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted Friday to pave the way toward the ordination of practicing homosexual persons to the offices of deacon, elder, or minister. The series of votes begin to reverse the denomination’s position on sexual practices that it has held for its entire existence. …
– Report from Christian Newswire. (Photo: Danny Bolin and Presbyterian Church USA.)
A tale of two bishops: What happens when apostasy reigns?
“Go back half a century and the most established church of the Protestant establishment was, without question, the Episcopal Church. Never massive in numbers, that historic denomination sat atop the so-called ‘seven sisters’ of the old Protestant mainline (Episcopalians, Congregationalists [now United Church of Christ, UCC], Presbyterians [PCUSA], United Methodists, the Disciples of Christ, northern Baptists, and Lutherans [ELCA]). Those historic churches had outsize importance in shaping the culture. The word ‘mainline’ was not used inaccurately.
Fast forward to the present and all those denominations have been in precipitous decline for decades. The culture has been secularizing and those churches basically decided to secularize with it. …”
– In his latest article, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr Albert Mohler looks at the legacy of Bishop Frank Griswold and Bishop Gene Robinson.
Is the Cross sufficient?
“Paul thought it was. Let’s do a cross-check on this (pun intended) – the greatest Christian who’s ever lived – what did he say? Among other things:
Galatians 6:14 ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’.
The great Apostle Paul thinks this much of the cross of Christ – that it’s his only boast. Let’s go further:
1 Corinthians 2:2 ‘For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’
Paul says that his repeated and constant theme in preaching is the crucifixion of Christ. When he says: ‘I resolved to know nothing’, it’s not that he didn’t say anything else – it’s hyperbole, to make the point that all his preaching centres on the cross.
We use that word ‘cross’ as shorthand. It’s a synecdoche, where the part stands for the whole, or a single word stands for a whole concept. So the word cross is synecdoche for the whole doctrine that Christ died for sinners upon the cross – or, alternatively put: it stands for the belief that atonement was made for sinners through the suffering of Christ on the cross.
Is the cross sufficient? Are we right in the Christian church to make such a big thing about it, and to centre on it? Surely there’s works of mercy, relief of the poor and other good works to make our focus? Other churches certainly think this way.
Last year, the Uniting Church in Australia’s social services department…
Oak Primary School in the UK, a school boasting that it runs ‘in accordance with the principles of the Church of England’…
A few years ago, the PCUSA removed /Getty’s song ‘In Christ Alone’ from their new hymnbook … ”
– An exhortation we need to hear – from Presbyterian Moderator General, John Wilson. Read it all here.
Related:
At the 2015 NEXUS Conference, Chris Braga gave a very helpful 18 minute exhortation.
Does your church or Christian organisation explicitly speak of the Cross of Christ and what it means?
Or is it assumed?
Encouragement: It’s not too long – watch the video in your Parish Council meetings, committee meetings, home groups, staff meetings – at GoThereFor.com.
‘The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s long and boring shuffle out of Christendom’
“The drift from biblical orthodoxy to spiritualized leftism has profound real-world consequences. The church isn’t just shuffling out of Christianity, it’s shuffling out of existence. The church has lost 37 percent of its members since 1992, and the trend is accelerating.”
– National Review. Photo: PCUSA.
Related: How to tell the difference between The PCA and PCUSA – Joe Carter.
Presbyterians Church (USA) to allow gay marriage ceremonies
“At their gathering in Detroit, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States voted to allow their clergy to perform same-sex marriages…”
– Report from USA Today.
And for something quite different, the June edition of The Pulse, magazine of the Presbyterian Church in NSW is well worth a look.
An appreciation of the turnaround of Southern Seminary
Todd Pruitt writes about Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:
“Southern is the oldest and largest of the SBC seminaries. It was also the great bastion of theological liberalism within the denomination.”
“I was raised in a large Southern Baptist church in Houston, Texas. I was educated in Southern Baptist institutions. I was ordained in a Southern Baptist church. Coming of age in the 1980’s I remember well overhearing the discussions at home and church about the conservative resurgence within the SBC. It may surprise some of you to know how liberal the Southern Baptist seminaries had become and, as a consequence, its clergy and churches. But, by God’s grace, the Southern Baptists did not go the way of the PCUSA, Disciples of Christ, or United Methodists.
One of the key moments in this mega-shift away from liberalism was the reformation of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Southern is the oldest and largest of the SBC seminaries. It was also the great bastion of theological liberalism within the denomination. But in 1993, after a change in the balance of power among the trustees, Southern Seminary hired a young theologian and journalist named Albert Mohler [pictured] as the new President of the seminary. At that point that point the battle was joined. Ultimately, Southern Seminary returned wholeheartedly to its founding confession and vision. But the fight was brutal and is, in my mind, one the great stories of the church in the 20th century.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Dr. Mohler’s presidency of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. So I offer enthusiastic gratitude to the Lord for Albert Mohler and his unswerving loyalty to God’s Word, his tenacity in leadership, his willingness to be ridiculed for what is right, and his enthusiasm for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I encourage you to read this account of the turnaround of Southern Seminary. It is truly a harrowing story.”
And Southern Seminary has released a 25 minute documentary on the history of SBTS with a focus on the turnaround of the last 20 years.
Well worth watching.
New Presbyterian denomination in US
The Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians is a new body formed out of the increasingly-liberal Presbyterian Church of the USA (not to be confused with the PCA, to which Redeemer in NY belongs).
Gary Ware at Mount Gambier Presbyterian has some links.
Earlier related links:
Mexican Presbyterian Church breaks with PCUSA,
Presbyterian Church (USA) votes for gay ministers,
Vanishing Christianity — A Lesson from the Presbyterians.
Presbyterian Church (USA) votes for gay ministers
“After 33 years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has voted to change its constitution and allow openly gay people in same-sex relationships to be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons…”
– Story from The Sydney Morning Herald.
Press release from the PCUSA.
Albert Mohler writes:
“But even beyond the specific issue of homosexuality, the church faced two of the most fundamental questions of Christian theology — the authority of the Bible and the Lordship of Christ. In making this change, the church clearly affirms that one may submit to the Lordship of Christ without submitting to the clear teachings of Scripture.…”
(Photo: PCUSA.)
Vanishing Christianity — A Lesson from the Presbyterians
The liberalism of the Presbyterian Church of the USA is not new, but a recent survey highlights the issues. In writing about the survey, Albert Mohler concludes,
“This is a church that has lost its confidence in the Gospel in terms of the clear biblical claim that salvation comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. … The crisis has migrated from the pulpits to the pews, and recovery is only a dim and distant hope…”
– The report to which Dr Mohler refers in his article is available here.
(The older, now liberal, PCUSA, about which he writes, should not be confused with the PCA, of which Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, is a member.)
A date with disaster
Meeting in San Jose, California, the Presbyterian Church USA, the liberal branch of American Presbyterianism, moved to approve homosexual clergy on June 27, 2008 – a date that may well mark a final blow against biblical orthodoxy in that denomination.
The PCUSA has debated sexuality issues for decades now, with activists for homosexual ordination pressing their case until they finally got their way at the denomination’s General Assembly. In that historic meeting, the General Assembly actually approved several proposals.
Even before dealing directly with the question of ordination standards, the General Assembly approved a first step toward revising the denomination’s official translation of the historic Heidelberg Catechism. …
– Al Mohler points out what else the PCUSA had to change. (Photo of a John Calvin bobblehead at the PCUSA GC – by Joseph Williams and PCUSA.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…