It was with great sadness that I learned today that the the delegates to the RPCNA Synod (held in June) voted to withdraw from the National Association of Evangelicals. According to an online article:
"there had been a growing concern by members of Synod regarding the increasing willingness of NAE officials to engage or associate with liberal Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Muslims. The Synod was also concerned that these associations have tended to obscure the gospel and blur the distinctions between believers and unbelievers. Along with these concerns were the long-held tensions within the RPCNA of an official association with an organization that has become predominantly Arminian and Pentecostal." (Source: http://theaquilareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=349:reformed-presbyterian-synod-withdraws-from-nae&catid=40:normal-article)
So has the RPCNA finally become 'fundamentalist'? From an article about the characteristics of religious fundamentalism:
"[F]undamentalists make a strict distinction between themselves as true believers and other believers. Based on their absolutist convictions they take an exclusive and intolerant stance against others (de Knijff 1994, Beck 1996). "Fundamentalists are convinced that their differences from others make them superior not only because they have something better, but because theirs is the only truth, the only right way to live" (Ammerman 1988, 7; Velema 1997, 52, 53). Being saved themselves, they automatically outrank anyone who is unsaved (Ammerman 1988, 197). Absolutist convictions lead to feelings of epistemological superiority.' This is also evident in their stance with regard to other persons. However, these feelings do not necessarily lead to feelings of ethical superiority, though there are fundamentalists for whom this is the case. "
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3783/is_200104/ai_n8945567/pg_2/?tag=content;col1
Has no one in the RPCNA read Miroslav Volf's Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation? The online article reported that there was only one delegate who spoke in support of staying in the NAE. I wish I knew who that was so I could write him a note of thanks. I assume that in light of this move that members of the RPCNA who are active in pro-life groups will withdraw from those groups that have Catholics in them.
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Ma'am,
ReplyDeleteI am a communicant member of Lisbon Reformed Presbyterian Church, in St. Lawrence Presbytery of the RPCNA. I was raised in Baptist and Evangelical Free churches, and came to the RPCNA only after becoming fully persuaded in my own mind of the church's doctrine and practice.
I must say, I find your blog to be quite sad and bitter. Might not your posts be better spent in a positive explanation and exposition of the principles of biblical interpretation at which you've arrived, instead of constantly bashing the RPCNA (and, in your diatribes against male-only sessions, the historic Christian church as well)? I'm sorry that you feel hurt by our denomination; but you are certainly free to maintain your own opinions regarding Christian doctrine, worship, ministry, etc. Please feel free to extend to us the same courtesy.
In Christ,
Sean McDonald
You are certainly free to maintain your opinions; I have the freedom to question them. It seems that the denomination's decision to withdraw from the NAE demonstrates the questioniong of others' beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I am bitter to some degree, but more sad, as I see the denomination lose a generosity that it had when I was growing up. It also saddens me to think of bright women who have been blessed with the spiritual gifts that would make them good elders not permitted to exercise those God-given gifts.
I welcome your suggestion to explain my own hermeneutical principles.
In Christ,
B. Banner
B. Banner, I wanted to thank you for making this blog as it helps me to cope with the pain inflicted on me in the name of the gospel (which is no gospel at all). Knowing that I am not alone helps me to keep my faith in Christ in spite of a prideful denomination.
ReplyDeleteAlso Synod minutes show that Dean Smith was the one dissenting opinion. Quoted from page 143:
"Synod permitted Dean Smith to record his dissent to an action taken the previous day as follows:
I wish to record my dissent from Synod’s action instructing the Interchurch Committee to write to the NAE calling the NAE to repentance. In the written reports of this court no specific actions are presented. A call to repentance must be based on specific actions, behaviors or attitudes from which repentance can be demonstrated and measured. “Associations with liberal Protestants, Romanists and Muslims” is vague and nebulous, similar to “associating with tax collectors and sinners.” Synod’s instruction must have a more clear stipulation, therefore, I dissent."
Dean Smith
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Source: http://www.rparchives.org/data/2009%20Minutes.pdf
If anyone would like to write him an email: drsmith@geneva.edu