Actions Of The Forty-Seventh General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In America
The Stated Clerk’s report of the 47th PCA General Assembly that met in Dallas June 25-28, 2019.
The Forty-seventh General Assembly of the PCA met in Dallas, Texas, in shortened format, convening Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and adjourning Friday before noon. A total of 1,616 commissioners (1209 Teaching Elders and 407 Ruling Elders) registered, representing 827 churches from all 88 presbyteries. The theme of the Assembly, hosted by North Texas Presbytery, was... Continue Reading
“Such Were Some of You” and How We Use Scripture
Interacting with the use of 1 Corinthians 6:11a within the debate at the 2019 PCA General Assembly.
Five points can be stated from this passage. First, Paul is not talking about people who are tempted to these sins, but those who are identified by these sins because they practice these sins. Second, the church is to remove those who are identified by their practice of such sins from their midst. Third, the... Continue Reading
The PCA And Liberalism: A Warning From Our History
A plea to confessionalists in the PCA to remember our history and to learn from the process mistakes our forebearers made in church courts.
The conservatives had given them a foot-hold by essentially adding extra-confessional requirements for ordination, which enabled the signers of the affirmation to get away with the egregious aspects of the affirmation which affirmed the Five Fundamentals as truths, but as truths open to various broad interpretations. In the end there was no discipline. The conservatives,... Continue Reading
Revoice, the PCA, and a Way Forward?
Contending without being contentious in the Revoice debate.
Do not assume the worst of your brethren. In both politics and religion, the tendency is to paint your opponents in the worst possible light and to assume the worst of their motives. It may be true that there are some on the anti-Revoice side that simply are legalistic, or that hate homosexuals or are... Continue Reading
Protesting the Protest at the PCA General Assembly
The PCA GA erred in accepting a Protest that was not against an action of the Assembly, but of an individual member giving a speech.
Therefore, this action of the General Assembly in allowing for such a protest to have been found in order must itself be protested. It is my humble request that the 2020 PCA General Assembly would publicly apologize to the speaker of the minority report for having in effect declared him guilty of sinful speech, and... Continue Reading
Revoice, Nashville, And The Therapeutic Revolution
The result of the therapeutic revolution is that how one feels is considered of much greater importance than the truth of what is said.
Jesus loves sinners. He loved his elect from all eternity. Among those elect are those who have SSA, those who have abused alcohol and drugs, those who have murdered, and those who have lied. Grace is the abounding free favor of Christ to helpless, lost sinners. As a consequence of his grace, however, he calls... Continue Reading
Four Cheers for PCA Approval of the Nashville Statement
The vote was a watershed in the PCA regarding whether our ethos will be shaped by cultural pressures or by the Word of God.
I shudder to think what would have been the effect within the PCA and in our relationship with other conservative denominations if the Christianity Today headline had been reversed the morning after GA, saying that the PCA had approved Revoice over the Nashville Statement. In my opinion, the result would have been a convulsion of... Continue Reading
The 47th PCA General Assembly – A Loss or a Victory?
The good, the bad and the ugly at the 47th PCA General Assembly.
I was afraid that the Assembly would appoint a Study Committee on Biblical Sexual Ethics without making any statement at all regarding the issue of same-sex attraction. Sometimes to delay is to lose. So it was in the situation. Without such a statement, the Assembly would have been a major disappointment to me and would... Continue Reading
The Heart of the Difference Between Revoice Theology and Reformed Theology – the Sinfulness and Mortification of Sinful Desires
A significant definition dispute between Reformed theology and Revoice theology regarding the nature and effects of the Fall on human nature.
The real problem is that while there may be PCA presbyters who agree with and sincerely believe in this view of the non-sinfulness of sinful desires and the inability to be free of them before glory, this is not the Reformed position expressed in the Westminster Standards regarding the sinfulness of desires or “orientation”. It... Continue Reading
PCA 47th General Assembly: Some Highlights and Actions
Some highlights and actions from the 47th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America meeting in Dallas, Texas, June 25-28, 2019
1,616 commissioners (1,209 Teaching Elders, 407 Ruling Elders) meeting in Dallas, Texas The theme of the Assembly was “Press on for God’s Glory,” drawn from 2 Cor. 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” The... Continue Reading
