Thursday, June 19, 2014

Conservatives Pronounce the Death Knell of the Presbyterian Church, Again

This week I am blogging from the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly

The Presbyterian Coalition, an organization of conservative groups, issued a press release immediately after the General Assembly voted to allow same-sex marriage in the church.  They write

Today the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) took two illegitimate actions that may prove in future years to be the death knell to the church as we have known it.
It is no surprise that the remaining conservatives in the church consider this the last straw.  Opposition to normalizing homosexual practice has become a defining issue for PC(USA) conservatives.  Thousands have left the denomination in recent years, especially since the church accepted gay ordination a few years ago. 

No doubt, we will see another wave of departures following these decisions.

Still, it is worth remembering that conservatives have pronounced the death knell of the Presbyterian Church in every generation since the denomination was created.

And in the next generation, the new conservative on some new issue will pronounce the death knell, again.

Reformed, and ever reforming.

3 comments:

dennistheeremite said...

I have always been conservative, and I am not leaving. My commitments are careful and deliberate. They are not provisional or conditional. That is a part of being a genuine conservative. I don't understand why so many people who call themselves conservative don't understand this, and they seem to resent it when I bring this up.

Gruntled said...

As a long-time civil rights activist said in our opening worship, whether included, excluded, honored, or reviled, he always stayed at the table.

Reformed Catholic said...

While I can understand your sentiments, the phrase is:

The church reformed, always reforming under the Word of God"

Many of those who are leaving feel that Scripture is being left behind and the gospel of Social Justice and culture is proclaimed more and more often.

We'd stay at the table, however, the table needs to be supported by Scripture, the Confessions and the Book of Order.

This past GA, they have all been pulled from beneath that table.