Free Presbyterian Children and The Guardian
Over the years, many children who have grown up in Free Presbyterian homes have turned their backs on the Church and on the gospel. Doubtless their parents have mourned over this and been inclined to take at least some of the blame to themselves: If only we had set a better example, had been more watchful, more prayerful, less indulgent, more Christ-like. Ultimately, however, it is the sovereignty of God that determines the salvation of children; and the examples of Abraham, Isaac, Samuel and David show that the most eminent saints may have occasion to mourn over their unbelieving offspring, and to say with David: “Although my house be not so with God; yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although He make it not to grow” (2 Sam 23:5).
Recently an article appeared in the Guardian newspaper by the daughter of a former Free Presbyterian minister who left the Church more than 30 years ago. The summary of the article is that the writer “loves Sundays because she can do what she likes after a childhood in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, where almost everything but worship, Bible study and eating was banned on the Sabbath”. The article consists of many complaints, partly against the Free Presbyterian Church and partly against her parents. It is noticeable that the name of Christ is never mentioned in the article, though the heart of her complaint is against Him and against His gospel. Christ is not easy to attack, and any attempt to do so might lead people to think about the gospel and might be a means of blessing to them; so instead her ammunition is directed against the Church and against some of the lesser and more outward matters of the Christian religion.
The complaints against the Church are of some interest. But, as we will see, most of them resolve into complaints against God, and they are not matters on which Christian parents, following the Bible, have much choice.
The first complaint regards the Sabbath: that it was a day of going to church and reading religious books, and that “shopping, television, sport, and even going for a walk” were all forbidden. The services were long, the prayers interminable, and the day was spent gazing longingly out of the window at friends playing outside. In the evening the children could not sleep for lack of exercise, and the next morning they took it in turns to get up very early to wash the dishes.
The biblical command is “to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”, and it is clear that God does forbid shopping, sport and television on that day. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words . . .” (Is 58:13). It was unfortunate that the writer of the article was brought up in one of the few manses which is adjacent to its church, and therefore she could not get any exercise by walking to the service. The present writer acknowledges that he sleeps better on Sabbath night when he walks to church than when he drives in a car. This is a very small matter, however.
Having to wash the dishes at 6.30 on Monday morning is described in the article as “truly horrible”, and one senses the ease and comfort of the Guardian readership and of modern Britain. Not for them the horrors of Aleppo, or of hell! One sees too the selfishness of modern Britain in the sentiment, “I can do what I like on Sundays”. What about all the other people who have to work so that “I” can shop, so that “I” can play golf, so that the sports centre can be open on the Sabbath. Do they matter, or is it just “me and my rights”?
A second complaint is about the obligatory worship of God: family worship, public worship, and communion seasons. This is simply a complaint against God: like Doeg the Edomite, unbelievers are “detained before the Lord” (1 Sam 21:7). The communion sermons were apparently about “hell and damnation”, but we doubt that this was ever the focus of these sermons. Their focus would have been Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but it is striking the way that the death of Christ is so often interpreted by unbelievers as relating to hell and damnation. It is a subject that seems to touch their consciences painfully.
A third complaint is about some of the things said during the sermons and during the meals at communions. We doubt that some of these are accurately reported, but if they are, they must have been a sorrow and embarrassment to many people present and not merely to the writer of the article. Anyone who is in the Christian Church for a while will see and hear many things that are regrettable, but this is not an adequate reason for abandoning Christianity; and the same things and far worse will be found outside the Church.
A fourth complaint is that “the Free Presbyterian faith is led by men – women have no official role within the church and promise to obey their husbands in the wedding vows”. This is not unique to the Free Presbyterian Church, but is simply ordinary Christian teaching (1 Tim 2:11-12). The writer of the article tells us that she is married to a Roman Catholic, and the Church of Rome has exactly the same teaching on this matter.
A fifth complaint is that “women and girls [in the Free Presbyterian Church] must cover their heads in church, grow their hair long and are forbidden to wear trousers or makeup.” The first two of these are explicitly required in Scripture (1 Cor 11:1-16); the third is deduced from Deuteronomy 22:5: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God” (obviously highly relevant in a day of trans-sexualism); and the fourth from various biblical references to the adorning of women (1 Ki 9:30, 1 Tim 2:9, 1 Pet 3:3).
A sixth complaint concerns the many things that were forbidden by her parents: “dancing, the cinema, music, Guides, Scouts, sport and youth clubs, as practically anything was considered potentially wicked”. Of all the complaints, this is the only one which leaves much room for debate: did the parents set the boundaries in the right place? In answer, we would simply say this: that Christian parents have to set boundaries somewhere, and wherever these boundaries are set, unbelieving children will fret against them. The boundaries will frequently appear arbitrary and inconsistent and subject to many exceptions – this is part of human life, and a consequence of the limited wisdom of the parents. Furthermore, manse children are often restrained, not because their parents think it wrong but because someone in the congregation may take offence; this again is inescapable in a fallen world and implies no blame. “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (1 Cor 8:13).
There are various other minor complaints in the article, but what about the good things in the Free Presbyterian Church? What about the many kind and godly people that the writer must have met in her childhood? Why does she dwell only on the unhappy aspects, and after all these years? Who could not produce a similar list of complaints about their upbringing; but would it be right to do so? And what about Christ? Why does she say nothing about Him? Has He done her any wrong? And why then does she not believe? DWBS
Gender Confusion
Perhaps it should not surprise us that we observe our nation being deeply influenced by the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) agenda. Same-sex “marriage” is now on our statute books, homosexuality is considered normal and, as we saw last month, humanists are becoming more strident in seeking to influence our education system – indeed to destroy Christian education completely if they could. The 2015 census revealed that 50% of Scots indicated they had no religion, as against 40% in the 2009 Census; so secularism is on the march. A recent Christian Concern report gives some idea of the scale of this spiritual malaise and of how far it has spread, especially to young people.
The report states that many schools are running “transgender workshops”. A Church of England school in south-east England has enlisted the help of a local LGBT youth group to discuss with 9-11 year olds the idea that gender is “fluid” – you may choose what gender you want to be (or do not want to be) according to how you feel, not according to your biological identity. To children at such an impressionable age, the confusion introduced must be hugely perplexing – as well as sinful. At the same school, 4-5 year olds had a book read to them called, Are You a Boy or are you a Girl? sowing the seeds of gender uncertainty in their young minds. In the Highlands of Scotland, once renowned for its Christianity and biblical godliness, LGBT clubs are being established in local secondary schools – trying to normalise the abnormal. That the LGBT club can be just another innocent lunch club is the sinister message.
A “gender-neutral” uniform policy was introduced across the board in another school. Why was this done? One six-year-old pupil felt he was born the “wrong” sex; so the school “must” accommodate that pupil’s wishes. But not only were his wishes to be catered for – the school chose to impose the new policy on all of its pupils. Parents were not consulted in advance and when one mother complained she was labelled “discriminatory”.
The intolerance of questioning anything in this approach is illustrated by the reaction of a secondary school ordering a parent off its premises labelling her a “bigot”. Why? Because she had dared to challenge the fact that LGBT promotional material was openly lying around. The school insisted that such interference would not be permitted. Students were told that “anyone else questioning the agenda would get the same treatment”.
Of course teaching staff also face the same difficulties and pressures. A pupil asked Vicky Allen, a teaching assistant from Cornwall, questions on same-sex “marriage” and related matters. She tried to answer honestly, holding to her Christian convictions; although the pupil was not offended by her answers, his mother seemingly was and contacted the school. The teaching assistant was suspended the next day and then summoned to a disciplinary hearing, where she was given a written warning accusing her of breaching the school’s policies. She lost her appeal against the suspension and is now taking her case to an Employment Tribunal.
The gender confusion continues as we read the tragic story, reported by the BBC, of a 10-year-old girl, whom they called “Leo” (not her real name). She did not “feel right” as a girl. She then “chose” to become a boy, but still it did not “feel right”. Her mother did some research and found another identity, “gender non-binary” – “neither male nor female”. “Leo” chose this definition, apparently on her parents’ advice. The medical answer to her problem surely was therapy – to align her mental with her physiological state – not to redefine her gender. The 10-year-old herself said, “When I grow up, it’s going to be harder for me to say, I’m not a girl”. Incalculable damage may be caused to her personality – and especially to her soul – by this choice.
As if “non-binary” gender was not confusing enough, the media is reporting the creation of multiple genders. Men, women and children are taking the sinful liberty of “creating” their own identities – ignoring objective physical reality. And this inevitably is entering the political arena. A controversial report by MPs on transsexual issues and health, led by Maria Miller, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, caused Melanie Philips, the Times columnist, to write, “The political class is obsessed with gender issues”. She accuses these MPs of “turning gender confusion from a health issue into a political statement to be enforced”. On school issues she warns, “Gender fluidity will be actively promoted as just another lifestyle choice. Under the commendable guise of stopping the minute number of transgender children being bullied, the rest of the class will be bullied into accepting the prescribed orthodoxy – that gender is mutable, and any differentiation in value between behaviour or attitudes is bigoted and prohibited.” She stresses, “Gender politics is all about subjective feelings. It has nothing to do with fairness or equality. It embodies instead an extreme egalitarianism which holds that any evidence of difference is a form of prejudice”.
Incredibly over 70 new gender identities have been invented; indeed, the social-media site Facebook allows for “custom gender” – you can have any identity you want. Satan, the prince of darkness, is using these issues as another means to further his evil ends in this world. But he is a liar and a deceiver, a murderer from the beginning and the author of confusion. The Word of God clearly says, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them” (Gen 1:27). Satan wants, not only to blur God’s distinctions, but to destroy man altogether by his devices. However, the Saviour reigns. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20). KHM
The worst thing that can be done to a transgressor is to let him alone in his transgression.
Patrick Fairbairn