Denominations on the Move
An internet posting of part of an Anglican-style litany from the 2018 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) contains the following words, supposedly a prayer to the Most High: “We grieve the disunity of your church. We grieve that many women in our congregations feel unvalued and unwanted, unheard and uncared for. We grieve that we have acted as though being male was more valuable than being female . . . that only male voices could be and should be heard. . . . We grieve that the poor, the blue-collar, the working class . . . find our churches uninviting and unwelcoming. . . . We grieve that black and brown people find our churches to be overwhelming and unsympathetic places. . . . We grieve that our loyalties to politicians who play on racial fears have been stronger than our loyalties to our black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ. . . . We grieve that those that have spoken the gospel truth on our racial unity-in-diversity have been shouted down as ‘cultural Marxists’ or ‘social justice warriors’ rather than celebrated as servants of the gospel. . . .” To all of which, the “people” are expected to reply, “Hear us, good Lord”.
Wikipedia describes the PCA as “the second largest Presbyterian church body (second to Presbyterian Church (USA)) and the largest conservative Reformed denomination in the United States”. The denomination was formed in 1973 in reaction to increasing liberalism in the PCUSA, but it now seems to be going the same way itself (though doubtless it still has a conservative wing). The matters confessed in the “prayer” – disregard for women, for the poor, and for those of other races – are indeed sinful, but there is no reason
to think that the PCA is markedly more guilty of such sins than are other members of humanity. Instead, the prayer reads as an exercise in propaganda, intended to wound the feelings of others in the Church, and to misrepresent and denigrate their views. It savours of the half-truths and malice of Satan rather than of the purity, gentleness and love of the Holy Spirit.
That the Assembly was prepared to participate in such worship shows that the Wikipedia entry needs to be updated: the PCA is neither conservative nor Reformed. Denominations change rapidly once they begin to take their standards from the world around them rather than from the Word of God, and Christians need to be on their guard against these powerful currents of defection: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Heb 3:12).
Meanwhile the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has shown unexpected resistance to the common downward path. It first ordained women to the ministry in 1976 – which one would have thought would have been its ruin – but in 1980 it voted to leave the World Council of Churches; and this year it has broken ecumenical ties with the Church of Scotland over homosexual marriage, and has determined to exclude homosexual couples from communicant membership and to withhold baptism from any children that they may somehow come to have. Such signs of spiritual life are very welcome. Its next move should be to depose all female office-bearers and to excommunicate all members who deny cardinal doctrines – in particular the complete authority of Scripture. Perhaps that day will come.
DWBS
A Welcome Court Decision
A court in Colorado, USA, decided that baker Jack Phillips had unlawfully discriminated against a same-sex couple when he refused to provide a cake celebrating their “marriage”. He was also directed to give comprehensive anti-discrimination training to his staff. He said that providing the cake would have violated his beliefs and appealed to the Supreme Court.
Thankfully the Supreme Court overturned the decision by a 7-2 majority. Yet their conclusion is not a guide to similar cases, for the important factor behind the majority opinion was the argument that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which brought the case against the baker, had been shown to be hostile to religion because of the remarks of one of its members.
Assisted Suicide Rejected
Amidst the moral malaise sweeping our nation it is heartening to find some restraints remaining. A recent Court of Appeal ruling means that assisted suicide continues to be illegal in the UK. Noel Conway, a retired lecturer with motor neurone disease, has wanted for some time to be allowed “help to die”,
while he claims he “still has the mental capacity” to make the “voluntary, clear, settled and informed” decision to arrange his death. Earlier this year he said that he could only legally receive this help if a High Court judge ruled in his favour. This was denied him in May, so Mr Conway took his case to the Court of Appeal, which also rejected his demands.
Three senior judges – Sir Terence Etherton, Sir Brian Leveson and Lady Justice King – stated that “the existing law achieves a fair balance between the interests of the wider community and the interests of people like Noel Conway”. They added, “The court had concluded it was not as well placed as Parliament to determine the necessity and proportionality of a blanket ban”. Further, “the Court had seen evidence to suggest Conway’s proposed scheme was ‘inadequate to protect the weak and vulnerable’ and failed to give enough weight to the ‘significance of the sanctity of life’ and to the scheme’s potential to undermine trust and confidence between doctors and patients”.
Dr Peter Saunders, Director of Care Not Killing, welcomed the ruling: “Our laws deter the exploitation, abuse and coercion of vulnerable people”, adding that numerous medical groups, including the British Medical Association, do not support assisted suicide. He insisted that assisted-suicide campaigners should “turn their attention instead to how we can secure equality of access to the very best health care for all”, which he stressed “must include palliative care and mental health support, because we know when the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of patients are met, there is no pressure for change”.
We would hope that the decision to prevent Mr Conway seeking assistance to usher himself prematurely into the great eternity would prove a blessing to him, but sadly he seems committed to his solemn course. He says, “I will keep fighting for myself and all terminally-ill people who want the right to die peacefully, with dignity and on our own terms. I want to thank my family, friends and members of the public who have shown such overwhelming support and who continue to spur me on in this fight.” This man – who is supported by the pro-euthanasia group Dignity in Dying – is dependent on a ventilator for up to 23 hours a day and has very limited movement.
He said: “This illness has already taken away my ability to breathe independently and I am now almost completely immobile. I know it will also rob me of my life, and I have accepted that. But what I cannot accept are the options I am faced with under the current law. I am told that I can choose between letting nature take its course until I am completely unable to move or communicate; hastening my death by removing my ventilator with no guarantee my suffering can be completely relieved; attempting to end my own life at home in potentially painful and traumatic circumstances; or making the arduous
and expensive journey to Dignitas and risking prosecution for any loved ones who accompany me. It is barbaric to force me to decide between these unacceptable options.”
While we must show sympathy and have deep compassion for those who endure such suffering, surely the only safe option is for Mr Conway – and for us all – to spend the rest of our time on earth, however difficult that may be, submitting to God’s will and seeking eternal salvation in Christ. To find salvation will ensure that, when our life ends in this world, we will have “life that shall never end” in the world to come.
KHM
Protestant View
Rome and Its Moral Teaching
We have often remarked that the present pope is subtly endeavouring to send out messages which appeal to the spirit of this corrupt generation, in order to make the Church of Rome appear more attractive in the eyes of the world. A further step in the downward progress of the papacy in softening its line on moral issues is the latest statement to emerge from the Vatican, that “LGBT” young people wanted to “benefit from greater closeness” with the Church. Instead of referring to sodomites as people of “homosexual tendencies”, as formerly, the papal propaganda machine is now beginning to refer to them as “gay” – their own preferred choice of identification.
Cardinal Baldisseri, a Vatican spokesman, commented on this change of tone: “We are open. We don’t want to be closed in on ourselves.” Yet, at the same time, the Roman Church’s own official position remains unchanged, and only last week the Pope stated that only opposite-sex couples were able to form families. “The family [as] man and woman in the image of God is the only one”, he remarked. Of course, sending out mixed messages is nothing new for this pontiff or for the Church of Rome more generally. How far the Roman harlot may depart from traditional moral teaching in its occasional pronouncements is impossible to predict, but when one form of gross sin is countenanced, there is no limit to the capacity of fallen men both to justify it and to indulge in it.
AWM