The Blinne Blog

Corrupting the Church

My representative, Marilyn Musgrave, requested the PCA endorse the Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I find such a request to be a corrupting influence on the church.

Fortunately, the PCA General Assembly responded to this request (and a similar request by Sen. James Talent of Missouri) as follows by saying sponsoring legislation is none of their business. During the debate it was stressed that the temptation of endorsing legislation -- no matter how good it appears -- dilutes the spiritual nature of the church. One of the pastors served as a mail clerk for a senator before becoming a pastor. He noted all the correspondence of churches trying to influence legislation and how that distracted from those churches' main mission.

Overture 19 from Philadelphia Presbytery and Rocky Mountain Presbytery ("Endorse Marriage Amendment to US Constitution") was answered with the following statement:

The church now declares to the world the teaching of God's word concerning the family as summarized in the WCF 24.1-2.

1. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband, at the same time (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Proverbs 2:17).

2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, and of the Church with an holy seed; and for preventing of uncleanness. (Genesis 2:18; Malachi 2:15; 1 Corinthians 7:2, 9).

Furthermore the Scriptures warn of the danger to any nation that defies God's law regarding the family (Proverbs 14:34).

Grounds: The church is spiritual in nature, and while it must continue to speak to moral issues, it should ordinarily refrain from endorsing specific legislation. See WCF 31.4; BCO 3-3, 3-4.

Ministering to Post Everythings

***Dave commented here:

I'm one of the delegates to elect the new Episcopal bishop of Colorado in a few weeks. At the "walk-about" meeting I attended last Sunday evening, the issue of how we get, and keep, younger members was a topic that all the candidates discussed.

Rev. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City provided the following advice on how to reach the post-everything culture. While his advice is specifically targetted to conservative Presbyterians, much is applicable to Christians of all stripes.

Note on terms used in the paper: PCA is the Presbyterian Church in America, the second-largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. Reformed means holding the historic doctrines of Presbyterianism. Old School refers to the non-ecumenical wing of 19th Century Presbyterianism. Modern usage refers to the conservative wings of Presbyterian churches. Presuppositionalism is a school of apologetics that admits all people have presuppositions. According to this school, sometimes you need to start at the end and see if the world still makes "sense" given that presupposition.

Here's Keller's answer to the question posed by Dave's meeting.