BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

Phil Ryken on B. B. Warfield and woman deacons: a correction...

(Tim: Given the importance of this correction, we'll leave this post at the top for a few days. Please check below for more recent posts. Thanks.)

Speaking of Bryan Chapell putting forward Phil Ryken for service on a study committee on woman deacons, I held off correcting some significant errors in Phil's commentary on 1Timothy 3:8-13 until I'd been able to notify him of those errors, giving him a chance to correct the text of the PDF available for download. A week and a half after we exchanged e-mails (Phil was quite cordial, by the way), it appears the text hasn't yet been corrected. The errors appear in Phil's commentary issued as part of P&R's Reformed Expository Commentary Series, and specifically his comments on 1Timothy 3:8-13 where the Apostle Paul enumerates qualifications for the office of deacon. In this text, Phil misquotes B. B. Warfield...

Your tax dollars at work...

(Tim: A week or so ago, thirty plus members of Church of the Good Shepherd went to Bloomington's City Council meeting to oppose our tax dollars being appropriated by the Council members to fund an organization that makes Hitler's Third Reich and it's Holocaust factories look like child's play. I'm speaking of course of Planned Parenthood which makes its living off of the slaughter of unborn children tenderly nestled in their mother's womb. By itself, Planned Parenthood is responsible for a quarter of a million of those murders each year, and they're moving their abattoirs into more affluent areas in order to grow their bloody profit.

Each year here in Bloomington, Planned Parenthood goes through the charade of requesting tax dollars to help provide its clients with some service close to, but not exactly coterminous with it's slaughter machine. And each year, our city fathers cuddle up to this progressive nonprofit and ante up our dough over our vociferous protest. One of those speaking against this Holocaust funding this year was Mary Lee's and my dear friend and fellow CGS member, Joshua Congrove. Although we were out of town at the time, we heard Josh's testimony was good, so I asked him if he could send me a copy. Here are a few prefaratory comments he wrote to set the scene, followed by what he said that night.)

This year, as usual, Planned Parenthood received a donation from the Bloomington City Council (and from public funds) to support a particular medical procedure. While the procedure itself is unobjectionable, the giving of public money to an organization that performs hundreds of abortions per year is an egregious act that demands objection...

Woman deacons: two articles from Aquilla Report worth reading...

(Tim) One news source worth checking out because it isn't dependent on denominational money and the approval of denominational leaders for its existence is Dominic Aquila's eponymous Aquila Report. And concerning the PCA and woman deacons, here's a good article from Aquila Report summarizing this past assembly's actions on the matter.

Also from Aquila Report, here's an article reporting on the actions taken by my own Ohio Valley Presbytery concerning Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis in the matter of their practice of woman deacons. Here is most of the text of the recommendations made by a committee that had been appointed by presbytery to deal with this matter. These recommendations were adopted by Ohio Valley Presbytery...

Woman deacons: what about Warfield's approach today...

(Tim) A reader asks: "(D)id I understand your introduction to say that you agreed with Warfield's approach inasmuch as 'deaconess' could be a valid office in the church as long as it did not entail the exercise of authority over men, and thus was not conflated with the male diaconate?"

I respond: Yes, but I think such an action on the part of the PCA right now would be unwise in the extreme, given the conflation of the biblical office of deacon and these various helps women performed at times in church history. Furthermore, as Warfield points out quite clearly, Scripture itself cannot be said to provide a biblical basis for woman deacons. Warfield's exactly right.

What we find is that at various times the church did precisely what our Book of Church Order (BCO) allows: namely, to create ad hoc or ancillary groups of women for service to the church--including helping those officers called "deacons." Those women might be called "deaconesses," but across church history they were never exercising authority over men.

And this is where the practice of so many churches of the uber-hip metro-sophisticate variety leave us in a position that we must oppose woman deacons...

PCA and woman deacons: unity requires submission...

(Tim) Pushing for Philadelphia Presbytery's overture to study woman deacons, Bryan Chapell presented the Bills and Overture Committee's Minority Report, arguing “We have to listen to one another. We have to be willing to talk about difficult things without fear of demoralizing the church. We must get people together in the same room to talk about (these things) in an atmosphere that’s not highly charged.”

Our denominational magazine, Byfaith, reported that Chapell's minority proposal "recommended that a committee comprised of theologians on both sides of the issue—including Tim Keller, Phil Ryken, Ligon Duncan, and Jimmy Agan—meet together over the coming year to come to a Scriptural understanding of deaconesses." The remaining three members of the study committee were to be appointed by the moderator, but somewhere Chapell was quoted as saying he hoped the majority would be in favor of the status quo--namely, woman deacons forbidden by our Book of Church Order.

So let's do the numbers.

The churches Tim Keller and Phil Ryken serve have woman deacons. And reading what they've written on the subject, we could expect them to support amending the Book of Church Order. Jimmy Agan is a junior faculty member under Bryan Chapell at Covenant Seminary, so he's likely to stand where Bryan stands.

Where is that? I'm guessing some sort of compromise that keeps large churches happy both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line...

PCA General Assembly votes not to move in the direction of woman deacons...

(NOTE: About fifty deep in the comments under this post is one made by "PCA friend" that readers will find helpful in clarifying what happened at the assembly, as well as the actions' larger context in the intricacies of PCA polity. PCA friend also makes the valid point others also made; namely, that some supported the minority report--and thus a study committee--not out of a desire for change, but because they believed this would be the wisest course to take in supporting our church's present constitutional requirements.)

(Tim) Just now, I received a report on what is likely the most significant decision facing this year's General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Several overtures to the assembly--most notably, one from Philadelphia Presbytery that came to the presbytery by recommendation of a presbytery committee including Tenth Presbyterian Church's senior minister, Rev. Dr. Philip Ryken--asked the assembly to appoint an ad interim study committee on women deacons. Others within the PCA (including Central Georgia Presbytery) opposed such a study committee, seeing it as a Trojan Horse for northern city churches moving the denomination in an egalitarian feminist direction.

Overtures to the assembly pass through the Bills and Overtures Committee which meets prior to the assembly and brings recommendations on each overture to the assembly floor. This year's Bills and Overtures Committee was chaired by Rev. Fred Greco who brought the committee's recommendation (its Majority Report) to the assembly floor. This Majority Report called for the overture requesting the appointment of a study committee on women deacons to be answered in the negative, in which case no such committee would be constituted.

The president of Covenant Seminary, Bryan Chapell...

Christ Church Ministerial Conference: Father Hunger...

Register now for the Christ Church Ministerial Conference on Father Hunger October 16 & 17 in Houston, Texas. The conference is aimed at pastors, elders, deacons, and those aspiring to the work of these offices. David and I attended  the conference last year and greatly appreciated it. We hope we'll see you there. (From time to time, I'll put this ad back up on the top of the page, so please look below to see if there are other more recent posts. Thanks.)

Feminists nullify the Word of God for the sake of their traditions...

(Tim) After twenty-five years of listening to, and reading, feminists who purport both to be Christians and to honor Scripture, a few years ago I stopped. Their scholarship was so bad, non-sequiturs so constant, lies so bald-faced, and impiety so obvious, I couldn't bear it any more--keeping up with them was too caustic to my heart.

A few minutes ago, though, one of our readers mentioned some faithless comments being made by a certain feminist (who will remain unnamed) under a post she had made on her blog, and I was curious. A few minutes later I found the blog and the comments my friend had mentioned. They were awful.

Before leaving, I clipped this text to show the sort of arguments these people make...

(Southern) Presbyterian Church in the United States: GA actions related to woman's leadership in the church...

"It is the settled doctrine of our church that women are excluded from licensure and ordination by the plain teaching of the Scriptures, and, therefore, cannot be admitted to our pulpits as authorized preachers of the Word; and, also, that they are prohibited from speaking by way of exhortation, or leading in prayer, or discussing any question publicly in the meetings of the church or congregation as a mixed assembly. This is according to the mind of the Spirit as expressed by Paul in 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35, and I Tim. ii. II, 12."

* * *

(Tim, w/thanks to Wayne) Here are excerpts from the PCUS Digest of Assembly Actions, showing the course of relevant actions in the Southern Presbyterian Church from 1861-1944.

Note how change comes to the church. Deform takes the guise of reform and begins its assault. Year after year it returns, knocking at the door of successive general assemblies. It says the church should "not make laws or bind consciences where Scripture is silent." Past generations believed Scripture speaks to the issue clearly, but things obvious to past generations are invisible to moderns. Eventually, men working to guard the good deposit grow weary of the task and begin to make concessions. After all, every concession appears reasonable and harmless.

I'm reminded of a scrap off Kierkegaard's table:

Imagine a fortress, absolutely impregnable, provisioned for an eternity. There comes a new commandant. He conceives that it might be a good idea to build bridges over the moats--so as to be able to attack the besiegers. Charmant! He transforms the fortress into a countryseat, and naturally the enemy takes it.

So it is with Christianity. They changed the method--and naturally the world conquered.

-Soren Kierkegaard, Attack Upon "Christendom," (Princeton University Press, 1944), p. 138.

Here, then, are the excerpts...

B. B. Warfield on women's work and the office of deaconess...

Women have already organized their own work in the church; and with a zeal and success which shame the prevailing apathy of Christian men, women have worked out for themselves a whole series of institutions which, while the church sleeps, may perchance grow fatally to overshadow its official and authorized agencies. To shut our eyes to the dangers inherent in these gigantic voluntary associations would be as silly as it might prove to be suicidal. Nor is it an adequate annulment of these dangers to plead that the loving loyalty of our women to our church system has shown itself to be as great as their loving zeal for God’s work. This is true, and deserves highest praise. But we must bear in mind... (that the) essential principle of every organization comes out sooner or later in its working; and independent and voluntary agencies show sooner or later that they have both independence and will of their own.

-B. B. Warfield in his essay reproduced below, "Presbyterian Deaconesses."

(Tim) Here's an essay by B. B. Warfield on the biblical warrant and historical practice of deaconesses serving the church. Taken from an 1889 issue of The Presbyterian Review, it's a long but essential read for those wanting to debate and vote carefully on the overtures related to this issue coming to our PCA General Assembly next week in Dallas.

Two things to note: First, whatever approach to this question Warfield has taken, it bears little resemblance to the unconstitutional practice of egalitarian feminist churches in the PCA who, for years now, have been promoting women to the office of deacon without ordaining them--women indistinct in title, work, or authority from the male deacons they serve beside (who also are elected but not ordained).

This leads to the second point: Read the last couple of paragraphs of Warfield's essay carefully. There he warns against adopting a policy or practice on this issue that is "bare right (but) does not vindicate wisdom." Warfield goes on to ask, "How may woman’s work be organized so as to make it part of the church work and not extra-ecclesiastical?" He concludes with the statement that whatever is done must not "transgress the limits placed by God himself in his word upon the proper functions of woman in a Christian society," but rather must be "shown to be a further application of principles involved in the institutions appointed by God for the church."

So what are the "limits placed by God Himself in His Word upon the proper function of woman in a Christian society?" And note well: Not a Christian home or Christian church, but "a Christian society."

These "limits" are that woman is barred from the exercise of authority over man...

Complementarianism simply a private Christian conviction...

(Tim) Several of us have been having a conversation about what I consider far and away the best work on sexuality in print today, Stephen B. Clark’s Man and Woman in Christ. If you’re a Titus 2 woman, a pastor, or an elder and you haven’t read Clark, you should know that this book written by a Roman Catholic layman is indispensable. Traditional complementarian literature such as Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood can never be more than a stopgap measure. Although helpful, such works are only a hodgepodge of viewpoints and perspectives, never approaching a theology of sexuality. Why?

At the heart of the movement known as “Complementarianism” is the commitment to saying sex matters only in the church and home and only among Christians. It’s a private affair for those who affirm the authority of Scripture because of their Christian faith, and this private affair is only applicable in the private Christian spheres of the church and the home. One looks in vain for complementarians’ application of the order of creation to the military, courts, law enforcement, education, business, or government. The silence is deafening.

As with abortion in the late seventies and early eighties, we again are humiliated by having to turn to Roman Catholics for the doctrinal work needed for our time. While evangelical marketing mavens cop relevant postures and talk loudly in restaurants about being missional and the necessity of contextualizing, Roman Catholics do the heavy lifting against the heresies of our time. What shame we should feel.

These comments exchanged with several brothers by private E-mail led to this response by Bill Mouser, a dear brother in the Lord who's been a great encouragement to me for many years, now. Mouser, the head of the International Council for Gender Studies, writes...

Woman Deacons: East Lanier Community Church (PCA) steps back...

(Tim) Several years ago, I asked a stated clerk if there were any papers circulating within our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, justifying the widespread practice of electing and installing woman deacons. He sent me this paper titled, "Women in Ministry at East Lanier Community Church: An Explanation and Defense of the Position of the Session Regarding the Role of Women in Ministry at East Lanier Community Church." It was the only thing he'd come across.

So then, in a recent post "Sexuality and the PCA...," I linked East Lanier's paper to similar ones written by Pastor Tim Keller of New York City and Pastor Sam Downing of Denver--both PCA pastors at the time. (Sam Downing since left the PCA for the RCA, taking City Church Denver with him. Rocky Mountain Presbytery blessed his departure at their last meeting. Here's a critique of Pastor Downing's paper done at the request of a member of Rocky Mountain Presbytery.)

These pastors and their papers are representative of a widespread movement in the PCA that practices women leading and exercising authority over men in the church in every position except ruling elder and pastor. Most of these churches have female deacons serving alongside male deacons, without distinction, and they commonly characterize the teaching of Scripture on sexuality in the church as "A woman may do anything a non-ordained man may do." In my own Ohio Valley Presbytery, the best representative of this position is Redeemer Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis which was recently found to be out of accord with the Book of Church Order in her practice of women deacons, and is currently in dialog with presbytery concerning how best to bring her practice into conformity with our PCA Constitution.

Then, this past week, the Session of East Lanier Community Church released a letter...

Russel Moore: "I hate the term 'complementarian'..."

(Tim, w/thanks to Chris) Here's an interesting statement by Southern Baptist Seminary's Russell Moore unburdening himself about the nomenclature of the sex battles; and more particularly, expressing his extreme dislike for the word 'complementarian' and preference for 'patriarchy.' He's exactly right.

Tune in at 29:45, and you will hear this:

Russell Moore: Gender identity and complementarianism... I hate ....the word 'complementarian', I prefer the word 'patriarchy'...

Again at 37:00 ff....

Women warriors aren't doing so well...

(Tim) In an op-ed piece today, the New York Times is concerned about the results of the recent Rand Corporation study, Invisible Wounds of War, which found that "women suffer from higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression than men" after military deployment. Really.

We are a nation of idiots--callous, degraded, wicked idiots. We send our wives and daughters off to war and, when they come home emotional wrecks, we act surprised and blame it on the fact that one third of them were sexually assaulted or raped while they were deployed. Really.

I have compassion for these daughters, wives, and mothers, but my compassion makes me remember and ask that you all remember, also...

A generation of Peter Pans...

(Tim, w/thanks to Dave) Both Church of the Good Shepherd here in Bloomington, Indiana, and Christ the Word in Toledo, Ohio have two-year discipleship ministries specifically aimed at helping men recover from the Peter Pan syndrome and other viruses at work on the male principle in the Western world. Toledo's program is called Basic Training; Bloomington's, David's Mighty Men. In both congregations, these ministries are foundational to our family life and the sanctification of souls (including wives and children).

Whence the need?

Last week, my friend Jack Philippi wrote...

The clarity and simplicity of Scripture's doctrine of sexuality...

(Note from Tim Bayly: This message was delivered October 5, 1998 in Riga, Latvia, at a conference titled "Gender Theology: Questions, Problems, Perspectives," held by the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church.)

It is a great joy to be here with you and to think of how impossible this time together would have been just a few years ago. How good it is to be able to cross borders so freely--without even the necessity of a visa--and to be able to join together in fellowship and worship with you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

But then too, I am particularly pleased to be able to speak to you on the subject of Biblical manhood and womanhood. Here it may be appropriate to insert some biographical information, but first please allow me to clarify my own vocabulary:

• 'Complement': "something that fills up, completes, or makes perfect; one of two mutually completing parts" (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).
• 'Patriarchy': literally, "father rule."
• 'Egalitarian': "a belief in human equality" (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).

So, when I refer to the different positions taken by Christians today concerning what Scripture has to say about manhood and womanhood, I will use these terms:

First, the words 'complementarian' or 'patriarchal' will be used to indicate the Church's historical position which calls for a distinction in roles between men and women in the government of the Church and home; and particularly to the necessity of men holding positions of authority.

Second, the word 'egalitarian' will be used to indicate the position held by feminists today when they call for women to hold leadership positions of authority equally with men.

Now for some personal history: Although today I myself believe in the Church's historical, patriarchal position, it was not always so. Back in 1976 when my wife and I were first married, both of us were committed egalitarians...

Sexuality and women deacons in the PCA...

(Tim) Recently, this Overture 19 from Central Georgia Presbytery arrived at our PCA General Assembly office. It's one more in the salvo of overtures related to the rebellion against our church Constitution long practiced by a certain type of urban northern church that refuses to use women in supportive capacities to their male deacons, but instead elects both men and women to the office.

In this controversy, Central Georgia Presbytery has chosen an interesting tack of overturing General Assembly against appointing a study committee.

No question, those who want to move the PCA in a feminist and egalitarian direction--and there are many who do, although they'd vociferously deny it--have chosen an excellent hill for their next stand. This issue of deaconess is complex and that complexity, both biblically and historically, will provide good cover for those among us who would prefer expanding, to protecting and repairing the breach in the wall.

If we're to have a study committee, it still seems best to focus its work on sexuality and authority in the church, generally, rather than limiting the work to women deacons...

The "S" word...

(Tim) Senator Clinton's been hoping and searching for a smoking gun that will force Senator Obama's withdrawal from the presidential race. After this debacle, she may have her heart's desire. Check out this video of Senator Obama's offense and apology. It's all over now.

Hi Peggy. This is Barack Obama. I'm calling to apologize on two fronts. One was you didn't get your question answered and I apologize. I thought that we had set up interviews with all the local stations. I guess we got it with your station but you weren't the reporter that got the interview. And so, I broke my word. I apologize for that and I will make up for it.

Second apology is for using the word 'sweetie.' That's a bad habit of mine. I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect and so I am duly chastened on that front. Feel free to call me back. I expect that my press team will be happy to try to make it up to you whenever we are in Detroit next.

Soccer girls: "As capable and as tough as any boy..."

Janelle’s father was concerned, too, but a bit more philosophical. Title IX, the federal law enacted in 1972 mandating equal opportunity in sports, has helped to shape a couple of generations of girls who believe they are as capable and as tough as any boy. With a mix of resignation and pride, Rich Pierson said to me: “We’ve raised these girls to be headstrong and independent. That’s Janelle.” -"The Uneven Playing Field," New York Times Magazine, May 11, 2008.

(Tim, w/thanks to Lucas & Jeff) If you don't love motherhood, how will you raise your daughter? Will she be a doctor? Lawyer? Do neuroscience research? Take over your family business? Go to seminary? Be a vet?

If you don't protect your daughter, how many of her little babies will she murder before she decides childbirth won't intrude on her career?

If you want your daughter to be aggressive and physical, how many ACL repairs will she have before she finds out she's got a woman's joints--not a man's? And that still, at this late date, sex makes all the difference...

Ah yes, let a study committee handle it...

(Tim) For the record, I'm disappointed Rocky Mountain Presbytery's City Church in Denver was allowed to take the PCA's ball and go home without being disciplined for her rejection of biblical sexuality and polity. A plant of the Presbyterian Church in America, she (and particularly her pastor) should have heard a clear "No" from her presbytery, somewhere or sometime. Instead, she saw her presbytery enmeshed in a bunch of split votes that demonstrated tepid leadership, at best; and trendy postmodern commitments to biblical sexuality, at worst.

What would a pastor or session have to do in order to receive a clear disciplinary "No" from a presbytery of the PCA today in this matter of sexuality?

I can hear some responding, "No one's ordained a woman elder or pastor, yet."

If we think it's possible to avoid declaring the boundaries of biblical sexuality at every point leading up to the eldership, but then to hold firm there, our problems are much deeper than the biblical doctrine of sexuality...

Not your mother's DTS...

"The fact that the women were there during the most significant events in the life of Jesus meant that the apostles, the male apostles could not write the Gospels without collaborating with the women." -Ms. Carolyn Custis James in Dallas Theological Seminary chapel on March 28, 2008

(Tim, w/thanks to John) During a CBMW council meeting about ten years ago, I listened to one of the high priests of evangelical exegetical scholarship rebuke the council for our work opposing gender-neutered Bible translations. Wayne Grudem had been excited at the possibility that an invitation to sit in on the council meeting might be enough of an enticement to get this scholar to allow CBMW to use his name on the council or as a member of the Board of Reference, but instead of being awed by the company he'd been given entree to, he took the opportunity to poke us in the nose...

Study committees and majority and minority reports...

(Tim) Deep in the many helpful comments under my brother David's post from a few months ago titled "Moving on in victory towards peace and harmony," one writer asked about my own experience serving on General Assembly's Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military a few years back. My response bears on the overtures requesting study committees on sexuality issues that have been sent up to this year's General Assembly. Here's the question I was asked, followed by my response.

QUESTION: "Actually, maybe we should ask Tim his opinion. I know (of) the attempt to make the Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military "balanced" in such a way that nearly no other committee was. That is why that Study Committee was one of only a couple to have minority reports. I'll leave Tim to say whether that was a blessing to the Church."

RESPONSE: The experience was not good. Through it I came to believe even more than I already did in majority and minority reports (except in certain very limited cases). Why?

Well, the year before our final report was presented, our chairman did his best to get us to accept a unified report. So our penultimate year (Daryl has inspired my vocabulary), we presented one report agreed upon by both sides.

Being a grazed woodlot, it was neither good woodlot nor good grazing...

The no-holds-barred pugnacity of the weaker vessel...

(Tim) In the context of commanding husbands to live with their wives in an understanding way, showing them special honor, the Word of God declares woman to be the "weaker" sex:

You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered (1Peter 3:7).

This is one of a number of reasons Christians haven't voted for Hillary. Feminist Susan Faludi had an op-ed titled "Fight Stuff" in the New York Times yesterday...

Happy Mother's Day!

(Tim) Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so here are pictures of David's and my mother, Mary Louise Bayly, and my father and mother-in-law, Ken and Margaret Taylor (Dad Taylor is deceased).

And honoring God Who gave us motherhood, here's a sermon on a wonderful Mother's Day text--Isaiah 60:10-14. This was the funeral sermon given several years ago on the occasion of the death of Bloomington's mother-in-Israel, Rita Cuffey...

SJC's preliminary documents concerning use of "Minister" as title...

(Tim) A year ago, we published a critique of a paper by then-PCA pastor Sam Downing of City Church (Denver) defending his decision to call a woman with an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary to serve on his staff as Minister of Church Life. (Pastor Downing's congregation recently voted to affiliate with the Reformed Church in America and Rocky Mountain Presbytery will act on the matter at their April 24/25 meeting.)

As a defense of most things feminist and the necessity of urban PCA church plants following his lead in this direction, Pastor Downing's paper left the men of Rocky Mountain Presbtytery little choice but to initiate discipline aimed at bringing Pastor Downing and his mission church back within the fold of biblical orthodoxy on sexuality. What wasn't so clear was the best tack to take.

Those with a biblical commitment to church discipline know how often disciplinary cases are decided on technical and procedural matters that seem, in the final analysis, to have little to do with the point at issue. So it has been with this case...

Something's fishy about David Beckham...

(Tim, w/thanks to Dan and Joel) For years, one of our men here at Church of the Good Shepherd who's spent his life dealing with superfund sites as a government employee has been telling me of this phenomena. He's always seen it as a precious irony.

In 2002, thanks to soccer star David Beckham, the world was introduced to the “metrosexual.” Two years later, and with less mainstream-media attention, we got our first exposure to “Intersex.” Intersex is not some new perversion or a weird combination of science fiction and pornography. It is an unfortunate condition that is affecting freshwater fish all over the developed world. It occurs when fish of one sex also exhibit sexual characteristics of the other sex.

So here's another consequence of our abandonment of God's command that a man and his wife make fruitful love. Isn't it priceless how God makes the discipline fit the crime?

City Church and Pastor Sam Downing: Going, going...

(Tim) Someone asked whether Sam Downing and City Church Denver have really left the PCA for the RCA? Well, not yet. But here's a short testimonial showing Pastor Downing and City Church San Francisco's Pastor Fred Harrell both wowed by the enlightened environs of an RCA One Thing church-planting conference.

Sexuality and the PCA: A proposal to add to our Standards...

NOTE: (Tim) The documents promised yesterday have now been added: One by Alan Foster of East Lanier PCA outside Atlanta, another by Sam Downing of City Church plant PCA in Denver (not yet changed to RCA), and the third by Tim Keller of Redeemer PCA (New York). Links to each document may be found near the end of this post's second page.

Some Personal History:
Fifteen years ago now, when our session was choosing a denomination to present to the congregation for its approval and affiliation as we left the Presbyterian Church (USA), we had narrowed the selection to three choices: the Christian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the Presbyterian Church in America. The women of the church had served as elders for decades, but  recently had come to understand it was contrary to the order of creation and command of Scripture, and were now committed to not holding office again. Thus it was that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church was eventually ruled out of consideration. It seemed apparent that their constitutional ambivalence on women exercising authority over men, particularly as church officers, was incompatible with our repentance in this matter. We had come to see father-rule to be foundational for the spiritual and theological integrity of the church.

That left us with the CRC and the PCA. We had a number of Dutch families and some in our congregation had grown up in the CRC. Since our town adjoined the town of Friesland, we had fellowship with many friends and relatives from CRC churches and many of us had been watching their theological battles for years. One night, the elders decided the CRC was out. I distinctly remember one elder summarizing what all of us were thinking: "The CRC will be exactly where the PC(USA) is now in twenty years. Then where will we be?" We all nodded in agreement and moved on to the PCA.

So the choice of the PCA was as much a rejection of the feminist commitments of the EPC and CRC as it was trust in the PCA's submission to Scripture in the matter. Still, the PCA wasn't discussing women officers then, so we felt somewhat secure.

Now, fifteen years later...

Just preach the Gospel...

When Inter-Varsity came to these United States, Dad was appointed the first staff worker for New England and lived with his young bride, Mary Lou, in Cambridge, MA. Later, we moved to Philadelphia where Dad was appointed IV's eastern regional director. Wearing multiple hats, one week a month he flew out to Chicago to edit IV's magazine, His. My memory of our childhood is Dad away fulfilling endless speaking engagements on college and university campuses. Then, summertime came and we traveled to IV's Bear Trap Ranch or Cedar Campus where we took family vacations while Dad, again, spoke to college and university students.

Have the pressures Christians face in the academy changed in the intervening half-century?

Read this column Dad wrote for the June 1963 issue of Eternity magazine and it's apparent that back then Christian scholars, parachurch workers, and preachers believed it best to keep away from the nasty work of proclaiming the Law of God and repentance, justifying their evasions as we justify ours: "I just preach the Gospel. I don't try to convict people--that's the Holy Spirit's job."

Faithful men will work to bring the lost under conviction concerning greed and feminism and sodomy and child-murder, trusting the promise of our Lord is true: “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment..." (John 16:7, 8).

* * *

Hush, Hush about Morality: The Salt Losing Its Savor

by Joe Bayly

This year, speaking to college students—especially in dormitory and fraternity discussions—I’ve been asked one question again and again. It almost always takes this form: “Why is premarital intercourse wrong?"

Chelsea Clinton drawing water at the well...

(Tim) Within the church today, why are we so reticent to recognize sexual distinctions that go beyond God's command or certain "roles" the result of His command? Pastors and elders can bring ourselves to swallow the very specific biblical prohibitions against women serving as elders, and the equally specific commands for wives to submit to their husbands--even going so far as to defend those prohibitions with some small talk of the nature of sexuality (although we always call it "gender" rather than "sex" because gender is a social construct while sex is a hard biological reality); but still, despite this supposed submission to the biblical command, we show a complete absence of any biblical theology of sexuality.

Why? Why are we so chip-on-the-shoulderish when it comes to a discussion of the nature of man and woman beyond the obvious body parts (which are undeniable and very useful for advertising), and certain small aspects of authority in the church and home? Why do we read sexuality in such a mind-bogglingly narrow way? We claim to love diversity, right? So why such a penurious, such a tight-waddish reading of this one so basic to our lives?

A central part of understanding our culture is seeing the hatred for distinctions at its core, and few distinctions are more despised than this one present in the womb from our earliest days--male and female.

Typical believers in Jesus Christ will think we've seen the goodness of sex when we've decided to marry a woman rather than a man...

And now for something completely different, a man with...

(Tim, w/thanks to Jenna) A man who used to be a woman is pregnant...

I'm coming again.

A pregnant woman who's legally a man won't be able to nurse his baby daughter because...

Actually, I'd rather not say it. I'm coming again.

The father of an unborn child took pity on his wife who'd had a hysterectomy, and had the docs put her baby girl in his belly so he could carry her to term...

Aaarghhh! I'm coming again.

Rupert Murdoch's London Times put the story beneath this headline, "Thomas Beatie, a married man who used to be a woman, is pregnant with a baby girl." The Guardian also ran the story.

"But remember, I'm still a guy..."

(Tim, w/thanks to Tim) Check out these lyrics to the country song, "I'm Still a Guy," by Brad Paisley. They're not G-rated, but despite their crudity, they have much to show us about the world we live in...

Speaking positively about the difficult parts of shepherds' work...

(Tim) Here's a response to this comment left by a reader: "It seems that many in the complementarian community spend almost all their energy on the negative side of the equation."

Feminism is toxic and its relentless attack on Scripture and the Church doesn't give faithful shepherds a lot of opportunity to take their preaching and teaching somewhere else, avoiding this breach. We must focus our defensive work where the good deposit is under attack. In response to people complaining of the frequency of his preaching against fornication, Spurgeon said once that he'd stop preaching against it when people stopped doing it.

Pastors today aren't preaching or teaching against this heresy. And when we do, we do it half-heartedly making it clear to our flock and other shepherds that we wish the need for battle would go away because we're men of peace and love and grace, and we really don't enjoy beating up on women.

Now I may not have captured our critic's sentiments, personally, but from many years experience I know I've hit the mainstream. So think where we'd be if Calvin or Luther or Knox of any of hundreds of other shepherds had tried the positive approach in the darkness of Rome's shadow across the Middle Ages? What if Calvin had written his Institutes without the central thrust of opposing and exposing Rome? Would anyone read them?

The real issue isn't that many within the complementarian camp spend almost all our energy on the negative side of this equation, but that we live in an evil day much like the day of the Apostle Paul and Athanasius and Peter Waldo and John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and John Newton and J. Gresham Machen and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Francis Schaeffer, and that our work must follow theirs in being faithful with God's "yes" and His "no." And if our only "no" is said in opposing those who don't say "yes" often enough to suit our tastes, we're not really saying "no," are we?

The service of silence...

(Tim: This article was originally published in Ligonier's Table Talk in 1998.)

Winds of the sexual revolution sweeping our land have carried debris into many areas of our lives. Perhaps the most significant area where we as Christians need to be on guard against the sexual turmoil of our age is in our understanding of Scripture.

One of the most negative effects of the sexual revolution on the church is the way that it has caused Scripture to appear cloudy where once it was viewed by all as speaking clearly and accurately. Much that previous generations took for granted from Scripture today is rejected, passages in the Word our forefathers and mothers viewed as perspicuous men and women today find opaque...

A Maundy Thursday tribute to Rita Cuffey, mother in Israel...

There's much talk today about women needing recognition and, wanting to do something about it, it seemed a good day of the year--Maundy Thursday, when we celebrate our Lord's command that we follow his pattern in serving one another--to honor the woman who, more than anyone other than my own family members, revealed to me the glory of womanhood, femininity, and the humble service of motherhood. Would you please take the time to listen to this sermon preached at Mrs. James (Rita) Cuffey's funeral?

For eleven years Rita Cuffey was, other than my wife, my closest friend and wisest counselor. We met weekly and what a help those meetings were. Each time as she left, Rita would ask me what she could pray for me for? And since one of my most frequent prayer requests was that I would be faithful in my private devotional life, when she arrived one week, right out of the gate she asked if I'd had devotions, yet? One weeks the answer was "no," she'd cheerfully announce, "Well, I'll wait. You go ahead and have devotions and then we'll talk." I did while she patiently waited...

Good and bad contextualization

(David) I happened across this post by Internet Monk (Michael Spencer) and found him ably hitting a theme Tim and I strongly agree with: contextualization is not only not wrong, it is essential in the work of the Gospel. We must not ignore context. To go to the uncircumcised without approaching as one uncircumcised, to go to those without the law without approaching as one who is lawless, to go to the weak without approaching as one who is weak is not only non-Pauline, it is unChristlike.

I suspect that my brother Tim does not mean to be critical of Redeemer Church and Tim Keller for seeking to accommodate, in general terms, the culture of NYC and Manhattan any more than he wishes the rest of us to criticize him and his church for, for example, worshipping to rock and roll in the specific context of a Big Ten-university village. But Paul adds this caveat to his statement that for those outside the law he became as one outside the law, "not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ," and it's this boundary on contextualization that seems increasingly at issue in these debates.

The demographics of the PCA: Follow the money...

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. (Jonah 3:5)

(Tim) Surrounding his book's arrival on the New York Times bestseller list, Tim Keller's buzz has expanded beyond the PCA. Lots of people trying to put their finger on what makes Pastor Keller brilliant observe that the center of his brilliance is his ability to ask and answer "the questions New Yorkers are asking."

So what questions do New Yorkers ask?

It depends. Which New Yorkers are we talking about? Woody Allen, or the firemen?

Pastors such as Tim Keller and Richard John Neuhaus are speaking to a very narrow segment of New Yorkers--what Peter Berger refers to as "the Information Class" and others call "the Chattering Classes." These are people who make their living writing and editing and publishing and reviewing books. Or, transfer the principle to other segments of the word business--magazines, newspapers, TV, blogs, universities, and courts; together, we are the Chattering Class.

Tim Keller is PCA and we are a class-specific denomination...

Brothers, we must not buy into this...

(Tim) Here's an interview with the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller, the senior minister of Manhattan's Redeemer Presbyterian Church which is likely the most influential congregation of our own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. The occasion of the interview was the arrival of Dr. Keller's book at No. 18 on the New York Times bestseller list. The interview was done by Anthony Sacramone, editor of Richard John Neuhaus' First Things to which I'm a charter subscriber. I note this because I'm hopeful it will discourage readers from coming to the wrong conclusion as to why I say the following...

Although many of the pastors I love and respect look to Dr. Keller as the model preacher for our age, I do not. And of course, my purpose in saying this is to warn shepherds of the consequences of accepting Dr. Keller's preaching paradigm so clearly presented in this interview...

Feminism and the English language...

(Tim) Despite my comments about the neocons, I'll eat humble pie and pass on this excellent Weekly Standard article by David Gelernter titled, "Feminism and the English Language: Can the damage to our mother tongue be undone."

Women deacons for the PCA: the nub of the issue, along with a proposal...

(Tim) In the discussion of the common practice of women serving alongside men as deacons within the PCA, one man comments, “I’m trying to figure out under what circumstances I’d need to think about submitting to a deacon.”

This is the nub of the issue and the fact that it’s so rarely discussed indicates either ignorance concerning the teaching of Scripture about the order of creation of man and woman, or a deliberate clouding of the issue by those opposed to that order. No doubt both are present across our denomination.

Authority isn’t the heart of the office as it is with elders, but to say the office of deacon is not one of authority, but service, is not to say the sex of the one being promised submission is immaterial to congregational vows.

If those pushing women deacons in the PCA were simply to call them “deaconesses” and make it clear that the implementation of the calling would be hedged about with clear lines of demarcation between deaconesses and deacons--all centered on the issue of reserving to men only the exercise of substantive authority over men--many of us would make common cause with them. The fact that this is precisely not what’s being practiced or argued for is most telling. Is this clear?

Moving on in victory toward peace and harmony...

(David) Let's think for a moment about the meaning of presbyterial life.

If the essence of presbyterianism is elders willingly subjecting themselves to their brethren...

And if ordained elders should never willfully violate the PCA's standards without first submitting their teaching or course-of-action to presbytery for approval...

And if those who come to possess beliefs substantially opposed to settled portions of PCA standards should leave the PCA for a denomination sympathetic to their new convictions rather than mar PCA harmony by staying and fighting...

Then what, pray tell, are we to make of PCA churches actually laying hands upon women (and men) in services of "commissioning" to the diaconal office?

And what are we to make of this overture to the PCA's 2008 General Assembly from the Philadelphia Presbytery asking General Assembly to sanction retroactively the ordination of women to an office clearly forbidden them by PCA standards?

And finally, why has no one sought to discipline these churches and this presbytery?

The irony is so thick you could cut it.

(Thanks for the link, Andrew)

Bombers gave no informed consent...

(Yet again, thanks to Kamilla) I'm not sure whether it's worse that the souls tricked into carrying these bombs were women or that they had Downs Syndrome? OK, Downs Syndrome wins out, but only if you agree that it's not insignificant they were women.

Mother is free from the sinister task...

(Tim, w/thanks to Steve) In response to the post immediately below, one of my three friends who teach English at the college level sent me this poem by my own personal fav, old GK hisself:

I remember my mother, the day that we met,
A thing I shall never entirely forget;
And I toy with the fancy that, young as I am,
I should know her again if we met in a tram.
    But my mother is happy in turning a crank
    That increases the balance at somebody’s bank;
    And I feel satisfaction that mother is free
    From the sinister task of attending to me.

They have brightened our room, that is spacious and cool,
With diagrams used in the Idiot School,
And Books for the Blind that will teach us to see;
But mother is happy, for mother is free.
    For mother is dancing up forty-eight floors,
    For love of the Leeds International Stores,
    And the flame of that faith might perhaps have grown cold,
    With the care of a baby of seven weeks old.

For mother is happy in greasing a wheel
For somebody else, who is cornering Steel;
And though our one meeting was not very long,
She took the occasion to sing me this song:
    ‘O hush thee, my baby, the time will soon come
    When thy sleep will be broken with hooting and hum;
    There are handles want turning and turning all day,
    And knobs to be pressed in the usual way;

O hush thee, my baby, take rest while I croon,
For Progress comes early, and Freedom too soon.’

-G. K. Chesterton, from “Songs of Education”

But of course...

(Tim, w/thanks to Hendo) Der Spiegel has an article on Europe's population decline and the impact it's having on the hiring of women for management positions. From the article:

Companies with a blend of male and female senior executives are more successful, both economically and in terms of their corporate culture. According to the studies, the companies with the most women in senior management achieved a return on equity that was up to 53 percent higher than those without women in top-ranking positions. Earnings were shown to be significantly higher in companies with at least three women on their management boards. Three appears to the magic number, because it enables women to influence the dominant culture in a group.

Is this really news?

The argument hasn't been that women executives make corporations less profitable. My wife and daughters could run any business fine, thank you. Trust me.

But while they're off earning serious money as captains of industry and masters of the universe, who exactly is carrying the unborn nestled in the womb? Who is giving birth? Who is nursing the young?

Reading this article about Germany could lead one to conclude that the entire nation has gone stark raving mad. No one's willing to be a mother and have babies, so they're taking the mothers who have had babies and shooting them into the boardroom. And they think they've discovered something when these mothers prove to be resilient, disciplined, selfless, wise, hardworking, and responsible?

Nations show their priorities by where you find their women...

Warrior Custis James' bully pulpit...

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

(Tim) Recently, our dear friend Kamilla passed on this link, commenting: "The website opens up with the picture of a woman and the caption, 'I am an Ezer'.  The caption loads piece by piece and the first thing you see is simply, 'I am' with 'an Ezer' loading a fraction slower." Hating blasphemy, we can rejoice that "I am" doesn't stay on the screen forever.

Despite the fact that Warrior Custis James chose a pretty woman for her first screen and does so regularly, how odd that a ministry of women strikes this man as utterly revolting. Utterly.

Why?

Well, notice the complete absence of femininity. Absolutely nothing about the site or Warrior Custis James' ministry would call to mind the biblical exhortation for men to live with women in an understanding way as "the weaker sex."

"The weaker sex?" Warrior Carolyn Custis James responds, "I am woman, hear me roar; in numbers too big to ignore!" and assembles her troops for the assault...

Reformed Seminary shills for Frank James' wife...

• shill: a beguiler who leads someone into danger; an associate of a person selling goods or services who pretends no association to the seller and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer; a person employed by the casino to begin a game, or to fill empty seats at a table.

(Tim, w/thanks to Jeff and Andrew) Several readers called my attention to the just-released E-newsletter of Reformed Theological Seminary which hypes the latest book of their president's wife, Carolyn Custis James, as follows:

NEW! CAROLYN JAMES’ BOOK, THE GOSPEL OF RUTH, NOW AVAILABLE
Traditionally, the Book of Ruth is viewed as a beautiful love story between Ruth and Boaz. But if you dig deeper, you will discover startling revelations, including:
  - God makes much of broken lives
  - God calls men and women to serve Him together
  - God counts on His daughters to build His kingdom
Click here to order now.

According to James, simpletons think "traditionally" while "warriors" dig deep and find hidden treasures that just happen to conform perfectly to their own feminist ideology. You know, stuff like "God calls men and women to serve Him together."

Tip your hat to the new constitution.

Gov. Huckabee and complementarians' useful lie...

(Tim) Since they regularly show up on this blog making comments that demonstrate their impiety and rebellion, I assume no one's learning it here, first, if I say that the church is filled with women who hate God's command that wives submit to their husbands in everything. Such rebellion against God and His Word is nothing new. The scribes and Pharisees were masters of the technique two thousand years ago: "Oh yesssss, we must honor our fathers and mothers. Absolutely! But there's this little thing called Corban..."

Our Lord responded, giving us a pattern to follow in our exchanges with hypocritical rebels today: "You nullify the Word of God for the sake of your tradition." Those who speak of "mutual submission" as a cover for no submission anywhere or ever ought, at times, to be dismissed precisely as Jesus dismissed them.

But what of the many who speak of "mutual submission," not as an act of defiance, but as a way of making God's order of father-rule less offensive to our authority-hating culture? Are they friends of God?

One dear sister sent me a link to a discussion of Governor Mike Huckabee's comments on mutual submission carried on among feminist rebels who claim the Name of Christ. Skimming what they had to say, I found it interesting how much I agreed with them (all emphases in the original):

• "If I was still a complementarian, I would be thinking that politics has corrupted him..."
• "When I first heard the quote on television, his words seemed promising. Now that I’m seeing what he said in print… that was slick."
• "Notice he never says the husband submits to his wife. He’s definitely playing to both sides of the sex roles debate. ...Of course, he could also talk complementarian but live egalitarian for most practical purposes, like a lot of complementarians tend to do."

Mutual submission is bunk...

It is the final sign of imbecility in a people that it calls cats dogs and describes the sun as the moon--and is very particular about the preciseness of these pseudonyms.  To be wrong, and to be carefully wrong, that is the definition of decadence.  The disease called aphasia, in which people begin by saying tea when they mean coffee, commonly ends in their silence. -G. K. Chesterton

(Tim) I've been privy to a private E-mail discussion between a few men concerning the response Governor Huckabee gave during the recent Fox debate to a question about his having signed a Southern Baptist Convention statement affirming the Creation order of father-rule. Originally, it was our intent to start this post with an excellent summary statement David Talcott had written to initiate the private discussion. As things developed, though, it became clear other good responses to David's argument needed to be included here, and that collating the discussion was going to be a big job. So there things sat.

Still, I don't want to let the moment pass without comment. At this point you might want to watch the video of Gov. Huckabee's response, before reading my own comments.

Few things have been used to greater effect by men wanting to skirt the issue of father-rule and the opprobrium they would suffer if they were plainspoken in their affirmation of Biblical sexuality than mincing words about mutual submission. And make no mistake: every pastor, seminary professor, or presidential candidate who speaks in any way analagous to the way Gov. Huckabee spoke knows precisely what he's doing and why he's doing it.

By this late date many thousands of oil drums of ink have been spilled in argument about the connection between Ephesians 5:21, "Be subject to one another," and Ephesians 5:22 through 6:9 where the wives, children, and slaves of Ephesus are singled out and specifically commanded to submit to their husbands, fathers and mothers, and masters.

Those who hate authority, and specifically the authority of father-rule ordered by our Creator, make much of the "submit to one another" command, trying to use it to trump or confuse or hide or obfuscate the "wives submit to your husbands" command immediately following it. And all their tactics can be illustrated by an exchange something like this:

Foolish Christian: "The Bible tells me to submit to my husband."

Wise Christian: "Yes, but the Bible tells your husband to submit to you, also."

Foolish Christian: "Oh, you mean in 1Corinthians where it talks about me having authority over my husband's body, sexually?"

Wise Christian: "Well yes, there's that; but also in Ephesians 5 where it commands us all to submit to one another."

American woman: wife, warrior, mother...

(Tim, thanks to Josh) "They want to be a good partner. They want to be a good mother. ...They want to be a good soldier." "Experts believe there are distinct pressures for women veterans."

Really.

Which of the two did the will of his father?

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. ‘My God,’ you will say, ‘if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?' Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament. -Soren Kierkegaard (with thanks to Stephen Baker)

One commenter writes: "Taken to its logical conclusion, [God's creation order] would effectively end property and business ownership for women, since property management and business activity require authority over others, including men. If that were the case, we get into a hairy mess of inheritance rights..."

Tim responds: Men, let's make this absolutely clear.

God created Adam first, and then Eve. Anyone want to argue with that? Well then, let’s move on.

The Holy Spirit said the significance of this order of creation is that women are not to teach or exercise authority over men. Everyone still on board? Next.

All through the New Testament we see the application the Holy Spirit made of this creation order to the Church as it was founded. Also to the home. What we don't see is Him applying this creation order to the Roman Empire. But then, Scripture doesn’t tell us how to do much of anything when it comes to the civil authority, except to submit to his authority.

So today, the world is full of men who take this absence of New Testament application of the creation order to the secular world as license to cast off the  creation order in any place other than those explicitly addressed by the Holy Spirit.

But what on earth happened to the creation order?

Well, here’s what happened. Christians became sullen children, resentful of their Heavenly Father’s plan and the demands it makes of us in our post-feminist world...

Feminists at Westminster, Wheaton, and Gordon-Conwell...

Under my recent post, Peter Lillback responds..., "Rob" left this comment worthy of everyone's attention:

I graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary 20 years ago, and it was apparent then that many on the faculty held feminist views. I matriculated from Wheaton some 25 years ago, and then taught on the Wheaton faculty a few years ago, and it was apparent that the minority feminists had become the majority diktat. So the trend is always in one direction, and with quite predictable results. Even if criticism may seem shrill now, it won't in a few years.

Incidentally, my brothers, David and Nathan (with the Lord), and I all received our M.Divs from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the early eighties. Concerning GCTS, we would echo Rob's comments about Westminster and Wheaton: GCTS was under the majority diktat of feminists such as Roger Nicole, David Scholer, and Gordon Fee. These men were, and still are feminist ideologues.

This is one of the reasons we now train the men of our church gifted for pastoral ministry here at our pastors colleges. Thirteen men are now enrolled in the colleges--six in Toledo and seven here in Bloomington. If you are interested in coming to the colleges to study, send David or me an E-mail and we'll put you in touch with one of the deans. You can reach me by writing tbbayly at gmail dot com.

Peter Lillback responds...

(Tim) Back on August 24, 2007, I posted a copy of a letter I'd sent my friend, Peter Lillback, who currently serves as president of Machen's Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. The letter was to object to the seminary allowing women with feminist commitments teaching authority on campus. The letter was sent on August 2, 2007, and I received Peter's reply today, January 5, 2008. The letter is dated January 3, 2008.

In the past, some have objected to the reproduction on this blog of what they label "private correspondence." Both in my own letter and Peter's response, there were private things said which I have not reproduced here. Readers will understand my saying that this response doesn't bode well for Westminster's future

Is patriarchy a private revelation for Christians only?

O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths. (Isaiah 3:12)

(Tim, from 2004) Over the years I've heard many Christians confidently declare that, though Scripture is clear on the role of women in the Church and home, it's silent concerning their role in secular society. But those making such statements mean by "silent" only that there's no silver bullet text forbidding a woman to serve as a queen, president, CEO, general, or judge.

Many doctrines central to our Faith are not laid out in Scripture explicitly, but implicitly, and both methods are a legitimate path for God's Truth to come to us. There are times when God is pleased to reveal His Truth with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer: "And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12).

Other times it