BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

And women rule over them...

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

If we wanted to describe the repudiation of Biblical sexuality spreading across conservative churches and denominations today, we'd have a hard time finding a better text than this curse of God recorded by the prophet Isaiah. Women lead men, those who guide the People of God lead them astray, and pastors confuse the direction of their flocks' paths.

It's everywhere, from Campus Crusade for Christ to Operation Mobilization to Columbia International University to Wheaton College to the Presbyterian Church in America...

A while back, the New Yorker ran an article by Malcolm Gladwell profiling Cesar Millan, the man behind the National Geographic show, Dog Whisperer. Titled "What the Dog Saw," the piece gave readers a spellbinding glimpse into the life of a man expert at disciplining incorrigible dogs. The central thrust of the article was an explanation of Millan's "phrasing," his ability to bring his body movements, hand gestures, tone of voice, and eye contact into perfect harmony so that dogs understand Millan says what he means and means what he says. In an interview following the publication of his article, Gladwell described Millan's good phrasing:

What we're talking about, when it comes to phrasing, is simply the ability to communicate with clarity. We all think that those around us have the ability to read our minds--and we get frustrated when our intentions are misunderstood. But the truth is that accurate communication is really hard, and only a very small number of people can do it well.

Gladwell's profile contained a number of examples of dog owners who hired Millan to tame their dogs. Here's the story of a dog named Beauty:

"I have forty-seven dogs right now," Cesar...idly scratched a big German shepherd. "My girlfriend here, Beauty. If you were to see the relationship between her and her owner." He shook his head. "A very sick relationship. A 'Fatal Attraction' kind of thing. Beauty sees her (owner) and she starts scratching her and biting her, and the owner is, like, 'I love you, too.'"

Near the end of his article, Gladwell told the story of a Chihuahua named...

The "endlessly lovely" Ayn Rand...

(Tim, w/thanks to Phil M.) Apostasy is the greatest of all tragedies. When unrepented, it leaves a soul beyond the blood of Jesus Christ.

Yet even in apostasy, there are comedies that appear, providing us hope the tragedy may not be quite as tragic as it thinks itself. Take, for instance, this phrase from a recent announcement of conversion to atheism by a member of Indelible Grace, the PCA's house praise band. In his denial of the Faith, this man refers to "the endlessly lovely Ayn Rand."

The endlessly lovely Ayn Rand? Surely he jests...

Woman officers in the PCA: local practice seeking GA confirmation...

(Tim) A number of times I've heard men ask whether Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church are planning to follow the lead of other former PCA congregations by moving into another denomination that embraces woman officers? I've wondered this myself. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Church in America have served former PCA churches well in this regard and have seemed the most likely candidates.

Then comes news that Metro New York Presbytery recently nominated both Tim Keller and his right hand man, Bruce Terrell, for the Bills and Overtures Committee of this year's General Assembly, as well as Bruce Terrell for a seat on the Standing Judicial Commission.

We have our answer.

Woman officers in the PCA: comments on one overture coming to Metro Atlanta Presbytery...

(Tim) Here's a proposed amendment to the Presbyterian Church in America's Book of Church Order. The amendment was adopted by the session of Atlanta's Westminster Presbyterian Church and will be presented to the January 23rd meeting of Metro Atlanta Presbytery.

The following is the text of the amendment, along with a few preliminary comments of my own...

Tim Keller, my hero...

(Tim) Speaking of honor to whom honor is due, I was very pleased yesterday with Tim Keller's expressed distaste for video worship. In the piece that ran on the front page of USA Today yesterday (I guess that's how you say it?) concerning multi-site megachurches, he was profiled and several times given the opportunity to sign on to the world of video-worship-sermons inhabited by many, but most sadly our dear brothers John Piper and Mark Driscoll.

He demurred, and because of his demurral I'm proud to be PCA. Seriously.

Thank you, Tim Keller.

Now, if someone will just write a jeremiad against the corruption of the church and worship and pastoral care these idolatrous video screens are solidifying among us, I can die in peace.

* * *

And while I'm commending Tim Keller, here's a helpful article he did a couple days ago on the role doctrinal criticism has in our sanctification. It's a good read, pastoral and quite true.

Redeemer explains its ordination of women: a big, but innocent, mistake...

"...this action is revelatory of underlying commitments. After all, it’s precisely here that Redeemer has staked her position against the PCA. This is the point where Redeemer, like the EPC, is opposed to the Word of God."

(David) Redeemer Manhattan has begun responding to criticism arising from the ordination of a woman deacon in a Redeemer worship service last May.

An email explanation from Senior Pastor Keller—since made public on the GreenBaggins blog—found its way into my email box a week ago. Yesterday I learned via a comment on this site that Redeemer Pastor Scott Sauls, the man who presides over the ordination of women in the recently-discovered YouTube video of the service, emailed an apology to his presbytery for this departure from the Presbyterian Church in America’s Book of Church Order

"Such artfully crafted ambiguity": androgyny owns Manhattan...

 
(Tim, w/thanks to a bunch of people) "Such artfully crafted ambiguity" isn't a summary statement describing the caviling of Tim Keller concerning what distinction his church makes between her male and female officers. Rather, it's a quote from the The New York Times which recently has published several articles on the mainstreaming of androgyny. Running in the Fashion & Style Section, first there was a piece titled "Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?" Then, this past week, a second piece ran titled "It's All a Blur to Them."

Karlo Steel of gender-bending clothier, Atelier, said this about New York's love affair with metrosexuality: "Today the more successful designers are the ones that try to bridge the gap between the sexes rather than drive a wedge between them."

Finally, I'm coming to understand why Manhattan's Redeemer Presbyterian Church makes no distinction between her male and female officers. From beginning to end including their nomination, training, examination, election, and installation, male and female officers are lumped together in a mass, indiscriminately. The process is entirely androgynous...

What passes for professing at Covenant College...

(Tim) A couple days ago, under the post "Why Same-Sex Intimacy Is Sin," a comment appeared written by Baylyblog's resident scoffer, Cliff Foreman. For twenty-five years, Professor Foreman's day job has been professing Reformed Christian faith as a member of the English Department at the Presbyterian Church in America's Covenant College. Most of our readers are aware that David and I aren't fans of Covenant College. We think it would be best for our denomination to sell it to Tim Keller, but to this point no one's taking our suggestion seriously.

As a simple defense of our position, consider this exchange between Prof. Foreman and a mere graduate student here at Indiana University--a young whippersnapper who lacks the terminal degree as well as the wonderful privilege of a quarter-century of spiritual and theological growth there at Covenant College, at ease in Zion on top of Lookout Mountain within the wonderfully safe cocoon of scores of like-minded Reformed PhDs sharing his commitment to the Westminster Standards.

Here then is Prof. Foreman's explanation to a shake-the-dust-off-your-feet hard-hearted unbeliever of why sodomy is wrong, followed by Josh Congrove's deconstruction of Prof. Foreman's explanation:

* * *

CLIFF FOREMAN WRITES: How about this: God created human beings and intended them to find happiness and fulfillment in committed heterosexual marriages. Then human beings fell and sin entered the world. This meant that people would be born with sinful desires and that through life experiences those desires would solidify into sinful patterns of behavior. But God set his son to offer us forgiveness and the opportunity for significant healing in this life. Our struggle against sin is difficult, but success is possible because of Jesus' sacrifice and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But of course, in order to be healed and to enjoy the blessings of health, we need to admit that we are sick. If we say that our sinfulness is normal, we won't seek healing. We may tell ourselves that our disease isn't contagious and that it hurts no one, but we will never, then, know what it is to be healthy.

If this scenario, which is what the Bible teaches, is true, then the people who are condemning your behavior are doing so because they think you are missing out on something that would be better for you...

Semper reformanda: the next step...

(Tim: This from Rev. Andrew Webb) After two meetings of debate, yesterday (Oct. 27, 2009) Central Carolina Presbytery passed the following overture to the 38th General Assembly by a twenty-eight vote margin:

Overture to the 38th Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly
Amend Book of Church Order 9-7

1. Whereas the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is grateful to God for the outstanding and selfless work done by the women of PCA congregations and freely acknowledges that the ability of the church to minister to a lost and dying world depends in large part on the self-sacrificing volunteer spirit of our female members; and

2. Whereas the PCA also believes that, the officers of the Church, by whom all its powers are administered, are, according to the Scriptures, teaching and ruling elders and deacons (Book of Church Order 1-5) and that in accord with Scripture, these offices are open to men only (BCO 7-2); and

3. Whereas the PCA believes that scripture teaches that the officers of the church are to be ordained not commissioned. (BCO 17,12-5, 8-6); and...

Redeemer plays deek-a-boo...

(Tim) This e-mail just went out to the members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City over the signature of the church's pastor, Tim Keller. The e-mail's purpose is to solicit nominations of men and women for church office. Nominations are to be sent to Jenny Chang, Redeemer's Director of the Diaconate. And for those not keeping track, Tim Keller is the main proponent of woman officers in the Presbyterian Church in America.

What's written here is one more indication of a promotion and practice of woman officers at Redeemer that's contrary both to Scripture and to our denomination's Constitution.

If anyone's still lost in wishful thinking that the practice of woman officers by Redeemer and her sister churches is nothing more than the implementation of deaconesses defended by Calvin and Warfield, please repeat after me: Deeks. Deeks. Deeks...

Reading this to my wife just now, she thought I'd made the word up. Then, I arrived at Tim Keller's e-mail below and, with shock and disbelief, she exclaimed, "I thought you were making it up. That's astounding!"

Indeed.

New words are hard to learn, aren't they? Speaking only for myself, it took forever to get the hang of 'waiter' for 'waitress' and 'actor' for 'actress'. So I'm not looking forward to the next half a year learning to avoid 'deacon' and 'deaconess', trading them in for the gender-neutered 'deek.'

But hey, Redeemer's hip...

Christianity left behind...

(Tim, w/thanks to several readers) A prominent evangelical magazine just did a piece on the complaint by Calvin College faculty reps that Calvin's board has issued policy barring members of their faculty from promoting sodomy. The article starts this way:

The homosexuality debate that has torn apart mainline denominations is fanning faculty and student protests at Calvin College, and highlights a growing issue facing evangelical schools.

The magazine, published in Wheaton, continues:

The case is being watched with interest by other (evangelical) schools struggling to balance compassion and doctrine in their policies on gays.

"Struggling to balance compassion and doctrine?" What on earth are they saying?

Well of course, the point is that the evangelical world today is moving toward the normalization of sodomy and the rubric under which it's being done is the silencing of Scripture's denunciation of sodomy as an abomination before the Lord. Other abominations such as fornication, unbiblical divorce and remarriage, and adultery have already been normalized, and now it's sodomy's turn.

The path to normalization is cleared by much talk of compassion with only an occasional tip of the hat to sin and righteousness and judgment. Which is to say that the Holy Spirit is nowhere present in such discussions since "When He comes, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment."

There's no conviction of sin going on--none at all. Instead, we're busy balancing compassion and doctrine. Wheaton College's "sexuality scholar," Stan Jones, puts it like this...

CRC schoolmen join the parade...

(Tim, w/thanks to Andy) Readers may have noted my mention of Grand Rapids in the post on False Shepherd Rob Bell. It was purposeful. When a community committed to confessing the most Biblical doctrine turns its back on God's Word in as flagrant a way as the Christian Reformed Church has turned her back on the Creation order of sexuality, God's future judgment will be as severe as His past blessing. To whom much is given, much shall be required.

For clear signs of that judgment, watch the present history of both the mother country, Holland, and the mother institution of the CRC here in these United States, Calvin College and Seminary.

For instance, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Calvin's schoolmen are all in a huff over their trustees forbidding the promotion of sodomy and sodomite marriage by Calvin's faculty members. So Faculty Senate (thanks for the correction, Sue) members took a vote...

The PCA should have resigned from the NAE a long time ago...

(Tim) Earlier this afternoon as a member of Ohio Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America, I received the following letter from the stated clerk of our denomination, Dr. Roy Taylor. As background to the present controversy, readers should know that a number of PCA pastors and elders are not pleased with our denomination holding membership in the National Association of Evangelicals due to the increasingly liberal commitments of its leaders and their high profile public policy statements.

Here at Baylyblog, we've been careful to document this drift: see here, here, here, here, and here. Now, once more, the NAE is flexing its muscle in Washington D.C.--purportedly in our behalf. But this time, it's our own Roy Taylor who is largely claiming responsibility for the statement.

Compared to our readers here at Baylyblog, I'm guessing that I tend to be more liberal than most of you on the issue of immigration.

Still, I repeat: it's time for the PCA to resign membership in the NAE.

Here then is Roy's response to the criticisms he's received for what he and his NAE friends said to the civil authority in our name on this subject of immigration. Yes, I doubt Roy would agree that's what happened...

Rick Phillips reviews Tim Keller reviewing Bill Hybels...

(Tim, w/thanks to our Redeemer Manhattanite correspondent) Pastor Rick Phillips recently did a post critical of a review of Willow Creek written by the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller. Rick was apologetic as he got started:

Our poor friend Tim Keller suffers the fate of having his every word parsed over a thousand times...  For this reason, I try to avoid such parsing...

But fortunately, truth got the better of Rick and he quickly hit his stride. Check it out.

The PCA's byFaith cracks the door open, with great trepidation...

(Tim) Our brother Andy Webb who serves as pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church (PCA) of Fayetteville, North Carolina, succeeded in getting the PCA's byFaith magazine to run an article he submitted titled, "Those Who Want to Revisit Women's Roles Have Been Heard and Some Are Concerned About What They're Saying."

At this point, the piece is only on byFaith's web site. But readers' comments are calling byFaith to run the piece in the next print version, also. This would make some slight dent in the flood tide of stuff by bigwigs in favor of (and other bigwigs with no heart for opposing) certain feminist tweaking of PCA polity.

So kudos to Andy. Kudos also to those who got byFaith to allow the other side of the dialog to let out a peep.

A few people have asked me for my impressions of Bryan Chapell's impressions of General Assembly's decision...

(Tim) A few people have asked me for my impressions of Bryan Chapell's impressions of the wisdom of General Assembly last year in its decision not to have more talk about why Scripture's doctrine of sexuality is hopelessly outdated and wrong. Oh, alright; proponents of the talk did refer to it as a "study committee." And no one actually said Scripture was wrong--that's just my own take on the debate.

Amazing how cheeky these guys are. They just keep coming back, demanding that we listen to them and their friends. Especially One Friend who just this once will remain nameless on this blog.

So Bryan is disappointed in the Assembly's wisdom, in their "no." It's such a harsh word...

Me and Jesus, plus nothing...

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)

(Tim) The results of Trinity College's 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) are in and they confirm that the souls of Americans are not being lost to false religions, but to the complete rejection of the Church. This confirms my own experience.

Far and away the largest number of souls who have rejected Church of the Good Shepherd's doctrine in the past decade, investigating us but leaving for somewhere else, left because we require a believer be a member in good standing of some evangelical, Bible-believing church to join with us at the Lord's Table.

We fence the Table quite inclusively, really. I use the liturgy of the old Scottish Book of Worship and it's a balm for weak souls trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. But then, at the end, I warn off those who reject Christ's authority, rejecting the authority of elders over their own soul. If they believe they can relate directly to God, bypassing the ministry and authority of His Church, this rebellion disqualifies them from communing with us, I tell them.

Of course, I go on to show them how easily they may correct the matter...

SJC Officers try for a TKO of complaint against Redeemer's presbytery...

(Tim: the text below is contributed by our NYC correspondent) A letter from PCA Stated Clerk Roy Taylor dated September 9, 2009 states that certain officers of the Standing Judicial Commission ("SJC") have ruled that the complaint filed with the SJC objecting to the ruling by the Metropolitan New York Presbytery regarding certain diaconal practices was filed prematurely. The letter states:

"The Officers of the Standing Judicial Commission have met September 4, 2009 and considered the documents submitted by the complainants and the Stated Clerk of Presbytery. The officers found the case to be administratively out of order since Presbytery adopted Amends No.1, which nullified, rescinded, annulled and or retracted its previous action, and with Amends Nos. 2,3, and 4 being addressed by the Presbytery through further discussions, debates and actions, all of which indicate that the Case was filed prematurely."

Here are a few preliminary thoughts:

1. The officers of the SJC that ruled the complaint was premature constitute only a portion of the SJC and may not represent the views of the SJC as a whole. It remains the prerogative of the full body of the SJC to allow this ruling to stand or to overturn it...

Women teach and exercise authority in Redeemer's Sunday school classes...

(Tim) Our New York correspondent writes:

The current round of Sunday school classes at Redeemer Presbyterian Church features three different classes led by women. Attendance for these classes is not restricted to women. It seems that some explanation for Redeemer's practice is warranted given Scripture's prohibition of women teaching men:

Class One

A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. (1 Timothy 2:11-13)

Class Two

I wonder if Redeemer would defend this practice by suggesting...

In the godly, fear and love embrace.

(Tim) The problem with Evangelicalism is illustrated by our local Contemporary Christian Music station. Every piece of music ends with a crescendo. Sopranos screech, brass blares, tenors hitch into falsetto, and every word's either 'grace' or 'blessing' or 'peace' or 'Heaven.' Can't stand the stuff. Ain't real.

It's like touring the color house with my art director brother-in-law twenty years ago, back when they still used airbrush technology to remove wrinkles and moles. Peter did a lot of work with the company and they were proud to show us their twenty-thousand dollar drum scanner. Before we saw the scanner, though, they showed us the other work they did.

A lot of the color work for national glossy magazines went through their shop and we were shown each step in the process. It all went well until we hit the airbrush expert. All of a sudden, we were peering over the shoulder of a man removing moles and pimples and wrinkles from a certain well-known woman's naked body. Pop! There it was.

Or rather, there she was. But not really her--someone else. Someone who didn't exist and never had.

Since then, I've seen the puppetmaster behind every ad and picture and movie and I am not fooled.

People aren't willing to listen to Tim Keller...

(Tim) Everyone ready for a belly laugh?

In a post titled "Eloquent Whining Is Still Whining," Kevin Carroll quotes Bryan Chapell lamenting in the latest byFaith that the egalitarians pushing for woman officers in the PCA haven't been listened to enough. Complains Chapell:

Whether we are talking about a local church or the entire denomination, a refusal to listen to half of the body because we have the votes to end the discussion is not healthy long-term.

Surely Bryan's not serious. Tim Keller hasn't been heard enough?

Bully pulpits provided him at each General Assembly and in the pages of every other "byFaith"; his books on every Barnes & Noble and Border bestseller table; his name on every conference marquee; interviewed by every media outlet; sermons flooding the web; and we need to listen to Tim Keller more?

Has Bryan been stranded on a desert island for the past ten years?

Yes, they're women officers, but they don't teach or exercise authority...

(Tim) Now that it's clear there are women officers in the PCA, I'm guessing their patrons will tell us their women officers are over the entire congregation (not just the women), but that these particular officers never, ever exercise authority over any man. Never.

Then, they'll issue a press release: "Our women officers do not teach or exercise authority over men, but are silent, because Adam was created first, and then Eve; and it was not Adam who was deceived; but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression."

We're waiting. With bated breath.

Finally, the Presbyterian Church in America has women officers...

(Tim) To understand the current state of our confessional and connectional union, you must know only one thing: The Presbyterian Church in America now has women officers.

We had to jettison a lot of baggage on the way, but we got there.

As just one among many examples, this from the February 2009 Redeemer Presbyterian Church (NYC) Newsletter:

Metro New York Presbytery's response to Judicial Complaint...

(Tim) Presbyteries release draft minutes a few weeks after their meetings, but those minutes aren't official until approved at their next meeting. Here is the record of Metro NY's May 9, 2009 response to the Judicial Complaint filed against it. If you haven't yet read the complaint, you'll want to. It provides a perfectly efficient education on the failures of Metro NY Presbytery, her flagship church, Redeemer, and churches around the country following them in their promotion of woman officers. (Clicking that link downloads the HTML for Redeemer's "Officer Nominations" page, documenting that woman deacons are called "officers" in Redeemer's web pages--as they also are in her Newsletter and Officer Nomination Form.

Please keep two things in mind: first, that these minutes await final approval at Metro NY's upcoming September 11, 2009 meeting; and second, that another Judicial Complaint has now been filed against Metro NY Presbytery...

I've been corrected: Redeemer's session meetings are not men-only...

(Tim; For greater clarity, I've split this post into two, so a couple of the comments are missing some of their context)

In another post, I made the statement that Redeemer's session meetings are male-only. Quickly, I received an e-mail correction with this information that, for several years, Redeemer's session has had a woman in attendance at their meetings whose presence and privileges there appear, for all practical purposes, identical to those of Redeemer's assistant pastors. (I'm unaware of any rubric put in place to make some sort of formal distinction between them.)

In the exchange with the e-mail correspondent, I also found out that, during Lord's Day worship, half or more of Redeemer's pastoral prayers (scrupulously called "Prayers of the People") are given by women; half or more of Redeemer's Scripture lessons (maybe scrupulously called "Readings of the People" to distinguish them from pastors) are read by women; and half or more of those serving the Lord's Supper at Redeemer (maybe scrupulously called "waiters" to distinguish them from elders) are women...

The shepherding and discipline of man by woman at Redeemer...

(Tim, w/thanks to past and present Redeemer Presbyterian Church members and leaders)

Recently, I was sent a PowerPoint slide that was distributed among Redeemer's pastors and Shepherding Team members explaining to them how Redeemer's five "Clusters" are to shepherd all those involved in the church's "Fellowship Groups." What it reveals about the pastoral authority woman exercises over man at Redeemer isn't surprising given Tim Keller's stated commitment that a woman may do anything an unordained man may do, there.

Here's an excerpt:

Redeemer's intolerance when it comes to woman officers front and center...

(Tim) This stuff is old hat here on Baylyblog, but for those who are latecomers or have a tendency to think where there's smoke, there's not necessarily fire, check out this Warfield list post describing one PCA pastor's visit to Redeemer (New York) last Sunday. Note particularly three things: first, the woman leading the pastoral/congregational prayer; second, his perception that elders are hidden from the masses; and third, his record of what is said about woman officers being available following the service each Lord's Day.

A friend who used to be an assistant pastor at Redeemer made a practice of forgoing that language when he closed Redeemer's corporate worship services. When called on the carpet and asked why his words weren't in line with the other staff pastors, he said it was a matter of conscience to him. Rather than "there are deaconesses and deacons available down front to answer any questions you may have," he announced, "There are Redeemer leaders available down front to answer any questions you may have."

Shortly after the meeting, he was fired.

Of course, I don't mean to imply...

"To be a Christian is to be intrinsically in a community..."

(Tim) Searching for information about the women who teach and exercise authority over men at the church Tim Keller serves, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, I found this video clip selling people on getting involved in Redeemer's Fellowship Groups. Two comments:

First, note Redeemer's target audience--the demographic their appeal is aimed at. The married? Nope. Dweebs? Nope. Husbands? Nope. Families? Nope. Mothers? Nope. Children? Nope. Babies? Heavens no.

The clip's come-on is "family." Listen to it again.

The closest we come to family is the man on the park bench surrounded by his dogs.

Second, note carefully the cool hip Rob Bell factor.

Think about what this clip says about church growth, today... The way we attract people to the Body of Christ, the Household of Faith, the "family" that membership in constitutes being a Christian, is to sell that family as hipsters.

The whole world's crazy but me and thee...

The biblical pattern of headship is neither the traditional nor the feminist. The feminist rejects the idea that subordination can ever co-exist with equality (though this is the basis of the Trinity’s relationship). The traditionalist believes that subordination assumes inequality. So both of these groups agree! They reject the biblical concept of headship as inconsistent. -Tim Keller

(Tim) As I've said before, if the Biblical doctrine of sexuality is limited in its significance and application according to what Tim Keller teaches--namely to "tie-breaking" authority in marriage, to session meetings and the pulpit in the church, and to nowhere in civil society--then the Bible doesn't say what it means or mean what it says.

And if the Bible's wrong, it's no surprise the Church has been wrong, too--for two-thousand years.

Sure enough, Tim Keller tells us the doctrine and practice of all previous centuries of the Church was given birth to in misogyny...

We don't "believe in" rain or gravity...

(Tim) Something Tim Keller said to this year's commissioners to the PCA General Assembly is worth pointing out and exegeting:

"I believe in male headship. I believe in the…uhhhh…traditional gender roles."

- Tim Keller; PCA General Assembly; Orlando, June 2009

Had this been poker, everyone should have recognized that statement as a tell. No heavily nuanced Christian apologist to postmoderns wants to go on record as believing in "traditional gender roles." This is the reason this heavily nuanced Christian apologist to postmoderns in particular appears to go out of his way to blur the distinction between male and female church officers by not ordaining his male deacons.

If I've understood Tim Keller correctly through the years, from his mouth the word 'traditional' married to "gender roles" is a pejorative term. Redeemer Presbyterian Church leads the way in the PCA...

Professional wrestling drama in the PCA big top...

"In fact, right now, I’m in a denomination where only men should be deacons and therefore that’s what I believe….and I mean…. that’s what I hold to…and that’s what I support and I don’t…... I do very little in the way of trying to undermine people’s belief on that."

- Tim Keller explaining that everyone watching him and his church and presbytery's actions for years, now, have misunderstood their significance. Completely misunderstood their significance. Things are not at all what they seem. Not at all.

(Tim) The debate between Tim Keller and Lig Duncan at the PCA General Assembly last month was a professional wrestling match with the conflict carefully scripted to produce no pain or danger. The room was packed with 750 commissioners and their wives, but if anyone showed up hoping for the appearance of consciences and convictions, they were disappointed: there there was none of this, "Here I stand; I can do no other; God help me" sort of thing.

Some of the statements documented here should have been met with raspberries or guffaws.

So, why give the exchange broader distribution?

Well, I'm hopeful those who weren't there will be scandalized. And, seeing the words in black and white, some who were there will realize they should have been scandalized and it's not to their credit they weren't.

This stuff is totally awful and the fact that no one said so is simply an indication of the hankering after fame and success that sells tabloids and woman church officers, alike...

"Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true..."

(Tim, w/thanks to David B.) Shortly after posting on the charade-posing-as-debate-over-woman-officers-in-the-PCA, I opened an old e-mail from David Baker and read this one-paragraph review of a book that might have arrived in the nick of time. We're at a kairos in our denomination, and before we go whole hog for submergent contextualization, we ought to give Harry Frankfurt's latest work a chance. Here's a description:

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us.

Serving Christ in Cedar Rapids, Iowa...

(Tim) Two weeks ago, our high school men and women went over to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to serve those trying to recover from the terrible flood the community suffered last year. Led by their youth workers, David Abu-Sara, Veronica Allen, Abram Hess, Emily Hess, and Ryan Schnitzer, they returned reporting that the governmental authorities were not particularly helpful to the residents, being better at red tape than getting things done.

The work done by the group was coordinated by church planters, Jeremy Knapp and Michael Langer, of One Ancient Hope (PCA). Our men and women were given a place to sleep in the basement of Hope Evangelical Church (PCA).

The Iowa Independent ran an article on the post-flood political problems and our group made the blurb under one of the pictures...

Over there...

(David) I've known that the PCA's missions arm (MTW) has worked in cooperation with at least one egalitarian national church in Europe for several years now. I hadn't known until Douglas Wilson brought it to light in this post that our engagement with this particular body has led to our giving it a newly-planted church so that it could immediately place a woman pastor (and her husband) in its pulpit.

Tim's and my dad once wrote that Billy Graham's practice of delivering new converts to Roman Catholic churches for discipling was like Christ giving His disciples to the Pharisees for training. Despite what I'm sure are similarly noble intentions, aren't we doing essentially the same thing in the PCA here?

Jerram Barrs has done research; he's so brave; he's my man...

(Tim) It's a great help to have Jerram Barrs continue at his post at Covenant Theological Seminary. But not for the reason you'd think.

Rather, because having him such a prominent voice representing Covenant's commitments and vision gives fair warning what kind of education men and women don't get there...

Complaint against Metro New York Presbytery filed with General Assembly's Standing Judicial Commission...

(Tim) Since Metro New York Presbytery chose not to grant three of the four amends sought by those filing a complaint against her previous action by which she endorsed woman deacons and men and women serving together in the diaconate, without sexual distinction, the presbytery has now been taken before the Presbyterian Church in America's highest court, General Assembly's Standing Judicial Commission.

Here is the text of that complaint as it was filed.

Let us pray that God blesses the hard work these men are doing for the purity and peace of Christ's Bride, and her faithful witness to a world that hates biblical sexuality.

* * *

Complaint

TE Mark Robinson, et. al. vs. Metropolitan New York Presbytery

And now, this 4th day of June, 2009, come TE Mark Robinson and RE James Macbeth and complain against the action of the Metropolitan New York Presbytery (the “Presbytery”) taken on May 8, 2009 in denying certain amends requested in the complaint filed against the Presbytery by the complainants hereto on April 10, 2009.

The complainants allege that the Presbytery erred in denying TE Mark Robinson and RE James Macbeth’s requested amends and in so doing condoned substantial and continuing violations of certain provisions of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America (“PCA”), especially those touching on the office of deacon and diaconal ministry. In support of said complaint the following is set forth...

Gratitude for the faithful men who are fighting against the egalitarian feminist attack upon God's Fatherhood...

(Tim--Partly in an effort to take into account some of the comments, I've changed this post substantially this Saturday evening. If you'd read it before, you might want to read it again.)

For years it's been clear the egalitarian feminist attack upon reformed ecclesiastical communions has not been content to limit itself to the Christian Reformed and Evangelical Presbyterian Churches, but is increasingly focused on our own Presbyterian Church in America. This became obvious to me while serving on our General Assembly's Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military. The arguments I heard then concerning the meaning and purpose of sexuality were absolutely abysmal--particularly those emanating from sophisticated teaching elders who saw themselves as God's gift to the PCA provided to aid their country bumpkin colleagues at rural, small town, and southern churches in learning how to contextualize the Gospel within this postmodern world.

As I listened to them carefully, it was evident the sound bites they employed in denying the truth or application of God's order of sexuality everywhere but inside the elders meeting and pulpit Sunday morning perfectly reflected arguments I'd heard in prior years at presbytery and general assembly levels in the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). You know: slavery, cultural context, wife abuse, barefoot and pregnant, you can't turn back the clock, people will laugh at us--that sort of thing.

Then, of course the conservatives had their own reasons for not standing in the gap, opposing the feminist heresy. There was that old battle axe of Southern Presbyterianism, the spirituality of the Church, that conveniently kept many from feeling any responsibility to oppose our civil magistrate sending off our mothers and sisters and daughters to die for us on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. And there was also the federal vision to deal with--that issue alone took so much time and energy there was little zeal left for contending for God's order of sexuality.

Teach us to number our days: Rev. Dr. Larry Allen, 1953-2009.

(Tim) Late last night, David forwarded an e-mail that my longtime friend, Larry Allen, had died. It was a sudden death with no prior warning. Larry was on the phone with a co-worker and friend, laughing, and then God took him. The cause of death is unknown.

For seven or eight years, I served on the board of Presbyterians Pro-Life with Larry and that's when I knew him best. Being a witness for the unborn in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a pagan denomination where, as early as 1983, official denominational documents said that abortion "can be an act of faithfulness before God," meant the entire time we were at denominational meetings and general assemblies we suffered the most vile opposition. Everything short of physical attack.

Larry cared very much about the weak and oppressed, being pleased to humble himself in his association with the despised work of speaking up for the unborn. And in speaking up for them, he wasn't simply associated with God's "Yes" in supporting crisis pregnancy centers (which he did); he also said God's "No," preaching and teaching and calling us to repentance for our cruelty in slaughtering our little ones.

Fear of judgement is God's gift to pastors and elders...

(Tim) Church of the Good Shepherd hosted Ohio Valley Presbytery for our Spring Stated Meeting a week or so ago. Here are my sermon notes...

"Right-sizing" at Covenant College...

(Tim) A few news items related to the PCA's Covenant College. First, Inside Higher Ed ran an article a couple months ago titled "Broken Covenant" which reported on Covenant's financial crisis and the initiatives being planned by Covenant's administration in response to that crisis. Those initiatives include downsizing of academic programs and staff (labeled "right-sizing" by Covenant's President Nielson), along with spending $500,000 for a new building and to beef up athletics--both efforts to attract more students...

The state of the PCA union: woman deacons and the local option...

(Tim) Along with several others, Ruling Elder Brian Eschen of Northern California (NorCal) Presbytery submitted a complaint which was one of two filed against the recent action of his presbytery approving unordained male deacons serving alongside female deacons, without sexual distinction.

The proposal adopted by NorCal Presbytery is the same proposal recently adopted by Metro NY and Metro Atlanta (Perimeter) Presbyteries.

In response to another complaint filed against Metro NY Presbytery, last week the presbytery rescinded the proposal, but granted only one of five amends. It may be further amends will be granted as time passes, but the well-established practice within the presbytery's bounds of non-conformity to Scripture and the PCA's Constitution leave some doubtful any further amends will be granted without formal discipline applied from the national level of the denomination.

After voting down an overture on woman deacons that would have put the presbytery on record as submitting to the PCA's Constitution and Scripture, two other proposals were voted on, with the pro-woman deacon proposal adopted by NCal and Metro NY getting 19 votes and another proposal presented to the presbytery by Steve Smallman and Phil Ryken that supports Tenth's current practice of women deaconesses getting 23.

The Ryken/Smallman proposal was acted on with the understanding that Steve and Phil would come back to the Presbytery's May stated meeting with their proposal perfected for final action. Then, the matter was tabled.

So New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Francisco continue to be the geographical centers of egalitarian feminist practices and initiatives within the PCA related to the removal of sexual distinctions in the office of deacon. Men from these presbyteries worked together toward the adoption of the same document (although there were some regional differences in their approach).

Although some would cavil at this, the rejection of the Book of Church Order at the heart of this proposal and the presbyteries' recent actions seems self-evident and would appear only to be remediable by changes to the BCO. It's also clear that, at the present time, the main thrust of these co-belligerents is not seeking redress at the national level. Rather, for the time being they appear to be turning aside from changing the Book of Church Order nationally or denominationally.

Their proposal and work seem to be moving toward a local option strategy similar to the strategy adopted by the pro-sodomy lobby of the PC(USA)...

A parable for those with disciplinary authority over NCal, Atlanta, and Metro NY Presbyteries...

(Tim) We've all been through it many times, with many different families. Struggling to survive, financially, and no high salary on the pastor's conscience keeping him from asking the Lord for His provision, one of the few wealthy families the church has managed to get bonded within her fellowship becomes an increasing problem and it becomes apparent the only answer is formal discipline.

The years past are littered with informal discipline: many pastoral visits to the home, pastoral counseling sessions, post-small group exhortations from fellow believers, deacons, and elders; the wife has had the sweetest and wisest Titus 2 women go aside with her to entreat and exhort her concerning the damage her sin is causing to her own home and the Household of Faith. But all the informal, quiet, gentle ministry has been to little avail.

The family's wealth has complicated matters beyond the simple question of the church's fiscal solvency. The pastor and elders wonder--at first privately, but then openly in elders meetings when harm the family has caused others in the flock is on the agenda--how the congregation and community would be able to understand the discipline of such a beautiful and gifted and (shall we say rich?) family. No one would deny the family's generosity has been used by God to strengthen the fellowship. They have been a blessing in many ways and are loved for it. But also for who they are: hospitable, kind, loving, generous.

Of course, the wealth also has been a key contributor to their failures. There's been a bodaciousness to the sin that's seemed to have its origin in the pride of wealth. But as the private admonitions have failed to produce any substantive change, the family's wealth and resources have continued...

New York Presbtery responds to complaint by rescinding previous action...

(Tim) Meeting earlier today in the offices of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Metro New York Presbytery responded to a complaint filed by five members of presbytery by rescinding her previous (March 13, 2009) action.

The previous action of presbytery had been taken at Metro NY Presbytery's March 13th stated meeting, and it consisted of the presbytery endorsing the practice of churches not ordaining male deacons and having female deacons serve alongside those unordained male deacons, without sexual distinction.

Today's rescission carried by a large majority.

Woman deacons and the PCA: Overture rejected by Philadelphia Presbytery...

(Tim) Philadelphia Presbytery will be meeting in May, just prior to General Assembly. Whether the presbytery will put back on the table its commitment to allowing woman deacons within its bounds remains to be seen. Meanwhile, back in March, Philadelphia Presbytery (PCA) rejected the following overture submitted by the Session of Crossroads Community Church (PCA). The overture was presented to presbytery by Crossroads' pastor, Timothy Witmer.

After the moderator declared the overture defeated, Crossroads' commissioners moved that a roll call vote be taken. Roll call votes are the means by which the members of a presbytery record their votes personally, name by name, for public scrutinty and an historical record. In this case, a roll call vote would have provided a way for the members or officers of a congregation to know how their pastor(s) or commissioner elder(s) voted.

The presbytery then went on to vote on the text of two other documents promoting woman deacons...

Please pray for Metro NY Presbytery, today...

(Tim) Metro New York Presbytery is meeting today and will respond to the complaint filed against her recent action by which she joined Northern California Presbytery (and more recently, Metro Atlanta Presbytery) approving churches not ordaining male deacons and having female deacons serve alongside those unordained male deacons, without sexual distinction.

Please pray for the men of this presbytery, that God would lead them to sincere repentance.

Woman deacons and Northern California Presbytery: Complaint filed...

(Tim) Here is the full text of one of the two complaints that have been filed against the recent action of Northern California Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America--the action by which Northern California Presbytery approved not ordaining male deacons and having female deacons serve alongside those unordained male deacons, without sexual distinction.

If you find any error where I have not reproduced the complaint accurately, please send me an e-mail at tbbayly at gmail dot com. Thanks...

Woman deacons in Northern California Presbytery: account of recent actions...

(Tim) Here's an account of recent actions within Northern California Presbytery leading up to their March stated meeting action approving the practice within her bounds of withholding ordination from male deacons and affirming male and female deacons serving together without sexual distinction. This account was written by Ruling Elder Brian Eschen, one of the men who, since, has filed a complaint against his presbtyery for their action.

The text is Elder Eschen's, and I have not confirmed it for accuracy. If readers find errors, please correct them in the comments section or send me an e-mail at tbbayly at gmail dot com and I'll work to change the text as seems best. It must be emphasized that these are not approved minutes, but rather one man's narrative of the events leading up to the complaint. As such, they have all the strengths and weaknesses of narrative as opposed to approved minutes...

Woman deacons and the PCA: a time for laughter...

(Tim) Knowing some won't persevere through the polity part of his most recent post, I'm pulling the closing paragraphs up here on the main page so readers won't miss the part that made me laugh out loud:

The idea bruited about by Redeemer NY, et al, that the Biblical role of deacon is only one of service, never one of authority or power, deserves nothing more than a loud raspberry followed by a hyena cackle every time it rears its speckled face.

• "There is no authority in the Biblical definition of diaconal office--it's merely one of service. (But the title, man, is precious, and we're gonna fight over who gets to wear it.)"
• "To be a deacon is simply to be a servant of others and the Church. (And how can we expect our women to serve if they don't receive this lowly title?)"
• "There's no leadership in diaconal office, only service. (And you'd better not deny women the onerous duty of serving.)"

Down the deaconess rabbit hole...

(David) I've been avoiding the deaconess issue for weeks now out of a desire to maintain a statin-free healthy blood pressure. There's a great big sucking rabbit-hole for obvious truth when it comes to this issue.

For instance, having had my attention directed to the Puritan Board by my brother's previous post, I found a woman there who claims to be non-egalitarian calling for Tim's defrocking because of his posts on the PCA and Redeemer. It's not surprising that a woman would suggest this. It is surprising that this kind of womanly pronouncement seems not-entirely-unusual in a venue dedicated to the preaching and practice of the Puritans. I had reason several years ago to ask another woman how her comments about a pastor on the Puritan Board accorded with her professed complementarianism. Very well, she responded, going her merry way.

Perhaps we should be glad to note that the keepers of the Puritan Board are not very, ahem, Puritanical in their approach to such matters.

Moving further into the rabbit hole...

Two bald-faced lies proponents of ordained/commissioned women deacons (or, conversely, unordained male deacons) can't be permitted to continue to mouth:

First, though the BCO contains much that is non-Scriptural wisdom, nowhere does the BCO--or any denomination's constituting document--come closer to a principled stand on Biblical truth than in the areas of the sacraments and of church officers and government.

The necessity of self-criticism...

(Tim) There's an excellent online community called the Puritan Board (just to the left) where discussions have been carried on, recently, concerning a couple posts, here. Predictably, The longest discussion focused on the Complaint filed against Metro NY Presbytery after their recent adoption of a position contrary to the PCA Book of Church Order--namely, approving the practice within her bounds of withholding ordination from male deacons and affirming male and female deacons serving together in diaconal ministry without sexual distinction.

The apologist for Redeemer's practice frequently posting here under the name "Mason" has been active in the discussion there, also, but with a somewhat different posture. You don't need to be a member of the Puritan Board to read the comments and I encourage our readers to note the common sentiment expressed that Metro NY, Redeemer, and other churches, presbyteries, and elders taking similar positions may need to be questioned concerning their practice.

More interesting to me, though, is the discussion recently put on ice by the Puritan Board's moderators because it was getting warm. Started by a man who posts under the nom de plume, Pergamum/MacDaddy, he wrote:

Article about the PCA

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Is this a good article, bad article, accurate, inaccurate?

BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...: The demographics of the PCA: Follow the money...

__________________
Pergamum

Interesting discussion, and a couple noteworthy things:

First, even reformed men seem to have fallen into the pomo trap of thinking they can reason while avoiding generalizations...