Liberté, égalité, fraternité, — Première partie
As the father of a young lady who is growing in her understanding of Reformed theology, I have had to wrestle with the relative merits of “patriarchalism” versus “complementarianism.” What are the definitions of these fifty cent words, you ask? How glad I am that you asked!
Allow me to preface these definitions with yet another term—egalitarianism–and the environment in which these three terms have become points around which various parties rally. With the advent of feminism in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, efforts to free women from all forms of tyranny, real or perceived, in society, the home and the church have sparked a two-pronged response. Feminism promotes the ideal of egalitarianism, which asserts the absolute equality of men and women in every way, so that the institution of marriage is often disparaged, women are encouraged to work outside the home and pressured to refrain from the honorable vocation of domestic engineering (that is, being a housewife), and to answer an unbiblical call to pastoral ministry in the Christian church. This movement became part and parcel of the ideals of liberal Protestant theology and practice throughout the twentieth century. Toward the end of that century, however, the movement began making inroads into otherwise conservative Evangelical churches.
Throughout the history of the development of Christian theology, orthodoxy was commonly believed among the whole church, and remained generally agreed upon and largely unwritten, since there was little to no disagreement about the orthodox interpretation of Scripture. This is why we see in church history how that it is the aggressive assertion of heresy which forces the orthodox to go back to the drawing board and more carefully work out and put into writing the correct understanding of the Bible. In theology as well as commerce, competition forces one to work harder to increase the quality of their philosophical principles, goods and services.
How, in this environment, are Christian families to insulate their children from the erroneous claims of modern feminist egalitarianism? In the next post, we’ll deal with conservative Evangelical responses to egalitarianism which have resulted in the spectrum with which we must deal today.
Why Reformed Churches Don't Rebaptize
Confessional Reformed/Presbyterian churches don’t rebaptize a Christian who comes from another church to join theirs. The Westminster Confession of Faith (28:7) says “the sacrament of baptism is but once to be administered to any person.” For example, if a person was baptized in a Roman Catholic, Methodist, Brethren, or Baptist church, he or she would not have to be baptized again to join a Reformed/Presbyterian church.
Mid-Cities OPC’s First Building
The most recent incarnation of the banner which announced the presence of a congregation of Orthodox Presbyterians at the YMCA in Bedford, Texas–for only a few hours each Sunday morning over a period of about eight years.
Dr. K. Scott Oliphint (left) with MCPC pastor, Rev. Joe Troutman (right) inside the YMCA.
My gifted daughter, Abigail, fills in as pianist during morning worship at the Bedford YMCA.
After years of shopping for buildings in a fairly full suburb, this sign is discovered.
Here’s the building which came with the sign.
After months of negotiating, inspecting, and work days, a date is set.
At long last, a place of our own to worship and glorify our faithful covenant God.
If any of my readers ever find themselves in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, please worship with us at…
Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church (OPC)
1810 Brown Trail
Bedford, Texas 76021
Profaned Pulpit
Profaned Pulpit: The Jack Schaap Story was written by one-time member of FBC Hammond, Ind., student of Hyles-Anderson College, and close personal friend of Jack Schaap, Jerry D. Kaifetz, Ph. D. The book is part analysis of how cultic tendencies can distort the ministry of a local church, part treatment for victims of such abuse, as well as Kaifetz’s prescription for how a church can prevent such cultic distortion through accountability among their own leadership and congregation.
“The Lord is Risen!”
Happy Easter! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
The following is an excerpt from the Gospel According to Luke, chapter 24, verses 1-35 as edited by David Norton in The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible. If you are an experienced reader of the King James Version, you will be surprised to notice quotation marks around the dialogue. These were added by the editor. But in his edition, the paragraphs are extended pericopes. I have further broken up the paragraphs to make the narrative read more as a novel, to increase the reader’s appreciation for the action and dialogue in the narrative.
The reason I selected this passage was because I was curious as to the origin of the traditional Easter greeting in which one believer meets another and salutes him with “The Lord is risen!” to which the other believer replies, “He is risen indeed!” One source directed me to this passage regarding the men who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus who were greeted by the disciples when they came to report their experience to them.
May this reminder of the truth of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ comfort us, and encourage us in our faith and hope in him as we await his return.
“Christ is risen!”
“He is risen indeed!”
* * *
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, “The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again”.’
And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
* * *
And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were held that they should not know him.
And he said unto them, ‘What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad?’
And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, ‘Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?’
And he said unto them, ‘What things?’
And they said unto him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
‘Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre: and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.’
Then he said unto them, ‘O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone farther. But they constrained him, saying, ‘Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent’. And he went in to tarry with them.
And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.
And they said one to another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?’
And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon’.
And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Luke 24:1-35 (Norton, David, ed. The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible. © Cambridge University Press 2005, 2011.)
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