INTRODUCTION

The following papers were solicited, compiled and edited into this collection in response to the call in the introduction of A Proposed Statement of Identity (PSI),¹ for "open discussions" of the issues raised therein. It is the hope of the contributors to this collection, as well as the editor, that the clear identification of the problems in each of the chapters of the PSI will be useful to the debate over what should be done with that document. Certainly, given the present state of the Presbyterian Church in America with all the furor and disagreement which exist, there is cause for concern, if not for the intent of the PSI, at least for its effect. The authors of these answers in addition to their specific topics, express these concerns, so they will not be reiterated here.

It should be said that this Answer to the PSI is not the production of yet another 'caucus' in the PCA. The writers are concerned pastors, and the editor a concerned church member. Each author does not necessarily speak for the rest, or for any other individual or group. Yet they all believe that this Answer is necessary because the views of a portion of the PCA were ignored by PCA Consensus, and that some of the affirmations, denials, and propositions of the PSI if put in practice, could be detrimental to biblical church government, biblical worship and biblical discipline. In addition to pointing out what they believe is wrong with the PSI, the authors have endeavored to commend where they believe the report to be sound and good (seeking to follow the example set by our Lord, Rev. 2; 3).

The existence of at least three caucuses pushing for their own agendas in the PCA is a very serious and clear indication of the extent of division amongst us. Conditions in churches of the past have been sometimes better, and sometimes worse than they now are in the PCA. Division and strife in the church are nothing new, and some in the past have sought remedies, some have not. What are we doing? Are we seeking the Lord on our knees, even with tears, that He would heal our divisions, and give us one heart and one mind (I Cor. 1: 10; John 17:2 1)? This demon of division will not come out without much prayer and fasting - and much repentance. Do we realize we are divided and that this should not be? Realizing it, do we want a remedy? Is it significant to us that the church, who, as one has said, is in 'the reconciliation' business, should not be divided as we are? Or are we too busy with partisan politics, too busy seeking domination and power? I do not intend to disregard any efforts of those who are crying and praying because of our divisions. But where is the organized church-wide call to prayer and answer to that call? We have neither reached (by far) the purity of the Second Reformation Scottish Church, [nor] yet consequently sunk so low to the extremely bitter divisions which later plagued her. However, take to heart the following sentiments of one who lived through both, as instructive in some fashion to our condition:

There are, I suppose, few or none amongst us, or about us, so great strangers to the observation of providential occurrences in Scotland, as to be altogether without the knowledge of what has come to pass in these days: How the holy, just and sovereign Lord, who sometime lifted us up, has now cast us down; who crowned us with glory and honor, has stript us of our glory and made the crown to fall from our head (though we have not said, 'Woe unto us, for we have sinned'); who sometime made us a praise in the earth, has now made us a hissing, a by-word and a reproach to all that are round about us; How he, who once by our unity and one-shoulder-service did make us beautiful as Tirza, comely as Jerusalem, and terrible as an Army with Banners, has now, alas! (which is one of the most embittering ingredients in our cup) instead of giving us one heart and one way, in his anger, divided, sub-divided, weakened, disjointed and broken us. So that Judah vexes Ephraim, and Ephraim envys Judah, and every man's hand almost is against his brother, and through our lamentable and most unseasonable [internal] jars and divisions we bite and devour one another, and are like[ly] to be consumed one of another.

Oh tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph! That when God has cast us all down together, we endeavor to keep down and tread upon one another. That when he has been justly angry with our mother, her children are sinfully angry one with another, and when he has cast us all into the furnace, we are even there struggling and wrestling one with another to the increasing of the flame.²

Do we desire the healing of our divisions? Do we long for that unity, that appellation of truly unified one-shoulder-service making us as beautifial as Tirza, comely as Jerusalem, and terrible as an Army with Banners?! Or, while we are in the very fire of the judgment of division, are we fighting the more with one another? Division, confusion, error and strife are judgments of God. What shall we do; what must we do? Mustn't we seek God's face and humble ourselves before our High Priest and Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ who is King of His church? Should we not seek in His Word the wisdom that will unify us? Must we slide further into division, error and strife, heedless of the judgment we are under? Love for brethren had not waxed so cold had not love for God waned first. Let us with repentance, with fasting and prayer, turn to God, who can heal our division and bring us to unity in the faith.

Which is the prayer of the editor,

Christopher Coldwell

Blue Banner Books, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church, Rowlett, Texas.

September 7, 1994

1 PCA CONSENSUS: A Proposed Statement of Identity for the Presbyterian Church in America (PSI), Introduction, p. 2.