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Voices
of Orthodox
Women
Language and PC(USA)
by
Deborah Milam Berkley, Ph.D.
When I first started paying attention to the issues that confront the
PCUSA today, I had no idea that Presbyterians have enormous differences
in what they believe. I expected that we all shared the same basic Christian
beliefs, but differed on controversial issues, such as abortion. But as
time has gone by, I have realized that I was naive. We do differ on issues
such as abortion. But we also differ on things that I had assumed would
be uncontroversial in a Christian church: who Christ is, what he has done
for us, and the reliability of the Bible as a guide for faith.
One reason that this was hard for me to notice right away was because
we are all speaking the same ecclesiastical language, using the same vocabulary.
However, I discovered that, although we all use the same words, those words
mean different things to different Presbyterians.
It is normal for language to change and evolve, and it is normal for
words to acquire specialized meanings when they are used by groups who
have common goals and activities. But these meanings often are not shared
by other groups. This is part of how, for example, languages such as French,
Romanian, and Italian all developed from one language, Latin. It is not
perversity that leads groups to give different meanings to terms; it just
happens naturally, because they have a different focus.
But this language difference among Presbyterians presents a few hazards.
One is that we can appear to agree. Everyone might be able to say, for
example, that they honor the Bible, but yet mean different things when
they say that.
Why is it bad to appear to agree? After all, that could lead to more
harmony in the church. But the problem is, many of these words are very
important to how the church goes about its mission. So our different meanings
for key words can lead us to believe that church-sponsored programs or
materials are being developed in line with what we believe, when actually
something very different is happening.
In addition, because the words in question are often key to our theology
and our mission, the church needs to have shared definitions of the terms.
When part of the church begins understanding theological words in a way
that is different from the standard or historical understanding of those
words, the very mission of the church itself is at risk.
This is what is happening today. Presbyterians who call themselves "progressives"
understand the basic vocabulary terms of Christianity (and the concepts
behind them) in a very different way from orthodox Presbyterians. Let me
give some examples.
• Honoring the Bible
The Rev. Laird Stuart, co-moderator of the "progressive" Covenant Network,
has said, "We do honor Scripture, but we also honor the process Jack Rogers
has taught us all about recently, that process by which the church has
chosen that certain passages will not be authoritative for life or practice
...." It is difficult to know what he means by "honoring" Scripture, while
saying that parts of it are irrelevant or not true. It seems more like
being respectful to a dear elderly aunt, who has some wisdom, but also
some outdated ideas that we ignore.
By contrast, orthodox Presbyterians believe that honoring the Bible
means accepting its authority for our lives, even when we don't really
understand it, or even when it is different from what seems right to us.
We trust God to be utterly good and utterly fair, and we realize that it
is the limitations of our small human brains that prevent us from comprehending
everything about God.
• Evangelism
The Rev. Dirk Ficca, in his controversial 2000 Peacemaking Conference
address, said that when we want to evangelize someone who believes in a
different religion, "what we are basically saying is: Your religious identity
is not acceptable, and my job is to eliminate it from the face of the earth."
His view is that it is an insult to, and even aggression against, people
of other faiths if we tell them that Christ is the only way.
However, orthodox Presbyterians understand evangelism simply to mean
telling others about Christ and the salvation he brings. Our motivation
for this is not to force people into conformity with us, but rather to
give them the opportunity to live forever in joyful union with God.
• Christ's presence in our lives
Affirmation 2001 is a document recently put out by some "progressive"
Presbyterians. In it, the authors say that the source of the current troubles
in the PCUSA is "one faction's inability to affirm Christ's presence in
the lives and ministries of all faithful Presbyterians." They say this
because orthodox Presbyterians believe that homosexual sex (or any unmarried
sex) is sinful, and do not want to allow sexually active homosexuals to
be ordained to the ministry. So "progressives" evidently believe that if
we state that a person is involved in some sin, we have denied that Christ
is present in their lives. Apparently "progressives" believe that the presence
of Christ in someone's life means that that person does not sin. Their
understanding of Christ's presence in someone's life seems to be as a sort
of seal of approval of that person's conduct.
Like the apostle Paul, though, orthodox Presbyterians know that, despite
Christ's presence in our lives, we are all riddled through and through
with sin. It is Christ's presence that helps us to overcome it. Indeed,
the very fact that we acknowledge our behavior is sinful is evidence of
his presence, which helps us to see (and renounce) our sin. We therefore
have no problem affirming Christ's presence in someone's life, even while
that person is struggling with sin, and even though we encourage that person
to turn away from the sin.
• Sin
"Toward a Liberating Faith," a booklet written and sent to all churches
by the Presbyterian Women's Program Area, says that the church needs to
redefine sin in accordance with women's experiences, because what is traditionally
regarded as sin is mostly only sin for men. This booklet says that, among
other things, women's sin is "underdevelopment or negation of the self."
In other words, sin is defined by our experience, not by the Bible, and
it is an offense against ourselves. It is being untrue to ourselves.
Historical Christianity, however, has always defined sin as offense
against God. It is doing anything God does not want to be done, and it
is not doing anything that God does want to be done. We use the Bible,
not our experience, as the primary way to know what sin is. And although
our sins may hurt other people and ourselves, they are always primarily
an insult to and a rebellion against God.
• Welcome
True Christianity has always welcomed any seeker. But orthodox Presbyterians
and "progressives" do not mean the same thing when they say someone is
welcome. Orthodox Presbyterians rejoice when anyone comes to church, and
we welcome everyone by befriending them and encouraging them to know and
follow Christ.
"Progressives," however, apparently believe that people are not welcome
unless they have all the privileges of the church, including ordination
to the various church leadership positions. They call for congregations
to become welcoming churches, which ordain sexually active gays and lesbians
as elders and deacons. This implies that, in their view, if a church does
not allow someone to be ordained, then, no matter how willing that church
is to embrace the person in other ways, still, that church has made that
person unwelcome.
• Tolerance
There is a currently popular usage of the word tolerance that appears
to be shared by "progressive" Presbyterians. This usage seems to imply
that we are intolerant unless we say that what anyone else believes is
just as good as what we believe. And it also seems to imply that we are
intolerant if we say that something is a sin. In order to be tolerant,
we must adhere to the belief that nothing is better or worse than anything
else.
But orthodox Presbyterians have a more liberal understanding of tolerance.
We believe that tolerance means allowing other people to disagree with
us, without harming them in any way, and without forcing them to agree
with us.
These are just a few of the words that have different meanings to
different Presbyterians. In future issues, some of the words that are important
for today's issues will be looked at in more depth.
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