I find John Bolt's arguments dispositive. They can be summed up as:
1. The Belhar is not perfect and far too political.
2. The Belhar is not needed, particularly in a North American context.
3. Therefore my conscience should not be bound by it.
Adopting it as one of the formal creeds of the CRC, however, would do exactly that. We should be extremely careful about the burdens we place on one another.
Specific objections to the text follow:
BELHAR:We believe...that this unity must become visible so that the world may believe; that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the Church and must be resisted [John 17:20, 23];
ME: Great. Who decides what threatens unity? What if somebody teaches a denial of the virgin birth - is that person the one threatening unity or are those condeming that person for heresy? Where does truth figure into this?
BELHAR:We believe...that this unity can be established only in freedom and not under constraint; that the variety of spiritual gifts, opportunities, backgrounds, convictions, as well as the various languages and cultures, are by virtue of the reconciliation in Christ, opportunities for mutual service and enrichment within the one visible people of God [Rom 12:3-8; I Cor 12:1-11; Eph 4:7-13; Gal 3:27-28; Jas 2:1-13];
ME: But some convictions are simply wrong. The assumption of a dialectical approach to truth that sees all convictions, no matter how contradictory, as reconciled in Christ is one such wrong conviction. The panentheistic implications of this are disturbing.
BELHAR: We believe...that true faith in Jesus Christ is the only condition for membership of this Church;
ME: Who defines "true faith"? Will not any possible definition offered "threaten unity"?
BELHAR: We reject any doctrine...which absolutises either natural diversity or the sinful separation of people in such a way that this absolutisation hinders or breaks the visible and active unity of the church, or even leads to the establishment of a separate church formation;...[and]...which explicitly or implicitly maintains that descent or any other human or social factor should be a consideration in determining membership of the Church.
ME: Is Classis Pacific Hanmi a "separate church formation"? Classis Red Mesa? Does the practice of bringing in advisors to Synod on the basis of race and ethnicity constitute "absolutis[ing] natural diversity" - it most certainly does maintain that descent and other human social factors are determinitive for participation? Would an explicitly Korean (or Navajo or Laotian or Hispanic or...) congregation constitute a "separate church formation"? If not, why not? In fact, all of these things explicitly or implicitly maintain descent and other human social factors as considerations regarding membership. Either the practice or the confession must be in error.
BELHAR: We believe...that the Church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the Church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;
ME: Without defining "justice", this is a blank check to the loudest complainant. It also ignores the fact that sometimes suffering is itself just. Should a murderer not suffer? Should a rapist not be shamed and punished? And what is punishment if not the just infliction of suffering? This statement assumes that all pain and want is necessarily unjust and it is not.
Yes, I read them. Here are my responses to the articles.
First: Mariano Avila, Professor of New Testament starts out by saying that "For years the CRCNA has made efforts to become a multi-ethnic church and to promote racial justice."
Indeed it has. And, like Professor Avila, it has assumed that those two phrases - "multi-ethnic church" and "racial justice" - are roughly equivalent terms. They aren't. He then asserts that the Belhar will help us achieve this goal. How? Doesn't say, really. He does say that the Belhar "has made three doctrines of the Gospel a matter of confession: *The unity of the church... *Reconciliation... and *A call to live God's justice..." Maybe he's forgotten about Q&A 54 and 55 in the Heidelberg Catechism, or Articles 27-29 of the Belgic Confession which already make the unity of the church a confessional matter, just as vast swaths of them include an affirmation of reconciliation in Christ with both God and Man. The section of the Heidelberg Catechism encompassing the 10 Commandments (Q&A 86-115), along with various elements of the Belgic Confession do a pretty good job of calling us to live God's justice, too. In other words, by his own criteria, the Belhar is entirely superfluous.
He says "The Belhar Confession is a brave and painful expression of faith, a 'cry from the heart' that we will never understand unless we hear it with our hearts." In other words, it's pretty much an emotional document rather than a theological one. In advocating its adoption as a confessional standard, however, they are asking me to accept it as theologically binding - something he acknowledges it is not intended to be.
I'll grant that it was brave in the South African context, particularly in the time it was written and adopted by the South African churches. It is not particularly brave or painful in an American context. If it were, you can bet we would never have taken it up. He then hits us on our prosperity - "As members of a materially rich denomination, sheltered from and alien to the unbearable sufferings of sisters and brothers in the majority of the world..." Really? What does he know of my suffering or lack thereof? You think people with money never suffer? He then goes on to say that if we do not adopt this confession, we will have become, I guess, inhuman since "We will have lost a part of our humanity."
He quotes approvingly a statement by Charles Villa-Vicencio who chastises us in the West for "a few stock ideas derived from the Christian tradition..." that are nothing "...more than a...conscience-saving exercise, while allowing oppression to persist." Yet adopting the Belhar Confession would be, for the CRCNA, exactly that - a few stock pious phrases that allow us to say we've done our part while ignoring the actual problem. It would do much to assuage White Guilt, but nothing to bring racial or ethnic integration and unity.
Lyle Bierma, Professor of Systematic Theology, also argues that the Belhar should be adopted as a Confessional statement on par with the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of Dort. Essentially he is saying that the Belhar does indeed say what we believe (is a Confession), is useful for teaching (catechesis), and a standard of orthodoxy (canon). From what I've read of the Belhar, I can only agree with him whole-heartedly on the middle one, and that does not require its adoption as a confession. Even Professor Bierma acknowledges that there are serious flaws, though he leaves it to others to point them out.
John Bolt, therefore, takes it upon himself to point those flaws out. He says that the Belhar's focus on social, economic, and political spheres as the essence - and means - of reconciliation is at variance with the Gospel claim that reconciliation is a matter of repentance, forgiveness, and faith in the grace of God through Jesus Christ and his one sacrifice on the cross. I concur. Though Professor Bolt does not state it outright, the Belhar is more a document of Liberation Theology than of classical Reformed teaching and rather than building on the work of Guido de Bres, it builds on the work of Gutierrez. This is echoed and expanded by John Cooper, although he allows that it can be read from a non-Liberation Theology perspective, but this very ambiguity renders it useless as a confessional statement since a confessional statement is made "to clarify what the Church teaches." The Belhar, rather than clarifying, confuses.
Ronald Feenstra does not explicitly call for adopting the Belhar as a confessional statement, though it seems clear he leans that way. He does not address the concerns of Cooper and Bolt, but simply loses himself in the anti-racism theme. This is in effect to set up a straw man, one of the most irksome and irritating things Belhar proponents do. In effect, the implication is that if you don't like the Belhar, you must like racism since all right-thinking anti-racists just love this thing. Boil away the polite nuances of Pete Borgdorff's statements and this is the essence of his argument, too.
I do not need to like the Belhar or want it adopted as a binding confessional statement of the church in order to prove my non-racist bona fides. I find the insinuations and (at times) assertions that I do somewhat insulting. If even the Belhar's supporters acknowledge and avow that it is a flawed document, I must ask why my conscience must then be bound to it?
That depends - to be judged without evidence, without reason, on the basis of illegitimate criteria, is offensive. To be judged appropriately, reasonably, with an eye towards disciplining a brother or sister may be painful, but not offensive. Let's see...which does your statement fit?
I daresay, all you know of me is what I have written here. You know nothing of my history, my experience, my relationships, or anything else about me. You know that I state my opinions rather forcefully, and that I do not think the Belhar warrants my assent in the same way that the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort do. On this basis, you would insinuate that the accusation of racism is correct - or am I misreading you? I don't think so.
I thank you for providing a splendid example of the very insinuations I was objecting to in the previous posts.
Then I apologize for misreading you. The question certainly left itself open to such a misreading, however, and you most certainly did insinuate something.
I am not angry.
No, I doubt I persuaded anyone, either. Since support for the Belhar is not fundamentally based in reason, reasoned arguments will not persuade. This is no reason not to make them.
The Belhar is not moot. It is a serious matter to bind another's conscience. Given the Formula of Subscription, adopting the Belhar as a confession would do exactly that. The reasons given so far by those advocating it do not merit such a weighty step.
Ken: I trust God is in control of the lives of his people, but it grieved me when my Father died. God is in control of his church. I trust that. Nevertheless, the death of the CRCNA would grieve me.
If the CRC continues down this path of politicization, it will die. Something might yet grow from the corpse, but the CRCNA will cease to be. You might ask how I can be certain of that. Consider:
1) our membership peaked in 1992 at about 316,000. It is now about 250,000 and lost about 3,000 members (net) annually over the last several years;
2) the membership that remains is on average older, having fewer children, and fewer of those children are remaining in the denomination;
3) denominations that have taken a similar path (ELCA, PCUSA, Episcopal Church USA, etc.) have all seen precipitous declines in their membership followed by years of steady bleeding at a slower rate, a phenomenon paralleled in the CRC experience since 1992, but where they had millions of members, we had thousands - we'll hit bottom before they do;
4) this decline has occurred during one of the most concerted efforts at church growth in CRC history - since 1992 we have spent roughly $160 million (about $7-8 million annually) on domestic missions (there are slightly over 100 more CRC congregations in 2011 than in 1992, despite the loss of over 60,000 members).
Interestingly, this decline in our membership dates to the final ratification of the change in the church order opening all the offices to women and to the establishment of a "Social Justice Coordinator" (later morphing into the Office of Social Justice). It's not possible to draw a direct cause-effect line between these, but neither can I believe this is just coincidental.
I would say "Have at it." I am not opposed to, or even bothered by, efforts to tend to the creation as God's stewards of it. There is strong scriptural backing for just such a thing.
But the issue here is not caring for creation as such. It is the acceptance of a specific political perspective which is highly suspect on the facts and the binding of the Church to that political view. I object to that most strongly.
I do not think you are out to hurt me, or that you could if you wished to. It is clear that you do not understand me and that you are responding on an emotional level to what are most emphatically not emotional writings. I have very little control over how others perceive these posts. The desire for precision in my language coupled with the need for brevity leaves little room for the usual sugar one uses to help the medicine go down. It seems that troubles you. Sorry.
One slight - well, not so slight - quibble on your 6th point, Peter. The Church belongs to Jesus. What we teach and espouse is no more bound by a majority vote of the membership than it is by the opinion of recognized experts. We are bound by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The fundamental problem with this entire global warming nonsense is that it is a response to political pressure and is intended to provide a political response. Your own assertion that we should check with "the people" (i.e., members) buys into that politicization of the Church.
In any event, the whole exercise is unnecessary. We already have a statement on creation care - article 51 of the Contemporary Testimony:
[quote]We lament that our abuse of creation has brought lasting damage to the world we have been given: polluting streams and soil, poisoning the air, altering the climate, and damaging the earth. We commit ourselves to honor all God’s creatures and to protect them from abuse and extinction, for our world belongs to God.[/quote]
Well, what constitutes "misuse" or "irresponsible use"? That's not exactly clear.
If we accept that we are damaging the environment, then we have to ask what will undamage it, at what cost, and what other benefits or advantages will we have to surrender in order to pay those costs (such as cheap food, liberty, easy communications, economic prosperity, etc.). And how much do we do before we figure it's good enough in an imperfect world? Is any task force that might be established by the Board of Trustees or Synod really competent to answer those incredibly complex, even painul questions? I doubt it.
We've already said that we must be good stewards, not ravagers, of God's creation, mindful that it is His, not ours. There's the basic principle. What is more, that principle is largely accepted throughout the Western world, even by some who do not believe there is a God or that he created anything. There is little need to re-iterate the principle.
By pursuing this, particularly the Micah Statement on Climate Change, the denomination is in fact lending its imprimatur to a specific course of political action that is not based on Scripture (supposedly our area of competence) but on a rather hazy understanding of economics, environmental science, climatology, politics, development theory, and a host of other things that seem to be gleaned more from CNN than anywhere else. In the process, we risk saying that those who disagree with this course of action must, by definition, disagree with the basic principle - and that is not at all true.
Forgive me, but I really think that the Church should refrain from saying things that aren't true.
If the denomination is a subset of the Church universal, and the Church universal belongs to Christ, then it follows that our denomination also belongs to Christ.
True, in terms of secular law, these institutions are owned by the members, but I didn't get the impression that you were speaking in terms of secular law.
I have no difficulty with the presbyterian/conciliar form of church government. This is, however, not a method or system of "control" but a system of determining the will of the Holy Spirit and based on the belief that all believers receive the gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit controls.
I know you suggest this in your posts, but you also leave open an alternative understanding. My intent is to close off that alternative. Perhaps I'm a bit hyper-sensitive to it, but there is abroad in the denomination a view of ecclesiastical assemblies as parallel to secular legislatures and factional politics that talk of "owners" and "control" feeds into.
Which is why I called it a "quibble" - a minor point, more along the lines of "I would put it this way..." than "I think you're wrong..."
kvanhouten - Concur. The principle is clear. The science and politics are not. We should trust our members to apply the principle in their respective spheres of activity and life.
Peter - I really don't think there's a whole lot of daylight between our respective views on the matter, either. Although I think article 51 of the Contemporary Testimony also goes a bit too far in accepting CNN science, it is a sufficient statement for the Church on the topic. Making bold pronouncements and calls for political activism based on current fads, uncertain science, and a misplaced desire to get along with the movers & shakers of the world is a recipe for egg-on-face.
It's OK for us to confess ignorance on a complex issue where the problem is not clear and the solution even less so. Neither should we attempt to bind the consciences of our members unnecessarily.
Posted in: [CLOSED] General discussion moved over from Synodical Reports discussion area
I find John Bolt's arguments dispositive. They can be summed up as:
1. The Belhar is not perfect and far too political.
2. The Belhar is not needed, particularly in a North American context.
3. Therefore my conscience should not be bound by it.
Adopting it as one of the formal creeds of the CRC, however, would do exactly that. We should be extremely careful about the burdens we place on one another.
Specific objections to the text follow:
BELHAR:We believe...that this unity must become visible so that the world may believe; that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the Church and must be resisted [John 17:20, 23];
ME: Great. Who decides what threatens unity? What if somebody teaches a denial of the virgin birth - is that person the one threatening unity or are those condeming that person for heresy? Where does truth figure into this?
BELHAR:We believe...that this unity can be established only in freedom and not under constraint; that the variety of spiritual gifts, opportunities, backgrounds, convictions, as well as the various languages and cultures, are by virtue of the reconciliation in Christ, opportunities for mutual service and enrichment within the one visible people of God [Rom 12:3-8; I Cor 12:1-11; Eph 4:7-13; Gal 3:27-28; Jas 2:1-13];
ME: But some convictions are simply wrong. The assumption of a dialectical approach to truth that sees all convictions, no matter how contradictory, as reconciled in Christ is one such wrong conviction. The panentheistic implications of this are disturbing.
BELHAR: We believe...that true faith in Jesus Christ is the only condition for membership of this Church;
ME: Who defines "true faith"? Will not any possible definition offered "threaten unity"?
BELHAR: We reject any doctrine...which absolutises either natural diversity or the sinful separation of people in such a way that this absolutisation hinders or breaks the visible and active unity of the church, or even leads to the establishment of a separate church formation;...[and]...which explicitly or implicitly maintains that descent or any other human or social factor should be a consideration in determining membership of the Church.
ME: Is Classis Pacific Hanmi a "separate church formation"? Classis Red Mesa? Does the practice of bringing in advisors to Synod on the basis of race and ethnicity constitute "absolutis[ing] natural diversity" - it most certainly does maintain that descent and other human social factors are determinitive for participation? Would an explicitly Korean (or Navajo or Laotian or Hispanic or...) congregation constitute a "separate church formation"? If not, why not? In fact, all of these things explicitly or implicitly maintain descent and other human social factors as considerations regarding membership. Either the practice or the confession must be in error.
BELHAR: We believe...that the Church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the Church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;
ME: Without defining "justice", this is a blank check to the loudest complainant. It also ignores the fact that sometimes suffering is itself just. Should a murderer not suffer? Should a rapist not be shamed and punished? And what is punishment if not the just infliction of suffering? This statement assumes that all pain and want is necessarily unjust and it is not.
Posted in: [CLOSED] General discussion moved over from Synodical Reports discussion area
If my conscience is going to be bound by the Form of Subscription to this document's phrases, I want them parsed, even if it does take forever.
Posted in: Belhar Issue of Forum (By CTS)
Yes, I read them. Here are my responses to the articles.
First: Mariano Avila, Professor of New Testament starts out by saying that "For years the CRCNA has made efforts to become a multi-ethnic church and to promote racial justice."
Indeed it has. And, like Professor Avila, it has assumed that those two phrases - "multi-ethnic church" and "racial justice" - are roughly equivalent terms. They aren't. He then asserts that the Belhar will help us achieve this goal. How? Doesn't say, really. He does say that the Belhar "has made three doctrines of the Gospel a matter of confession: *The unity of the church... *Reconciliation... and *A call to live God's justice..." Maybe he's forgotten about Q&A 54 and 55 in the Heidelberg Catechism, or Articles 27-29 of the Belgic Confession which already make the unity of the church a confessional matter, just as vast swaths of them include an affirmation of reconciliation in Christ with both God and Man. The section of the Heidelberg Catechism encompassing the 10 Commandments (Q&A 86-115), along with various elements of the Belgic Confession do a pretty good job of calling us to live God's justice, too. In other words, by his own criteria, the Belhar is entirely superfluous.
He says "The Belhar Confession is a brave and painful expression of faith, a 'cry from the heart' that we will never understand unless we hear it with our hearts." In other words, it's pretty much an emotional document rather than a theological one. In advocating its adoption as a confessional standard, however, they are asking me to accept it as theologically binding - something he acknowledges it is not intended to be.
I'll grant that it was brave in the South African context, particularly in the time it was written and adopted by the South African churches. It is not particularly brave or painful in an American context. If it were, you can bet we would never have taken it up. He then hits us on our prosperity - "As members of a materially rich denomination, sheltered from and alien to the unbearable sufferings of sisters and brothers in the majority of the world..." Really? What does he know of my suffering or lack thereof? You think people with money never suffer? He then goes on to say that if we do not adopt this confession, we will have become, I guess, inhuman since "We will have lost a part of our humanity."
He quotes approvingly a statement by Charles Villa-Vicencio who chastises us in the West for "a few stock ideas derived from the Christian tradition..." that are nothing "...more than a...conscience-saving exercise, while allowing oppression to persist." Yet adopting the Belhar Confession would be, for the CRCNA, exactly that - a few stock pious phrases that allow us to say we've done our part while ignoring the actual problem. It would do much to assuage White Guilt, but nothing to bring racial or ethnic integration and unity.
Posted in: Belhar Issue of Forum (By CTS)
Lyle Bierma, Professor of Systematic Theology, also argues that the Belhar should be adopted as a Confessional statement on par with the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of Dort. Essentially he is saying that the Belhar does indeed say what we believe (is a Confession), is useful for teaching (catechesis), and a standard of orthodoxy (canon). From what I've read of the Belhar, I can only agree with him whole-heartedly on the middle one, and that does not require its adoption as a confession. Even Professor Bierma acknowledges that there are serious flaws, though he leaves it to others to point them out.
John Bolt, therefore, takes it upon himself to point those flaws out. He says that the Belhar's focus on social, economic, and political spheres as the essence - and means - of reconciliation is at variance with the Gospel claim that reconciliation is a matter of repentance, forgiveness, and faith in the grace of God through Jesus Christ and his one sacrifice on the cross. I concur. Though Professor Bolt does not state it outright, the Belhar is more a document of Liberation Theology than of classical Reformed teaching and rather than building on the work of Guido de Bres, it builds on the work of Gutierrez. This is echoed and expanded by John Cooper, although he allows that it can be read from a non-Liberation Theology perspective, but this very ambiguity renders it useless as a confessional statement since a confessional statement is made "to clarify what the Church teaches." The Belhar, rather than clarifying, confuses.
Ronald Feenstra does not explicitly call for adopting the Belhar as a confessional statement, though it seems clear he leans that way. He does not address the concerns of Cooper and Bolt, but simply loses himself in the anti-racism theme. This is in effect to set up a straw man, one of the most irksome and irritating things Belhar proponents do. In effect, the implication is that if you don't like the Belhar, you must like racism since all right-thinking anti-racists just love this thing. Boil away the polite nuances of Pete Borgdorff's statements and this is the essence of his argument, too.
I do not need to like the Belhar or want it adopted as a binding confessional statement of the church in order to prove my non-racist bona fides. I find the insinuations and (at times) assertions that I do somewhat insulting. If even the Belhar's supporters acknowledge and avow that it is a flawed document, I must ask why my conscience must then be bound to it?
Posted in: Belhar Issue of Forum (By CTS)
That depends - to be judged without evidence, without reason, on the basis of illegitimate criteria, is offensive. To be judged appropriately, reasonably, with an eye towards disciplining a brother or sister may be painful, but not offensive. Let's see...which does your statement fit?
I daresay, all you know of me is what I have written here. You know nothing of my history, my experience, my relationships, or anything else about me. You know that I state my opinions rather forcefully, and that I do not think the Belhar warrants my assent in the same way that the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort do. On this basis, you would insinuate that the accusation of racism is correct - or am I misreading you? I don't think so.
I thank you for providing a splendid example of the very insinuations I was objecting to in the previous posts.
Posted in: Belhar Issue of Forum (By CTS)
Then I apologize for misreading you. The question certainly left itself open to such a misreading, however, and you most certainly did insinuate something.
I am not angry.
No, I doubt I persuaded anyone, either. Since support for the Belhar is not fundamentally based in reason, reasoned arguments will not persuade. This is no reason not to make them.
The Belhar is not moot. It is a serious matter to bind another's conscience. Given the Formula of Subscription, adopting the Belhar as a confession would do exactly that. The reasons given so far by those advocating it do not merit such a weighty step.
Posted in: World Communion of Reformed Churches
Ken: I trust God is in control of the lives of his people, but it grieved me when my Father died. God is in control of his church. I trust that. Nevertheless, the death of the CRCNA would grieve me.
If the CRC continues down this path of politicization, it will die. Something might yet grow from the corpse, but the CRCNA will cease to be. You might ask how I can be certain of that. Consider:
1) our membership peaked in 1992 at about 316,000. It is now about 250,000 and lost about 3,000 members (net) annually over the last several years;
2) the membership that remains is on average older, having fewer children, and fewer of those children are remaining in the denomination;
3) denominations that have taken a similar path (ELCA, PCUSA, Episcopal Church USA, etc.) have all seen precipitous declines in their membership followed by years of steady bleeding at a slower rate, a phenomenon paralleled in the CRC experience since 1992, but where they had millions of members, we had thousands - we'll hit bottom before they do;
4) this decline has occurred during one of the most concerted efforts at church growth in CRC history - since 1992 we have spent roughly $160 million (about $7-8 million annually) on domestic missions (there are slightly over 100 more CRC congregations in 2011 than in 1992, despite the loss of over 60,000 members).
Interestingly, this decline in our membership dates to the final ratification of the change in the church order opening all the offices to women and to the establishment of a "Social Justice Coordinator" (later morphing into the Office of Social Justice). It's not possible to draw a direct cause-effect line between these, but neither can I believe this is just coincidental.
Posted in: Overtures 5 and 7 (Anthropogenic Global Warming)
I would say "Have at it." I am not opposed to, or even bothered by, efforts to tend to the creation as God's stewards of it. There is strong scriptural backing for just such a thing.
But the issue here is not caring for creation as such. It is the acceptance of a specific political perspective which is highly suspect on the facts and the binding of the Church to that political view. I object to that most strongly.
I do not think you are out to hurt me, or that you could if you wished to. It is clear that you do not understand me and that you are responding on an emotional level to what are most emphatically not emotional writings. I have very little control over how others perceive these posts. The desire for precision in my language coupled with the need for brevity leaves little room for the usual sugar one uses to help the medicine go down. It seems that troubles you. Sorry.
Posted in: Overtures 5 and 7 (Anthropogenic Global Warming)
One slight - well, not so slight - quibble on your 6th point, Peter. The Church belongs to Jesus. What we teach and espouse is no more bound by a majority vote of the membership than it is by the opinion of recognized experts. We are bound by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The fundamental problem with this entire global warming nonsense is that it is a response to political pressure and is intended to provide a political response. Your own assertion that we should check with "the people" (i.e., members) buys into that politicization of the Church.
In any event, the whole exercise is unnecessary. We already have a statement on creation care - article 51 of the Contemporary Testimony:
[quote]We lament that our abuse of creation has brought lasting damage to the world we have been given: polluting streams and soil, poisoning the air, altering the climate, and damaging the earth. We commit ourselves to honor all God’s creatures and to protect them from abuse and extinction, for our world belongs to God.[/quote]
Posted in: Overtures 5 and 7 (Anthropogenic Global Warming)
What if...
Well, what constitutes "misuse" or "irresponsible use"? That's not exactly clear.
If we accept that we are damaging the environment, then we have to ask what will undamage it, at what cost, and what other benefits or advantages will we have to surrender in order to pay those costs (such as cheap food, liberty, easy communications, economic prosperity, etc.). And how much do we do before we figure it's good enough in an imperfect world? Is any task force that might be established by the Board of Trustees or Synod really competent to answer those incredibly complex, even painul questions? I doubt it.
We've already said that we must be good stewards, not ravagers, of God's creation, mindful that it is His, not ours. There's the basic principle. What is more, that principle is largely accepted throughout the Western world, even by some who do not believe there is a God or that he created anything. There is little need to re-iterate the principle.
By pursuing this, particularly the Micah Statement on Climate Change, the denomination is in fact lending its imprimatur to a specific course of political action that is not based on Scripture (supposedly our area of competence) but on a rather hazy understanding of economics, environmental science, climatology, politics, development theory, and a host of other things that seem to be gleaned more from CNN than anywhere else. In the process, we risk saying that those who disagree with this course of action must, by definition, disagree with the basic principle - and that is not at all true.
Forgive me, but I really think that the Church should refrain from saying things that aren't true.
Posted in: Overtures 5 and 7 (Anthropogenic Global Warming)
If the denomination is a subset of the Church universal, and the Church universal belongs to Christ, then it follows that our denomination also belongs to Christ.
True, in terms of secular law, these institutions are owned by the members, but I didn't get the impression that you were speaking in terms of secular law.
I have no difficulty with the presbyterian/conciliar form of church government. This is, however, not a method or system of "control" but a system of determining the will of the Holy Spirit and based on the belief that all believers receive the gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit controls.
I know you suggest this in your posts, but you also leave open an alternative understanding. My intent is to close off that alternative. Perhaps I'm a bit hyper-sensitive to it, but there is abroad in the denomination a view of ecclesiastical assemblies as parallel to secular legislatures and factional politics that talk of "owners" and "control" feeds into.
Which is why I called it a "quibble" - a minor point, more along the lines of "I would put it this way..." than "I think you're wrong..."
Posted in: Overtures 5 and 7 (Anthropogenic Global Warming)
kvanhouten - Concur. The principle is clear. The science and politics are not. We should trust our members to apply the principle in their respective spheres of activity and life.
Peter - I really don't think there's a whole lot of daylight between our respective views on the matter, either. Although I think article 51 of the Contemporary Testimony also goes a bit too far in accepting CNN science, it is a sufficient statement for the Church on the topic. Making bold pronouncements and calls for political activism based on current fads, uncertain science, and a misplaced desire to get along with the movers & shakers of the world is a recipe for egg-on-face.
It's OK for us to confess ignorance on a complex issue where the problem is not clear and the solution even less so. Neither should we attempt to bind the consciences of our members unnecessarily.