The expressed desire of some New Wineskins participants to leave the denomination is as old as the church itself. Case in point: the 1920’s.
My grandfather, Edwin Rian, was a part of the formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in the early 1900s. The same accusations of theological liberalism we are hearing today were being spewed to urge professors and students to leave Princeton Seminary and the denomination in search for a more doctrinally pure church. For over 20 years of his life he committed himself to the OPC. He served as president of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia as well as other leadership positions in that new denomination. At first he was on fire about this new movement. But as time passed this purer church could never become pure enough. One group within the OPC split off to form another purer church and that group split one more time. Eventually, although his theology never changed–he remained a staunch conservative all his life–his ecclesiology did change! He recanted and returned to the United Presbyterian Church, believing that a church driven into existence by this desire for purity will judge itself to death. I believe he came to see that secondary to an orthodox faith is a faith of ortho praxis.
Right beliefs are of utmost importance but a right heart even more so, thus the psalmist prayer for a clean heart. Of course, we all remember that Jesus told his followers that they would know them by the love they had for one another. Name calling and demeaning each other demonstrates to a world that Presbyterians are more concerned with every jot and tittle than with rejoicing in the glory of the risen Lord and proclaiming the grace he offers to the world.
I don’t think God gives any person or interest group the whole understanding of divine truth. Perhaps purposely God gives each of us a different piece so that we must rely on each other.
I was reared in the Presbyterian Church from evangelical missionary parents. During that time my father became more liberal while my mother remained a moderate conservative. In the course of growing into the church and faith I began as most do, believing that I had all the right answers. It was my task to convince people of the truth I had so cleverly deduced from scripture, prayer, and the world. However, God kept placing before me people with views quite different than mine.
I found that two people I respected and loved, my parents, held very different views. I knew they were both loving, both intelligent, both preachers of prayer and dedication to God’s truth. I discovered often that although the core of my view did not change the character and subtle contours did.
I came to see that people with vastly different views than mine who hold them in faithful trust ALWAYS have something to teach me about the nature of God and being a faithful disciple. For example, though I do not hold a verbal plenary view of scripture, the devotion and commitment of the people who do have nurtured in me a hunger and desire to read scripture. Their passion for faith is crucial for our life together. I would hope they would also see that God has placed something in the hearts of moderates and liberals for them to hear as well.
Tom Evans,
EP Sheppards and Lapsley
