The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum The PCA Welcomes Biologos to the next General Assembly

True, without knowing what is going on the members of a church/denomination are blind and assume the status quo, i.e., things are just dandy. Not only does ignorance prevent members from praying but no less important, they are incapable of doing anything about those things which are contrary to biblical teaching and contrary to the official Confession of Faith and/or Catechism which officers have sworn to embrace and uphold. In short, the members cannot hold any of those ordained to positions of service (they really dislike people describing their responsible positions as 'servants') and authority to account for their deviation in doctrine and/or life.

Each denomination has their respective policies regarding the publishing of meetings, decisions, etc. So, it is difficult to give you a definitive answer. However, one can make a request to whatever 'level' for the information you are wanting to know. On the local level, it should be quite simple to ask any elder for information. Unfortunately, e.g., the PCA and OPC, bifurcate the office of elder and only 'Teaching Elders' are authorized to attend Presbytery and General Assembly meetings officially. It used to be that the general public was allowed to attend General Assembly or Synod meetings and/or obtain written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings.

As to the second part of your comment, I tend to be suspicious by nature due to my being a true Calvinist, who is very aware of the depravity of the soul of ALL men. It seems that in the modern church, office bearers, specifically [teaching] elders, aka: Pastors are more like politicians. They are arrogant, proud, secretive, deceptive, hungry for power and fame. Oh, they may hide these sins quite well beneath a phoney soft, sweet demeanor and woe unto anyone who would suggest these men are anything but humble, loving, self-sacrificial servants of God. My friend, know this... there IS what is known as a "fraternity of elders" in which you will find the old "mutual admiration society", aka: you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. And one of the most widely held, yet again clandestine tenets of many (most?) elders is, "BEWARE of the bleating of the sheep!". You see, an informed laity is potentially a serious threat to those who do not desire to be held accountable. Academia rules and within the halls of Academia, there are very lax rules and men are encouraged to think "outside the box". As example, just think for a second about the doctrinal programs in every institution; secular and sacred. The doctrinal candidate is required to write a dissertation that deals with something NEW, something which hasn't been dealt with before. This kind of requirement, aka: pressure... in far too many cases leads to a deformity or even denial of established truth rather than a clearer understanding and application of it. The irony is that this requirement to obtain a PhD, which is basically a document which certifies you have read lots of books on a particular subject, conformed to a school's policies and paid a substantial fee, is ancient...

This mentality is far too over representative within the leaders of the churches. Pragmatism rather than conformity to the truth is what drives most. I won't bore you with a long list of examples which abound in the modern church. And, I'm not referring to Evanjellycalism, which has it's own problems I'm referring to so-called "REFORMED" churches.

Lastly, if you are just now learning of what is going on in the PCA, I believe you are far too late. There is MUCH more going on in the PCA and is now established in the PCA than FV and the matter of Creationism vs. Theistic Evolution, Framework Theory, Pre-Adamic Race, etc. When I was in seminary, one of the 'clever' bits of advice to those seeking the pulpit ministry was put this way... "Do not turn the piano all at once so it is facing the correct/better way. Turn the piano a degree or two each week. That way no one will even notice." That's how churches/denominations fall... and they ALL fall. It is in small increments. Little things are changed at first and before you realize it, the church has gone far off the path. And then it is too late.

As I stated before, the majority of members (laity) really don't want to hear about problems within their respective churches/denominations. They are like the parents whose child was caught red-handed breaking windows. When the police officer brings the child to his home and the parents come to the door, after hearing what the child was caught doing, they refuse to believe it and so often exclaim, "NO... Not MY kid!! He would NEVER do anything like that. You must be mistaken. You've got the wrong kid!" Ignoring or worse, hiding error is a guarantee of disaster. EVERY.. EVERY heretic and those who follow them will cry "love, love one another, tolerance is most important. Do not enter into controversy. Peace at all costs."