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| 2003
General Assembly letters to the editor Archives of letters to the editor  |
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June 5, 2003 As a first-time elder/commissioner to the 215th G.A., please know that there is a lot to learn about how a G.A. works and it must be learned in a very short time. Did you know that 78 percent of the commissioners at the 215th G.A. were first-time commissioners and many were unsure of how the G.A. works? My sincere thanks goes to Presbyterians for Renewal for being there to help me more effectively answer the call that I felt Jesus Christ had given to me when I was elected a commissioner by my presbytery. During the open hearings, I was able to get excused from my committee assignment on Church Polity to share with the Committee on Catholicity and Ecumenical Relations, in only three minutes, my thoughts on the WCC report. My appeal to my brothers and sisters on that committee was that they consider the financial implications of pledging to sustain the PCUSA's level of financial support (Recommendation #6) to the WCC, especially without such financial support being subject to the same budget review process as our own PCUSA budget. Our denomination's existing level of support is already 70 percent more than any other denomination in North America. Further, that support is going to an organization that is more political than ecumenical and that is in an admitted state of "retrenchment" with its own financial resources severely depleted. All of the WCC problems were contained right there in the WCC report for our commissioners to see. I was disappointed by the number of commissioners who failed to see the potential for our high level of commitment to the WCC becoming a real "money pit" for our denomination. I am thankful that the commissioners did attach some very valid questions to Recommendation #6 and will pray that no significant financial damage will be done to our denomination in the next three years. However, what troubles me most about the high level of support now endorsed by the 215th G.A. to the controversial WCC is that such support is not there for our mission budget. Our denomination continues to cut our own mission budget, thirty-four (34) missionary positions at the 214th G.A. and mission support positions and services this year, while we pledge to maintain our existing high level of commitment to the WCC. Why can't we support the mission budget of our church with the same high level of commitment and require the WCC to fund more of its work through the other member churches of the WCC? It is the mission budget of our denomination that is dedicated to fulfilling the Great Commission in which all Presbyterians believe that can become a key to our unity. Why must the denomination always choose to support that which is divisive and controversial rather than that which has the sure potential of bringing us together in the work of Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus Christ that our denominational division can be healed. When will we learn? May the commissioners to the 216th G.A be quick learners and vote for mission and unity. Larry Hriczak Elder Commissioner Presbytery of Monmouth What is wrong with the PCUSA? June 5, 2003 What is wrong with the PCUSA that it will not enforce the constitution and get rid of those pastors who are in defiance of it? We need people who have some backbone to uphold our laws. Helen Hunter I am 'frankly disgusted with the direction of our denomination' June 5, 2003 I am an Inquirer in South Carolina who is frankly disgusted with the direction of our denomination. After reading what went on at the G.A., all I can think of is 2 Tim. 4:3: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." A few words to the demon-possessed liberals who are destroying our denomination: The Lord will not endure your theological mockery for long. I thank God for the wonderful promise of Jesus in Matthew 16: "The gates of Hell shall not prevail." Try as they might, through homosexual or feminist agendas, Satan's armies will be beaten back. I would say that it might be a good idea to get rid of your own agendas and get right with God's before it's too late. In the name of inclusiveness, we have abandoned the gospel. We love the sin and the sinner and equally support both, with "pastoral resources." We deny Christ and affirm man at every turn. What a shame because all the while a lost and hurting world doesn't hear the tough-love message that is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Gabriel Fluhrer More on the 'salami victories' June 5, 2003 I appreciate Rev. Rob Harrison's remarks – perhaps I have been too pessimistic. But, after more than 35 years as a Presbyterian, I left the church over what to me was the final degradation of a great church: partial-birth abortion. A "Christian" church that permits, approves, such an abomination seems to me to be one that has either forgotten God – or which God has forgotten – or both. I have seen those "small victories" go inevitably, it seems, to those on the extreme left who believe that the purpose of the church is to carry out a social program - one that is guided, perhaps controlled, by extreme leftist ideals. I have seen homosexuality preached as nothing more than a different life choice, homosexual "marriages" blessed by a Presbyterian minister, the divinity of Christ questioned, church funds spent to organize a worship service for the goddess Sophia, and few willing to challenge it. I believe that God will deal with the Presbyterian Church in his own good time and in his own way. I hope, I pray, and I wish I believed that it would be soon. At 68, I hope to live long enough to rejoin a renewed and revitalized Presbyterian Church. I am not optimistic. Jack Kime Maryville, Ill. About the 215th General Assembly and Chevrolet June 5, 2003 The Layman must have missed the plenary action of the General Assembly concerning the Chevrolet overture. The commissioners voted to add a comment noting that Chevrolet has ended its marketing relationship with the "Come Together and Worship" tour. The action of Detroit Presbytery was successful prior to G.A.; thus, G.A decided the point was moot. Further, it was never intended that Chevy become the Taco Bell of this assembly. Boycotting Chevy was never mentioned by anyone except The Layman. Rev. Paul Peterson Director That All May Freely Serve – Michigan Editor's Note: The Layman reported that, "Last year, the 214th General Assembly put Taco Bell at the top of its hit list. The proposed corporate target for the 215th General Assembly, which will meet in Denver on May 24-30, is General Motors. Indignant over farm workers' protests that they were not being paid enough to pick the tomatoes that Taco Bell buys from distributors, the 2002 commissioners called on Presbyterians to boycott the fast food chain." That was the only mention of a boycott, and it was used in reference to the 214th General Assembly's action against Taco Bell. Nowhere did the story mention "boycotting Chevrolet." The story went on to state that an overture from the Presbytery of Detroit sought to have commissioners adopt a resolution requesting "that Chevrolet discontinue all marketing strategies that seek to use religion for corporate economic gain" (emphasis added). Furthermore, a story on committee deliberations reported that Rev. "Peterson said the overture was not calling for a boycott, but simply asking for a conversation about a marketing strategy." Again, in both cases, there was no mention of "boycotting Chevrolet." The Layman stands by its reporting The call to end Cuban embargo June 5, 2003 This does not surprise me. What can I expect from a denomination that has churches that keep close ties to Cuban churches that are very closely tied to the repressive communist government of Fidel? What can I expect from a denomination that refuses to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and the only way to God? What can I expect from a denomination that says it is okay to live in sin which, by the way, I feel that they (whomever they are) should be honest with the Church and not only have homosexuality the only tolerable sin, why not reverse the Ten Commandments to include adultery, robbery, lying, drunkenness, prostitution, murder (oops, abortion is already OK, sorry!)? The answer is clear: When one refuses to acknowledge sin, everything else is seen as distorted. I'm a Cuban-American, third-generation Presbyterian and I'm sickened to see how blind intelligent Christians can be. What else needs to happen for the PCUSA (and the U.S., as well) to wake up and see what is happening in Cuba? How many more opposition leaders need to be jailed for 15-20-year terms just because they oppose the tyrannical regime of Castro? Since the PCUSA is so righteous in dealing with GLBTs, do they not know that homosexuals in Cuba, when discovered, are trucked away to concentration camps or they just "disappear" in the middle of the night? Does PCUSA know that little Cuban girls of 9-13-years old, and sometimes little boys of the same age, are being given to U.S., Canadian and European businessmen to bed when they visit Cuba as part of an "incentive" for visiting Cuba? Does the PCUSA know that Cuban military intelligence played a small but important part in the Vietnam war? Does the PCUSA know that Cuban military tortured U.S. POWs? Does the PCUSA know that Cuba supplies the guerrillas in Latin America with arms and ammunition to fight against democracies, and then we as U.S. citizens have to fund with our hard-earned tax dollars the fight against those terrorists? Does the PCUSA know that Cuba harbors U.S. and international fugitives, including drug traffickers? Does the PCUSA know that, recently, three leftist presidents have risen as leaders (Venezuela, Peru and now Argentina), all supported by Fidel and all are supporting Fidel and his tyrannical regime? If I'm able to acquire this information off the Internet from very reliable sources, I'm sure our beloved denomination has that same capacity, yet she refuses to do so. I guess the Bay of Pigs failure was not enough, nor the Mariel rafters of the '80s, nor the '90s rafters, nor the Elian saga and the Reno-Clinton betrayal. I'm not going to go into what the Presbyterian Church and all other Christians have suffered because then this note will turn into a book. I thought the Church existed to heal wounds, and not to continually rip them open. Thank you for letting me speak from my heart. Jesús R. Sánchez Reyes Minister of Music and Elder First Spanish Presbyterian Church of Miami Show me the exit door! June 5, 2003 I wanted to know what happened at the General Assembly so, of course, I pull up The Layman Online so I can be sure and get the truth. As is always the case, I end up so frustrated and mad I can't see straight. If it were not for obedience to my husband (God has already covered this area with me, so don't go there), I would be out of the PCUSA so fast! Why doesn't the church simply call itself a country club for all those who want to write their own Scripture and who seem to be under the authority of Satan (oops, the church probably doesn't believe in him, either). What on earth are those of us to do who know what the Bible says about fidelity, abortion, marriage, etc.? I was taught by the Word of God, not by Susan Andrews - and we are decidedly at odds. Do church members know what is happening at the G.A.? Do they care? My prayer is that God will shake up the church (oops, country club) and cause the financial giving to come to a trickle! Do you have any suggestions to ease my troubled heart and soul? Paula McLaughlin Lewisburg, W.V. |
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| 2003
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