Presbyterian Church (USA) epitaph: ‘Whatever!’
By Rev. Parker T. Williamson, The Layman, October 1, 2008
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has just driven another nail into its coffin. Making the dubious claim that it has authority to do so, a General Assembly committee has lowered the bar on its ordination exams. Prospective ministers will no longer be required to prove their proficiency in translating Biblical texts from the original Greek and Hebrew languages. Nor will they be judged on their ability to discern “the principal meaning” of a passage. It is sufficient, says the committee, for the candidate to offer “a faithful interpretation.”
The examination committee says it can make these changes without submitting them to a referendum because it is not changing the constitution per se, but only the way it interprets the Constitution.
We’ve heard such doublespeak before. A heavy dose was foisted on Presbyterians by the 2006 General Assembly (reaffirmed by the 2008 General Assembly) which stated that it would leave the church’s sexual behavior standards in the constitution while granting individual governing bodies permission to disregard them.
So much for “standards!”
Now, by the examination committee’s action, aspiring preachers are accorded similar wiggle room. Examiners will only want to know what a selected verse means to the applicant. It is no longer Scripture, but the applicant’s interpretation of Scripture that matters.
In dropping their requirement that applicants discern “the principal meaning” of a text, the examination committee suggests that the text has no intrinsic meaning. Its beauty – if, in fact, beauty is to be found there – is in the eyes of the beholder. In the committee’s view, it is the reader – not the Writer – who ascribes meaning to the text.
There goes the classical Reformed doctrine that the meaning of Scripture is to be found in, not ascribed to, its words. The Reformers taught that Scripture interprets Scripture. One discerns the truth of one text from the context of the whole Bible, for the Bible interprets and does not contradict itself.
In dismissing the inherent authority of God’s Word, this committee enthrones narcissism: “It’s all about me.” I am free to recount my story, my religious experience, my urges, proclivities, prejudices, passions and feelings … whatever my autonomous self decides that the text has evoked from me.
Another candidate may report opposite thoughts and feelings that she/he conjures up when reading the same passage, but that’s perfectly okay. After all, since the text’s meaning comes from the reader rather than the Writer, all options are equally “faithful.”
The Reformation’s premier dictum has been turned on its head. “Scripture alone!” is now “Ego alone!”
When asked what a particular verse means, a presumably “faithful” candidate may now respond, “Whatever!”
There was good reason for our forebears’ insistence that ministers of the Word become proficient in Hebrew and Greek. These languages convey important worldviews, concepts and nuances that were endemic to particular cultures within which the Lord revealed His Word to the world. Since every translation is an interpretation and each interpretation carries us another step away from the source, the Reformers insisted that their preachers study original texts. The Reformers knew better than to trifle with words that are included in the Word of God!
The examinations committee has fallen in step with an apostasy parade that is terminally afflicting the Presbyterian Church (USA). Defying the first commandment, its cohorts switch genders, announcing that they have the right to re-create their sexual selves and to craft whatever identity pleases them. They gather at denominational conference centers to worship “the divine” that they discover in one another. They bless those who thrust scalpels into the skulls of the Lord’s little ones, just at the moment of their birth. Their golden calf shows up as the imperial self, before whose throne they promote “inclusiveness, diversity and self determination” and sacrifice every shred of Biblical integrity.
More nails have been driven into the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s coffin than any human can pry loose. This institution bears no resemblance to the Church, and it is not – by any stretch of the imagination – the Church. Its leaders must repent – deeply, thoroughly, contritely and profoundly repent. If they do not do so, the judgment of the Lord, expressed so clearly in the very Scriptures that Presbyterian leaders have chosen to ignore, will be certain and sure. The Presbyterian Church (USA) will die.
The Rev. Parker T. Williamson is editor emeritus, consultant to the Presbyterian Lay Committee, and an honorably retired PCUSA minister.