By Bob Smietana
The dispute over dropping a beloved Christian song from a new Presbyterian hymnal has widened into a multi-denominational tussle, with Baptists joining the fray.
At issue are various Christian doctrines of the atonement, which attempt to explain why Jesus died and whether his death satisfies God’s wrath over humankind’s sinfulness. But some Christians warn that emphasizing these doctrines may have the unintended consequence of turning God into an angry deity who had to be appeased by shedding Jesus’ blood.
That’s the view taken by the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song. The committee removed the hymn “In Christ Alone” from the new Presbyterian Church (USA) hymnal after the song’s co-authors, Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, refused to change a line about God’s wrath being satisfied.
Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist newspaper, stepped into a theological landmine when he wrote an editorial saying Presbyterians got it right. Terry said he believes Jesus’ death paid the price for sin. But the song’s lyrics went too far.
“Sometimes Christians carelessly make God out to be some kind of ogre whose angry wrath overflowed until the innocent Jesus suffered enough to calm Him down,” Terry wrote.
That editorial, which ran earlier this month, touched a nerve.
Read more at http://www.charismanews.com/us/40668-who-s-right-about-god-s-wrath-baptists-or-presbyterians
6 Comments. Leave new
I just read his editorial as well as the comments. Bob Terry is most definitely getting a lot of backlash for his editorial. I accepted Christ as my Savior in a Southern Baptist church at the age of 8 and grew up in that church. Glad to see the Southern Baptist that commented are still very strong in upholding the Truth of the Scripture.
Terry is free to join the PCUSA, since he’s so convinced they got it right. In the OPC, he would have received a call from the session of the church that very same day. He would have been afforded a chance, if that, to recant his position. After that, excommunication would have doubtlessly been his portion.
I see two issues here.
Thirty some years after worshiping with the Reformed Presbyterians, who sing only psalms, I wonder if they are the ones who got the words right. On the musicality, however, it seems to me they had so much room for improvement. They used no instruments, even when singing psalms stating “Praise the Lord with harp and lute” or “Praise the Lord with cymbals.” They sang “Sing a new song to the Lord” to the same tune that their ancestors brought to the new world well over a century ago. They set all psalms to strict meters, categorized them, and had a set of tunes for each category. I’ll admit, the individuals in the congregation I attended were at least solid vocalists, with some even better! They avoided performance – they were worshiping. I stayed for a year and a half to two years for the education. It was enlightening.
Secondly, theology regarding the Father’s Wrath. Both the theology and the words to the song needs to be present. It should not be removed from the song, as that would be bad theology. But as to topics such as how it works? Is there no room for mystery? Is there no room for competing theories? Is there no room for differing amounts of emphasis?
The above comment would make more sense if I were to also say that the RPs worship music was all in “Church style.” 🙂
I would (and do) pray the OPC could be more gentle, if you are indeed characterizing their timeline. I think I understand how they were wronged by the older PCUSA, the one that later merged with the UPCNA. As I see it, that wrong was the worse committed by any presbyterians in the United States. (If I had been alive back then, I well might have been on the wrong side.) The current PCUSA is reaping some of what was sown back then, not mine to judge, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t think about it. There has been a lot of sifting of chaff from wheat since then. Not all of the wheat is out of the chaff in the PCUSA yet.
I have told people in the PCUSA that they badly miss J. Gresham’s witness. Now I will tell you, the OPC has been missing witness from those they were seperated from. Most seem to be in the PCA, EPC, and ECO. Yet some are still in the PCUSA. They are the ones fighting at the devil’s doorstep. Please, pray for those saints.
I’ll retract that. For a teaching elder/pastor, that timeline is probably about right.