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TechnoratiControversy was first stirred in 2006, when the 217th General Assembly "received" a study paper entitled "The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing." The paper suggested additional designations to the Trinity other than "Father, Son and the Holy Spirit," including, "Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-giving Womb," "Rock, Cornerstone and Temple," and "Sun, Light and Burning Ray."
Critics have called the wordings confusing and an attempt to be politically correct while supporters stressed they were not substitutes, but rather supplementary ways of referring to the triune God.
"[T]he method employed continuously throughout this paper routinely confuses the natures of simile and metaphor to such a degree that it effectively confuses the very nature of what we think we know about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," the two Beaver-Butler Presbytery ministers state.
While McElroy and Stuart agree with studying the word of God deeply, they warn, "Our goal should always and only be to reflect the truth contained therein, and never to speculatively invent or intuit material that is at best tangentially contained. To do so is neither smart, nor correct and potentially leaves us in the unenviable position of becoming false guides."
According to McElroy, the declaration will be considered by the presbytery at a Sept. 23 meeting, where it will either vote to receive it as a first reading or reject it. If received, a second reading of the declaration will take place at a Nov. 18 meeting.
Approval by the presbytery would result in the declaration of "status confessionis" – solemn rebuke against a church council because of false doctrine or confessional compromise – in the PC(USA) until orthodoxy is restored by a future General Assembly.
And until then, the declaration calls on the presbytery to refuse to follow the practices authorized by the Assembly, including homosexual ordination, as reported by The Layman.
McElroy and Stuart, who said their intention is not to leave but to take a stand, expect the upper governing bodies of the denomination to attempt to overturn their declaration. But they don't plan on giving up.
"We will not cease these proclamations if rebuked. We will not accept discipline that, like many of the GA actions, rests on human institution instead of God's Word. Here we stand," they declare.
"The errors of this Assembly fail to live up to its professed theme of justice, mercy and humility. Our trust has been violated. Our denominational covenant has been broken by our own highest level governing body. We refuse to break that covenant. We will honor it by constitutional, confessional and biblical adherence. It pains us but we must take corrective action in an attempt to restore this broken covenant and the Church herself."
"An open Theological Declaration to the PC (USA) Explicating Major Errors of the 218th General Assembly as a Church Council and the means of Their Redress" is not part of a combined renewal effort, McElroy clarified. The idea came from only the two ministers and is the property of them and those who subscribe it. They're not interested in being heroes either, he added, but only in promoting and defending biblical orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
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