Disappointment in Virginia

I've been reading tonight (while in Seattle on business) of the sad affair -- and ugly mess -- that has occurred at St Peter Presbyterian Church where R.C. Sproul, Jr pastors.

I suspect this is not the most objective account of the defrocking and dismissal of Sproul Jr (and the session) from the denomination to which they belonged, so I will avoid commenting on the pastoral practices of the session and limit comments to an area that hopefully avoids potential for slander.

Why did so many families move across the country to rural Virginia to join a church? Many of them went to such great expense in order to be part of a vision that offered a simple, separate, and deliberate lifestyle, focusing heavily on family and community.

I believe this is a good vision based on biblically-important principles. For a brief time, I considered moving my family there. I have a stack of Basement Tapes. But a couple of conditions make the St Peter community ripe for strife. First, expectations of the movers are bound to be high, dangerously high. People who give up much in order to gain a certain lifestyle will be tempted to feel cheated by empty promises if reality doesn't match what they imagined from listening to tapes and reading articles.

But the bigger problem may be doctrinal. This could prove to be a classic case of majoring on minors. While lifestyle and community are important, they don't rise to the level of the essentials of the Christian faith. If they are exalted to that place, one tends to become opinionated and unloving. Reading the complaints of several members, there were significant theological disagreements with the church's leadership, but the families chose to move there anyway, ostensibly for the lifestyle. This shows the importance of doctrinal agreement and the destructive power of doctrinal differences.

Disappointing to say the least.