Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The bad thing about being Presbyterian

Last night I went inside a PCUSA church for a boy scout function. The PCUSA is the large, mainline, liberal denomination; I belong to the PCA which is a much smaller and more conservative Presbyterian denomination. I hate that when people ask me what church I belong to, I can't just say "Presbyterian." To do that may result in an endorsement of the PCUSA church.

I've become familiar with a couple of fine PCUSA churches recently, which had tempered my negative opinion of the PCUSA. But the church I visited last night in Albuquerque rekindled my disdain. The troop met in the sanctuary which gave me an opportunity to peruse their pew Bible and hymnal. Both are of the "inclusive" variety, which means that masculine references about God and man are often replaced with generic terms like Lord and humankind. On the hymnal's page of creeds the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed each come in two versions, traditional and ecumenical. The ecumenical versions are neutered and make other changes that baffle me.

On the way home Eli asked what kind of church that was. I grimaced and told him it was Presbyterian. But that led to a good discussion about Biblical authority.

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