09/14/04
WHY NOT THE FCS CONTINUING OR THE
PRESBYTERIAN REFORMED CHURCH?
We should always be able to explain our choice of churches, to those
who may ask. For those of us who adhere
to the doctrines of the **original** Westminster Standards, possible candidate
churches certainly include the Free Church of Scotland Continuing (FCS
Continuing) and the Presbyterian
Reformed Church (PRC), as well as the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
(FPCS). There are many aspects of all
of these denominations which are laudatory.
In principle, all hold to the doctrines of the original Westminster
Standards. And we can be thankful for
some of the work being done by all of them.
So why have I chosen to pursue joining the Free Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, and not the Free Church of Scotland Continuing or the Presbyterian Reformed Church?
In short, the answer is this: on all the main issues where the Free
Presbyterian Church of Scotland differs from the Free Church of Scotland
Continuing and the Presbyterian
Reformed Church, I agree with the position of the Free Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, and not the Free Church of Scotland Continuing or the Presbyterian Reformed Church. Here are some of those points of
difference:
1. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland upholds and
defends provisions of scripture (addressed in the Westminster Standards) which
are unpopular today (for example, historicism, prohibitions on the wearing of jewelry
[though the FPCS is not as strict as it should be or as much as the reformed
churches used to be], prohibition on the watching of drama, Sabbath observance,
Mass attendance, etc.). There appears to be less willingness on the part of FCS
Continuing and the PRC to do so.
2. The FCS Continuing and the PRC use the Puritan Reformed Seminary in
Grand Rapids to train its ministers, but the seminary allows Baptist ministers
to teach some courses, and the seminary is run be churches which have Romish
Holy Days, deny the Establishment Principle, deny historicism, etc.
3. I see no sound reason the ministers who separated and formed the FCS
Continuing and the PRC should not have joined FPCS. We do not need to multiply
denominations. When asked their reasons for not joining the FPCS, I have found
the reasons to be routinely poor. In
contrast, the FPCS was eminently justified in its separation from the old Free
Church (after the Free Church passed the Declaratory Act) and its creation of
the FPCS.
With specific respect to the FCS Continuing, this statement I received
from a friend within the FCS Continuing is a source of central concern: “The FCC is really no more
conservative than the Free Church ever was. The issue that created a division
in Jan 2000 for the FCC was a particular one distinct from the course of
apostasy being followed by the Free Church “.
So while I am thankful for many aspects of the ministry of the Free
Church of Scotland Continuing and the
Presbyterian Reformed Church, as a matter of conscience I must pursue
membership in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.