You're not going to catch me defending parachurch at the expense of real Church and I agree with the concern about the goofy ecclesiology of St. Andrews. What's sad about that, in my mind, is that these kind of works don't last. The longer I'm Presbyterian the more I realize the frustrating aspects of the Church government are also part of the reason that it preserves the Church. I'm also not for replacing catechisms or creeds. My main point was to separate out the issues. Seeing as how we're agreed that the issues of the relative orthodoxy of the statements (that need to be fixed) and the "right" of any individual or group to propose something of use to the Church (what they do with it is up to them) are different issues.
I will note that they said it was composed by the Teaching Fellows (which includes Sinclair Ferguson and now Derek Thomas). Don't know if they had a hand in it or not.
Look, guys, I consider you my friends. I'm just trying to get us to judge their motives with charity and keeping the criticism focused where it ought to be focused.
I'll admit that I'm a bit compromised when it comes to R.C. Sproul. I was a former Roman Catholic in a charismatic congregation in 1997 struggling mightily with sin and wondering why I couldn't "let go" to overcome the sin in my life when I heard R.C. on the radio. I bought Faith Alone and it's the reason I'm in the PCA. Whatever faults he has (and at times things that make me sad and concerned), I still feel an eternal set of gratitude.
Is this the reason I want to cut him some slack? Not necessarily. I guess I just feel like the whole "piling on" seems incongruous. I struggle, for instance, with parachurch ministries like the Navigators but when Jerry Bridges died I couldn't pretend like he had never written anything of value to the Body simply because some of the stuff he did was irregular. It makes me wonder if Christ would say something like: "He that is not against us is for us." Yes, I try, with a lot of people, to get them to re-think some of their irregular works but I also don't want to be curmudgeon-y.
I will note that they said it was composed by the Teaching Fellows (which includes Sinclair Ferguson and now Derek Thomas). Don't know if they had a hand in it or not.
Look, guys, I consider you my friends. I'm just trying to get us to judge their motives with charity and keeping the criticism focused where it ought to be focused.
I'll admit that I'm a bit compromised when it comes to R.C. Sproul. I was a former Roman Catholic in a charismatic congregation in 1997 struggling mightily with sin and wondering why I couldn't "let go" to overcome the sin in my life when I heard R.C. on the radio. I bought Faith Alone and it's the reason I'm in the PCA. Whatever faults he has (and at times things that make me sad and concerned), I still feel an eternal set of gratitude.
Is this the reason I want to cut him some slack? Not necessarily. I guess I just feel like the whole "piling on" seems incongruous. I struggle, for instance, with parachurch ministries like the Navigators but when Jerry Bridges died I couldn't pretend like he had never written anything of value to the Body simply because some of the stuff he did was irregular. It makes me wonder if Christ would say something like: "He that is not against us is for us." Yes, I try, with a lot of people, to get them to re-think some of their irregular works but I also don't want to be curmudgeon-y.