Jack K
Puritan Board Doctor
So please try to hear me say "catechism" without turning it into "confession."
Jack, the Confession of the Church is the Westminster Standards.
That includes the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
We do not mean only the Westminster Confession of Faith.
It includes the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechism.
In the PCA, all three are part of the constitution of the Church, which can only be changed in the same manner.
(It takes 3/4 majority vote of General Assembly, then majorities in 3/4 of Presbyteries, then ratification by a subsequent General Assembly by 3/4 vote).
The reason the bar is high is because they are all the Confessional basis of unity of the Church.
When this is being done by a prominent PCA leader, a prominent PCA church, they know what is being done.
Um... I know all that about the Westminster Catechisms, of course. I still don't see how it matters. The fact that those are confessional documents does not mean every catechism is an attempt to supplant confessional standards. I just don't understand where you get that idea.
If you're implying that this IS someone's intent within the PCA, I think you you should say so plainly, in the proper church courts, if you can provide evidence of such intent (or refrain from making such accusations if you have no evidence but merely have personal suspicions).
As for me, if I recommend this new catechism to the fictional Baptist kid down the street it certainly won't be with the intent of supplanting PCA standards. I'm not thinking about the implications the catechism *might* have for people elsewhere who *might* want to use it badly. I'm just thinking I want to help that kid by introducing him to catechal instruction. That's the sort of guy I am. That's what's top of mind to me.