The Presbyterian Lay Committee recently published a blog concerning a legal dispute between the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area (PTCA) and the Prairie Community Church of the Twin Cities (PCCTC). The latter organization is the former Eden Prairie Presbyterian Church, which disaffiliated with the PC(USA) in 2014 to join ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. This has been happening across the country for several years now. Many churches—large, small, and in-between—have left the PC(USA) to join other Presbyterian denominations. Depending on who you ask, the reason for these disaffiliations will vary. For more liberal minded folks, they see these churches as intolerant because they disaffiliate at a time when the PC(USA) is seen as moving forward with its welcome of LGBTQ elders and memebers. For more conservative minded folks, they see these churches as holding strong to biblical principles regarding the sanctity of marriage, sexual expression, and orthodox interpretati...
The interpretation of Scripture has been and always will be at the center of theological debates. For the majority of Christians, Scripture represents God's will for mankind, but the application thereof is hotly contested. In fact, some may see the differences present in Paul's letters compared to John's or Peter's as evidence that different interpretations are part of the very fabric of the Christianity handed down to us. Even the way Jesus interprets the Hebrew Scriptures is different from those of the Sadducees and Pharisees. Even though there are many different interpretations of Scripture, the majority of Christians also agree that the Scriptures ought to be applied to the Christian life. There is no getting around that part. No amount of interpretation will translate away the necessity of biblical living without first undermining the gospel. Again, the type of biblical living will be interpreted differently, but it will nevertheless be there. As a Calvinist, I u...