Good Post on "Recovering the Reformed Confession" and 6 Day Creation

Yesterday, while doing some browsing on the subject of six day creation, I came upon this article: Two-Edged Sword: Recovering the Reformed Confessions and 6 Day Creation. It was a good read, so I pass it on to you.

The author ("Lee") makes five points concerning the arguments Dr. R. Scott Clark makes in Recovering the Reformed Confession regarding six day creation:

1. Clark starts by stating that proponents of the 6/24 hour day view of creation have always been unable to show a theological reason for holding to this view.
2. Clark dismisses the argument of David Hall and others that point to WCF 4.1 and the "in the space of six days" statement as addressing a different question. [a personal pet peeve of mine!]
3. Clark has a long excursus on heliocentric versus geocentric universe discussions in the past.
4. Clark claims these men came to their views "exegetically" and thus it is an extraconfessional and exegetical disagreement.
5. Clark states this is not a debate between "two religions . . . not even between two different hermeneutical principles, but rather a debate over the application of those principles and specific exegetical applications" (pg.61).

Lee then deals with each of these five points and shows how Clark got it wrong. Go over to Two-Edged Sword and read it all.

Office Hours Interview with Pastor Terry Johnson

R. Scott Clark, professor at Westminster Seminary California has posted a wonderful interview with Terry Johnson, pastor of Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Georgia. Pastor Johnson makes some great points in his critique of the modern evangelical approach to worship, and he also has some valid warnings for the Reformed church, as well.

I encourage you to listen to the interview, here.

News Round-Up

Here's a round-up of recent blogs and news related to Elders and Presbyterian Government.

First, Dr. Scott. Clark has an interesting analysis of Tim Keller's "Multi-Site Model" of church planting. Here's a tidbit to get you interested:

The collegiate model that Tim articulates sounds like a sort of parallel presbytery where one session is the presbytery or classis for multiple “collegiate" congregations. How does this model relate to what we’ve traditionally considered presbyteries and classes? What oversight does the presbytery or classis actually have over these various bodies that are de facto congregations but nominally a single congregation?"

Second, here is a great chronology of the matters happening in the Siouxlands Presbytery of the PCA up til now. Note that one of the (former) members of that Presbytery who voted NOT to approve the committee study condemning the Federal Vision is now a professor at Erskine. I didn't know that until reading this post. Also, note how long it has taken to deal with this issue. (The chronology starts back in April of 2005). Presbyterian government moves slowly, most of the time. Elders need to be patient and persevere!

Third, a discussion was started on the Puritan Board when someone asked "What minimum age should a Ruling Elder be?" Of course, Biblically there is no minimum age, as the requirements for Elder are spiritual maturity. Some other good points are raised in the discussion, as well.