By: Thomas F. Booher
Prominent PCA officers have declared a female to possibly be the most prominent layperson in the PCA, with some folks comparing her to John Knox, Jenny Geddes, Jael, and Deborah. They think they are defeating feminism and female officers in their denomination by doing this.
It was wild over the last few weeks to watch PCA Pastors and Elders glory in having Deborah's in their midst. Do they not realize this means they are being judged as weak Barak's?
But pointing this out and sharply opposing it of course gets you attacked by these PCA officers as being unhinged, mentally unstable, unqualified for pastoral office, etc.
The absurdity of what is being done in many of our Reformed/Presbyterian denominations, and what has been done in them for decades now, deserves to be pointed out sharply, sarcastically even. It would be comical but for the fact that the "conservative and confessional officers" actually believe promoting women as writers and teachers is a great strategy in an attempt to prevent women from being regarded either officially or functionally as officers in the church with authority. The plain reality is that this tactic is guilty of the very thing it condemns, and therefore is utterly self-defeating. It is also sad and pathetic to watch Pastors and Elders practically drool over the article, and we know it is precisely because it is written by a woman.
If I were an Egalitarian, feminist-leaning woman, I would probably rather receive the praise and accolades of prominent PCA officers like Mel Duncan declaring me possibly "the most significant layman in the PCA" than to have the option of being ordained as a deaconess. Being a writer and teacher-at-large heavily promoted within the PCA is a promotion in functional authority in the church and denomination at large!
Being a measly old deaconess at just one church cannot compare, functionally, to getting to write articles that prominent male Pastors and Elders praise and publicize far and wide, declaring it motivates and inspires them. A mere deaconess will not get such fame and applause and readership. Many PCA pastors and elders are basically promoting women to remain un-ordained, yet have more functional and informal authority and sway than many pastors and elders in the PCA.
After all, go to the Gospel Reformation Network's website. If you get published there, boy howdy, you are in the inner circles of the "confessional" elites in the PCA.
So the "conservative" option ends up being functionally more progressive, liberal, feminist, and egalitarian than the actual promoters of female deacons and the side-B types in the PCA!
But when you point the frankly obvious out, you will face the fierce wrath of the "confessional conservatives" in a jiffy. You will be declared a snake or a wolf or a fool, insane, off your meds, someone who should be removed from ministry and brought up on charges.
Where has that zeal been for actually dealing with sexual perversion in your own denomination, even in pastoral ministry and leadership? Where has that zeal been upon the actual full-blown Egalitarians and Feminists in your own ranks?
The PCA's policy in particular, and this is often the case in NAPARC in general, is always to softly jab and pillow fight those a mile to the left of them doctrinally and politically, but to fiercely scratch, claw, and fight those even a foot to their right.
But actually, no. What is being revealed is that many of these "confessional conservatives" are actually only about a foot (maybe a few feet, I will be charitable) to the right of the leftists in their midst. It appears we have been giving them too much credit. They are functional Egalitarians, whether they realize it or not. They are functional Feminists, whether they wish this to be so or not. They will not even heal the wound lightly at this point.
My desire is for these men to wake up and repent. I would love to see the PCA truly saved from liberalism and apostasy. I grew up in the PCA, and have seen the shenanigans, compromise, and partial blindness for a very, very long time. But we are many years past the point of needing to be "gentle" with our critiques. Those were given privately and eventually publicly for many years by many godly men. They were not weighed and considered.
Much of the laity knows this, or is waking up to it. Just this past Sunday we had several families visiting from a NAPARC church, because they recognize the weakness and wokeness, especially of those who think they are stalwarts for the Reformed faith and like to trumpet the old PCA motto that in part says "true to the Reformed faith". The laity knows that precious few of any real prominence are being thoroughly true to the Reformed faith in the PCA and NAPARC in general.
I would urge not getting mad at me, but actually considering the substance of what I am saying. You know, give me as much a hearing as you are giving your favorite female NAPARC authors and teachers. Is that too much to ask? I have had to have a lot of "rude awakenings" in my life on matters of doctrine and practice. It hurts. But as you realize how things actually are, and what God's Word actually teaches, you repent, you receive forgiveness, and then you endeavor after new obedience and more thorough faithfulness to Christ and His kingdom. That is sincerely what I want for everyone in the PCA and NAPARC in general.
"Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" (Gal. 4:16).
"Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control." (1 Timothy 2:11-15)
"The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." (Titus 2:3-5)
"Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror." (1 Pet. 3:1-6)
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