The Presbyterian Church USA (PC USA) is really living up to its name. Trying to be more “gender inclusive” or P.C. the PC USA is considering changing the names of the three parts of the trinity. That’s right, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” could soon become “Mother, Child and Womb,” “Rock, Redeemer, Friend”, “Lover, Beloved, Love”, “Creator, Savior, Sanctifier”, or “King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love.”
While many of these names do have biblical roots, and are used poetically to refer to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, completely changing the names used to refer to the triune God could completely change the character of the faith. As Dorothy Hill, a youth delegate at the Presbyterian Assembly, and a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary explains, the paper
“suggests viewpoints that seem to be in tension with what our church has always held to be true about our Trinitarian God.”
“She reminded delegates that the Ten Commandments say ‘the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.’
In addition,
On Tuesday, the assembly will vote on a proposal to give local congregations and regional “presbyteries” some leeway on ordaining clergy and lay officers living in gay relationships.
Ten conservative Presbyterian groups have warned jointly that approval of what they call “local option” would “promote schism by permitting the disregard of clear standards of Scripture.”
I’m not Presbyterian, but the college I went to is loosely affiliated with the PC USA, and while I now go to a more conservative church, I grew up in another mainline denomination, and worry about mainline Christian churches, and the future of the faith in general.
One of the suggestions perplexed me more than all of the others–the first person to explain how “King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love” is gender-neutral wins a prize.
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