The Challenge Facing PCI Moderator Elect, Rev Sam Mawhinney!
Although the next leader of the church, the Rev Sam Mawhinney, is not in favour of female ordination, the church said it remains its ‘settled’ policy. The general secretary of his church, Rev Trevor Gribben, has stated that the clear, longstanding and settled position of its General Assembly is “that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland ordains men and women on an equal basis”.
That means that Sam Mawhinney belongs to a denomination that stoutly defies the Word of God, as the above statement from its general secretary indicates. It also means, should he become the new moderator in June of this year, he will lead a church in its determined defiance of God and His Truth!
Dr Mawhinney has said he recognised ‘there are people who disagree with me’ on the issue of women ministers. ‘I don’t want to make it a primary issue, but it is something that I hold,’ he added.
Dr Mawhinney is based at Adelaide Road Presbyterian Church in Dublin city centre and is the first moderator from the Republic of Ireland to be elected in almost a quarter of a century.
Standing up for what the Bible teaches on any subject ought to be a ‘primary issue’ for any who profess faith in Christ. However, in this ecumenical age, flexibility of conscience and pliancy of heart and mind when it comes to principles and obedience to God, are essential qualifications for a moderator of the PCI!!
The ‘settled’ doctrinal position of the PCI is anti-Bible on more issues than the ordination of women as elders and ministers. It long ago ceased to be faithful to the cardinal doctrines of the gospel. Back in the 1920s, almost one hundred years ago, it exonerated a man, a man of heresy, a professor in its theological hall, Professor J E Davey, when he denied the deity of Christ and atonement for sin by His blood.
Professor J E Davey was a graduate of a number of universities, including that of Heidelberg, from which he brought back to Belfast the false and destructive notions of ‘German Rationalism’. In June 1917, he became the youngest person ever appointed to a chair at Assembly’s College, the Presbyterian College in Belfast. It is now called ‘Union College’. He would subsequently hold chairs of Biblical Literature, Hebrew and Old Testament, and New Testament Language, Literature and Theology. (more…)
