VIDA artikels oor die ongereformeerde weg wat die GK(v) ingeslaan het

ARTIKELS OOR DIE GK(v) SE BESLUIT OM VROUE TOT DIE BESONDERE AMPTE TOE TE LAAT 

In aansluiting by my vorige artikel oor die GK(v) wat ook nou VIDA (vrou in die besondere ampte) toegelaat het, in stryd met wat die Woord van die Here leer in 1 Tim.2:11-15, plaas ek verskillende artikels hier wat daarop begin reageer het.

Ek gaan dan ook byvoeg soos daar nuwe artikels inkom, so u moet as leser so nou en dan weer kom kyk of daar byvoegings is, ek gaan dit nie elke keer weer afkondig nie. Ek gaan ook artikels oor die VIDA onderwerp oor die algemeen hier plaas (wat nie reeds elders hier verskyn nie), want soos iemand nou die dag tereg sê: sommiges gaan net nooit rus totdat hulle hul agenda deurgedruk het om vroue in die besondere ampte te bevestig in elke kerkverband nie. So die goeie stryd gaan voort, want die voorstanders van VIDA wil daarmee voortgaan.

In die middel 1800’s was daar ‘n paar groot reformasies wat plaasgevind het in kerkverbande wêreldwyd met die gereformeerde belydenis en geskiedenis as agtergrond, o.a. in:

• Nederland: die Afskeiding van 1834 waaruit o.a die CGK en later GKN en later GKv gevolg het.
• Skotland: die Free Church of Scotland (1843) wat tot stand gekom vanuit die liberaal wordende Church of Scotland.
• Amerika: die CRCNA het in 1857 afgestig uit die RCA.
• RSA: die GKSA het in 1859 uit die NG/NHK gegaan.

Vandag, meer as 183 jaar later toe die eerste reformasie van 1834 begin het onder gereformeerde kerke wêreldwyd, is dit nog net die CGK en die GKSA wat getrou bly aan die Skrif oor hierdie saak en nie vroue as ouderlinge en predikante aanvaar het nie, alhoewel die GKSA al begin toegee het vir vroue in die diakenamp, wat klaar ‘n probleem is.

Al die ander kerke wat begin is deur daardie reformasies het reeds oorgegaan na die liberale stroom van vroue in die besondere ampte, en sommiges nog heelwat verder – waartoe VIDA natuurlik lei – en dit is die gay agenda wat dan deel word van die kerk.

Die GK(v) is die nuutste kerkverband wat uiteindelik hartseer tragies gebuig het voor die tydsgees. Mag die Here die CGK en die GKSA bewaar van hierdie verdere verval, daarom die waarskuwing om aan te hou waarsku, aan te hou vermaan (2 Tim.4:1-5).

Ek verbaas my baiemaal oor die volharding van die VIDA voorstanders, mag gereformeerdes ook nou volhard om die goeie stryd te stry, want soos reeds telkemale genoem: dit gaan nie net bloot oor of vroue in die besondere ampte is of nie, maar die onderliggende Skrifbeskouing, hermeneutiek, omgaan met die Skrif, lewensbeskouing, ens. onderliggend daaraan wat dit probeer verdedig.

Hier is die artikels wat ook daarna as wesentlike probleem verwys:

Verdriet en verlangen

“Wat kunnen dingen in het kerkelijke leven en ook besluiten je een pijn doen.  Juist dan is er ook het verlangen. Niet maar het verlangen naar het verleden. We moeten niet maar conservatief of behoudend willen zijn. We moeten positief in diepe liefde en gehoorzaamheid in de wereld van 2017 christen en echt kerk van Christus willen zijn.

Waarbij niet het verleden en ook niet de geest van de tijd beslissend is maar het Woord van de HERE!  Dat laat mij verlangen naar eenheid met allen die in ons land in liefde en gehoorzaamheid aan het Woord van God en de belijdenis van de kerk, die daarmee in overeenstemming is,  willen leven. Dan zucht ik want dan zie ik nog zoveel menselijke obstakels en toch leert dat me bidden. HERE werk in onze tijd toch het wonder van de 21^e eeuw.  HERE ik verlang niet  naar een grote GKN maar naar een kerk waar Gods kinderen zich in liefdevolle onderworpenheid  aan Uw Woord vinden en zo samen kerk zijn. Niet mijn kerk maar Uw Kerk! Breng Uw kinderen die in liefde voor uw onfeilbare Woord leven en zo kerk willen zijn bij elkaar. Leer ons dan af om eigen gewoonten boven of naast uw Woord te stellen.

Ik eindig met dit gebed en dit verlangen zoals dit in de Afrikaanse berijming van Psalm 119:29 vorm heeft gekregen:

“Laat hul weer met my vergader

Wat u Naam van harte vrees,

Dat ons, in u woord verenig,

Een gemeenskap weer kan wees.

Laat my hart maar net opreg wees

Voor u oog wat alles sien,

Dan sal my geen skaamte oorkom nie

As ek U van harte dien.”

How the Mighty have fallen

“It’s not “Reformation” when you scorn the Scriptures and have women office bearers — it’s deformation.  I’ve seen the story already play out twice in my short lifetime.  I pray I won’t see it a third time.  I pray that we will have learned something from the sad fall of these two federations of churches that were once faithful and mighty in the LORD. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12″

The GKV’s major leap off the Cliff

“I will continue to pray for the good people in the GKV but my perspective on the denomination is now forever changed. The bond of fellowship has been severed. It is hard for me to contemplate the grief over the next few months and years as churches and families are torn apart. And all for what? The GKV sold its soul for the sake of ‘relevance.’ Within a very few years, it will not be distinguishable from any PKN congregation and it will join that denomination in its rapid downward dwindle into cultural irrelevance, in the same way that other once great denominations became little more than debating clubs and political action committees for progressive causes (women’s rights, gay rights, environmentalism, socialism). I just don’t understand.”

Women in Office = False Church?

“All three marks of a true church are affected by women in office.  The church which adopts this position ceases to be a true church of Jesus Christ.  This is why the Canadian (CanRC) and Australian (FRCA) churches will no longer be able to have ecclesiastical fellowship with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands if they go in this direction.

That still leaves the question hanging:  if not a false church, and if not a true church, then what?  It’s often forgotten that there is a third category in article 29 of the Belgic Confession:  the sect.  The sect is a religious organization which is not entirely a true church, but not entirely a false church either.  In the days the Confession was written, this was the label applied to the Anabaptist groups in the Netherlands.  Guido de Brès wrote a volume of over 900 pages on the Anabaptists.  He never calls their groups “false churches.”  Instead, consistently, he calls them sects.  If you want a category for the church which adopts women in office, “sect” is what you’re looking for.”

Transgenderism Comes to the PCA? A Sober Look at the PCA Report On “Women Serving in the Ministry of the Church” before the 45th GA

“How can there be multiple conflicting views that are all in accord with Scripture?  By condoning multiple practices and views, the committee does not clarify and allows those who would undermine the church’s standard to continue to practice without any constraint. It is difficult to address aberrant views and practices since those who have them will declare themselves to be orthodox.  The committee has failed to draw any clear lines of demarcation and thus has given license to those who would not follow our standards. All too often toleration of many things becomes the toleration of everything.”

The PCA Refuses to Give Biblical Marriage Constitutional Status

“The PCA’s 45th General Assembly, meeting June 12-16, 2017 in Greensboro, North Carolina, voted down an overture that would have given constitutional (i.e., mandatory) status to Biblical marriage between one man and one woman as the standard of the denomination. It also adopted several recommendations from its Study Committee on Women in Ministry that will further un-Biblically expand the role of women in the government and ministry of the church. The committee, which exercised what can only be called teaching authority, included two women as voting members and a third woman as an advisory member. ”

New Cause of Division

“In fact, we are convinced that Cause for Division defends the argument for women’s ordination with a hermeneutic which is at odds with our historic position as Reformed believers.  It does so by using an unReformed notion of the ‘analogy of Scripture,’ one which pits the alleged Scriptural principle of the equality and correlativity of men and women against the specific teaching of those Scriptural texts which describe a differentiation of roles.  Not only does Cause for Division provide no Scriptural proof for its notion of equality between men and women, but it also discounts those texts which spell out God’s blessed order for the relationships between men and women in the home and the church.”

Hierdie boekie is ‘n belangrike historiese dokument, ook veral vir die GKSA, veral oor hierdie medeling:

“In 1991, the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary published a brochure entitled A Cause for Division? Women in Office and the Unity of the Church.  The Calvin faculty argued that differences over this issue should not split the CRCNA.  It would be unwarranted and even sinful for people to leave the CRCNA over the issue of women in office.

That same year, two professors of Mid-America Reformed Seminary responded to the Calvin brochure.  Nelson Kloosterman and Cornelis Venema wrote a little booklet entitled A Cause of Division:  The Hermeneutic of Women’s Ordination.  The booklet can be found online here.”

New Resource on Women in Office

“When I teach the Belgic Confession to my catechism students, I now spend a lesson on the topic of women in office.  I never had to do this before, but sadly, the times have changed.  I’ve added the outline for my lesson on this to the resources on Yinkahdinay — you can find it under “Teaching Tools” or through this direct link.  PLEASE NOTE:  this is just an outline.  Obviously, a lot more would be said in a catechism class than what is just on this one page.   However, if anyone is studying or teaching on the issue, at least you’ll have a bare bones idea of the history, the relevant Scripture passages, where the confessions speak to this, and some of the common objections.  If you want to dig even deeper, see here for a short booklet published some years ago when the Christian Reformed Church in North America was dealing with this.  For an even more comprehensive treatment, see Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, ed. John Piper and Wayne Grudem.”

A Missiological Reflection on the RCN and Women in Office

“With all my heart, I deeply lament the decision of Synod Meppel.  It grieves me enormously when I see churches that were once faithful taking this unfaithful path.  One of the saddest things is what it is going to do to the missionary witness of the RCN.  This is going to be a tremendous set-back when it comes to the advance of the gospel.  Satan laughs as God’s Word is twisted in the name of mission and being relevant to the culture.  And while I grieve, I am sure that our Lord Jesus Christ is grieving even more.  The church entrusted to take his Word to the world has betrayed it.  That’s a tragedy of the highest order.”