Here is a concrete example. I recently attended a PCA presbytery meeting where two candidates were examined. One was a transfer from another presbytery and the other was for ordination. I'll note at the outset that the 2nd candidate that I discuss below probably wouldn't have gotten out of committee, much less been ordained by some PCA presbyteries. The PCA has much greater degree of diversity from presbytery to presbytery than many other confessionally Reformed churches.

The one who transferred said he was taking an exception on the Sabbath. I'm not sure what was determined in the end, but some of the elders expressed the opinion that this candidate's scruples were so minor that it may not be necessary for him to take an exception.

The candidate for ordination took 4 exceptions. These exceptions were the prohibition of depictions of Christ, the Sabbath, paedocommunion and the prohibition of marrying papists (WCF 24.3). Under further questioning he also stated that he didn't think the term evangelical in the BCO precluded Roman Catholics from partaking in communion in PCA churches since they "hold to the essentials of the faith." This man ministers in a city with probably one of the heaviest RC concentrations in the USA. Not being an elder nor a member of the presbytery, I wasn't privy to the discussions and votes in executive session, so I don't know what was decided regarding whether or not he could teach any or all of these exceptions. His ordination was approved by the overwhelming majority of elders present.

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Chris Poe
Mandeville, LA

"There are the foolish fanatics always to be found in such a movement and always discrediting it--the lunatic fringe in all reform movements." Theodore Roosevelt