While it was looking like everyone was going to patch things up in a commendable way, sadly, the Knox Seminary Fiasco continues. I'm speechless. The word shameful comes to mind though.

Stuff That Matters - Faith & Politics: Resigned Knox Board Told Don’t Bother

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Chris Coldwell
Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Member
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When heresy rises in an evangelical body, it is never frank and open. It always begins by skulking, and assuming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast of great improvements, and congratulate one another on having gone greatly beyond the ‘old dead orthodoxy,’ and on having left behind many of its antiquated errors: but when taxed with deviations from the received faith, they complain of the unreasonableness of their accusers, as they ‘differ from it only in words.’ This has been the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic age. Samuel Miller, Introductory essay, The Articles of the Synod of Dort (1841).

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I should have added that Reformed Musings blogs goes over what is contrary to the PCA Book of Church order regarding aspects of this.
A Sad Session Overreach « Reformed Musings

{shakes head in disbelief}

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Rich
Okinawa, Japan

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Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

What exactly was this man teaching that upset them so?

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1689 Baptist Confession

Psa 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Psa 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
James Farley, Wilderness Road Baptist Assembly.
Husband of Melissa and father of Ann.
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What's happening...in a nutshell?

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

The majority of the Knox board members, suspended or fired a professor for what they thought was an extreme view of typology; I don't know if that was the only reason, and this may be an over simplification. The session reversed that decision, and six board members resigned, including R. C. Sproul Sr. Eventually the Stated Clerk ruled that the Book of Church order governed the matter and that the session didn't have the right to overturn the decision (again, this is over simplifying; read the links). The session invited the board members who resigned to unresign, without any stipulations or qualifications. Two weeks later, evidently because the board members who did not resign were suspicions of the motives of the returning members, required a letter to be signed stating the returned members repented and other binding stipulations. Whatever one may think of the issue at root of the suspension/firing; this is just shameful to ask them to come back without stipulations and then, oops, when they took the offer, decide to impose conditions. Again, this is condensed and you should read the two links for the full story and the first link for the documentation from each side.

I see that one of the requirements was to recant their charge that this fellow's teaching was unconfessional. That's asking too much, in my opinion.

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The man who is disposed to think of his sin as a great calamity, rather than as a heinous crime, is not likely either to reverence God or to respect His law. - John Kennedy, 1873
Meg
Blog
Member, Intown Presbyterian Church,PCA, Portland, OR

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Another important issue in the charge against Gage (and I am making NO judgment on whether the charge was accurate or not: I'm still undecided as to which side is correct. Men I deeply respect are on both sides) was whether or not he taught something equivalent to the fourfold interpretation of the Medieval period, which would be contrary to WCF 1.9.

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Rev. Lane Keister
Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in a CRC and an RCA church)
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Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Ok, I agree that it is wrong to allow the board members back, only to add further stipulations afterwards and I would also like to state that church politics are always shameful and this incident reeks of church politics.

Having said that, I'm curious: Was Knox Seminary originally set up as a "ministry" (for lack of a better word) of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church? Was the Session of CRPC accurate in saying that the Board of Knox Seminary is a Standing Commission of CRPC? If so, how could the stated clerk of the PCA offer an assessment in favor of the board of Knox Seminary? It seems to me that this is a local church issue.

Another question I would want answered before making up my mind on this topic is: Who has the right to discipline professors at KTS? Does that responsibility fall to the board of directors or does the Session of CRPC alone have that authority?

Also, I would encourage everyone to withhold judgment until we hear both sides of the issue.

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Seth Stark
Member, Communion Presbyterian Church (ARP), Irvine, CA
Biola University, Graduate Student, M.A. - Science and Religion
Seth's Blog

If the resignations were not accepted, then they never officially left the board. They are still on the board.

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David Cronkhite, Elder
Pasadena United Reformed Church

"I count myself one of the number of those
who write as they learn, and learn as they write."

As a Californian, I have NO clue as to the corporate culture of Coral Ridge or Knox. However, my guess is that whenever a larger-than-life leader of the stature of Kennedy disappears from the scene, you should expect some pretty significant missteps by people trying to adjust to the political environment absent the founder. Look at any large church of whatever polity deal with the death or retirement of a founder or long-term pastor. These kinds of foolish actions are sadly all too common. I pray that they don't do anything to besmirch the reputation of a fine school or some very good people. Sheesh!

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

The board cannot be a commission (standing or otherwise) of the Session. In order to be on a commission (except as an invited ex officio guest, like the preacher at an ordination), you must be a member of the court. In order to be a member of the Session of CRPC, a man must have been a member of CRPC and have been elected an elder from that congregation. It is manifestly not the case with the Teaching Elders (who are members of their respective Presbyteries), and don't think it is the case with the non-TEs either. Furthermore, as Dr. Taylor states, the Session has no authority over Dr. Gage (himself a member of a Presbytery) either to condemn or exonerate. All of this is standard polity - and does not touch on the substantive issue of Dr. Gage's teaching.

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Fredrick T. Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

How could anyone claim this when a woman was on the board of directors?

Can someone write a brief pargraph of all this in terms where someone who is still a novice to Presbyterian polity can understand it? Who did what and what was wrong and...?

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I have no idea, Chris.

Q: Why is/was there a female on the board of directors at Knox?

A: Accreditation. The Association of Theological Schools (ATS), the accrediting authority/body for many seminaries and theological schools, to include Knox, mandates the following in its Standards, paragraph 8.3.1.3:

“Members of the governing board shall possess the qualifications appropriate to the task they will undertake. In accordance with the school’s purpose and constituencies, the governing board’s membership should reflect diversity of race, ethnicity, and gender.”

You can refer to the actual ATS Standards via this link:
Standards

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Jason G.
FPC Margate, PCA (Margate, FL)
Knox Theological Seminary, student, FL
Turretin Blog Author

Essentially, the ATS mandates that the governing board of a theological school must reflect the diversity of the student body. Knox has both male and female and numerous ethnicities comprising the student body. Therefore, the board of Knox must reflect this reality.

Why worry about it, Josh? Really, this whole matter should be kept within PCA circles. I don't see that it is my business to know about it or make judgements. I am sure that within the PCA the mechanisms exist to sort this matter out properly.

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Jonathan Hunt

Preaching Elder
Cheltenham Evangelical Free Church (Confessionally Based)
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.
-- Thomas Elsworth

I wonder if I'm committing the lust of the eyes in even caring. The desire I have to hear scandals in the church is probably a vain curiosity. Some knowledge may be useful for prayer but how much do I need to know?

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*Peter Gray* Elkins Park RPCNA

"Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. " Mk 9:24
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These cautions are certainly generally appropriate; however, let's do Josh the favor of letting him judge his own conscience in asking for a summary of what exactly has transpired.

A significant recension at Reformedmusings is posted.
An Error and Repentence « Reformed Musings

Thanks.

Jonathan, I appreciate the cautionary note. I just read through the post and am not really comprehending. I just wanted to understand the issue. That's all.