 The naked truth  The Layman Volume 35, Number 6, Posted December 9, 2002
The naked truth is this: While claiming to uphold the Constitution, the Network pursues sinister schemes to undermine it. Board member Barbara Wheeler sewed the first stitch when, at the Network’s initial gathering, she sanctioned lying if necessary in order to circumvent the denomination’s ordination standards. A more recent thread ran through the presentation of two lawyer-board members at the Network’s Minneapolis conference. Don’t openly say you will defy the Constitution, counseled Peter Oddliefson and Doug Nave. Instead, assign your own meaning to the words in our ordination standards – redefine “chastity,” for example – so that you can publicly affirm the standards while privately denying them. But morality is not this group’s only bald spot. Its theology is threadbare as well. Touting an intention to promote “progressive theology,” the Network has given center stage to heresy. Douglas Otatti, a theology professor at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia who denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, has been a Network favorite. Now along comes Paul Capetz, a former member of Union’s faculty who told the Network’s Minneapolis gathering that it is time to get rid of the atonement. “We don’t need any more crucifixions,” he said. The Network’s claim that it occupies “the great center” of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has no more validity than the emperor’s undraped pretension. But bare facts notwithstanding, this group continues to parade unabashedly down “center” avenue. Interestingly, the Network has made overtures to other groups whom it believes are similarly in the middle of the road, with the apparent hope of forging an alliance. There was a brief flirtation with the Presbyterian Coalition several years ago, which was quickly spurned by the Coalition’s board of directors. It is now seeking an alliance with other renewalists who might prefer compromise to confrontation. We trust that whoever they approach will discern the Network’s deception and keep their distance. Scripture speaks to those who are looking for something to wear: “Therefore, take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day … having girded your loins with truth, and put on the breastplate of righteousness, and shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:13-17 Parker T. Williamson is editor-in-chief of The Layman. |
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