 New PLC director Theological integrity is biggest issue facing PCUSA, new board member says By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Volume 39, Number 5 Posted November 27, 2006 “Theological integrity is the biggest issue facing the Presbyterian Church (USA) today,” the newest member of the board of directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee says.
“Sadly,” he said, “it seems that the PCUSA has placed more emphasis on academic re-interpretation than on the exploration of faith. The consequences are clearly evidenced in the declining membership faced by the PCUSA. For the faith to stand strong, it must stand on God’s Word without compromise.” “We need to have a major realignment along theological lines and not along denominational lines,” Norman said. “It makes no sense for churches to be bound together without theological unity.” He said he was born into the Presbyterian Church, but raised in the United Church of Christ. Norman said it was as a teen, while attending an Assemblies of God church, that he “heard the gospel preached for the first time where it made sense.” Later, after service as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, Norman said he felt his faith reinvigorated. He left the UCC as it “slipped away from its Biblical heritage” and attended various churches. “The interesting thing during this faith journey was that God was always calling to me and I was trying to respond, but not always in the right ways.” Norman said he “found a minister strong in the Word and well-founded.” Despite concerns over the denomination, Norman said it was “the faith expressed by the congregation and the pastor” that brought him back to Presbyterianism. A member of Hudson Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio, he has served as a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, a lay preacher and as a Bible study leader, among other activities. “Modern attempts to define ‘what Scripture really is’ all too often dilute the value of Scripture, seemingly getting lost in their own linguistic constructs,” he said. “While there can be value, and particularly academic value, in portions of such attempts as the Confession of 1967, I find it difficult to reconcile its lesser view of Scripture with the traditions of the Reformed faith. Frankly, the Confession of ’67 seems to run contrary to the tenets of the earlier confessions and catechisms, permits too much leeway in interpretation without discipline, and substitutes trend for tradition. Of course, the value of the traditions is not in their age – which would merely be tradition for tradition’s sake – but in their well-tested fidelity to God’s revealed Word.” Norman is a partner in the Cleveland law firm of Gallagher Sharp. In addition to his civil litigation practice, he has counseled churches, assisting them on various matters including church property cases. He received both his bachelor’s and J.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University and is a barrister in the American Inns of Court. In his professional life, Norman has done work with Lawyers for Life; Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm that seeks to preserve religious liberties and traditional family values; and Hands of Hope, a network of pro-life organizations. He said he has a “great wife and four wonderful kids.” Norman and his wife, Sarah, and their children – Forrest, Grant, Hunter and Helena – live in Hudson, Ohio. |
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