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| Mark Horne & MVP | | Date Created: Mar 11, 2005, 12:58 PM |
 I haven't posted anything recently because I've been too busy with other matters. When I get some free time I don't want to spend it in front of a flat screen monitor. I'd rather take a walk and experience creation in all its 3-D splendor.
A few months ago my close friend and colleague Mark Horne was unfairly misrepresented by a committee report published by the Mississippi Valley Presbytery. This has caused enormous trouble for Mark and his family. Now sadly this report has become a General Assembly communication (#3) and will be distributed to the entire denomination.
This document makes unsubstantiated accusations about Mark and his theology which might have been avoided had someone, anyone from MVP simply contacted Mark. Nobody did. After reading the report I have to wonder if they even took the time to read what Mark himself had written. Read the report and then read Mark's reply and pinch yourself to make sure you have not entered the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. You might well ask who controls the horizontal and the vertical in this ecclesiastical debate.
It seems like everybody is talking about Mark, but no one takes the time to talk to him. You know, he's not an alien carcass on some examination table; he's a fellow PCA minister. Everybody has an opinion about what he believes, but very few people seem to take the time to discover what he has actually written. Consequently the gossip spreads and it seems like the rhetoric gets ratcheted up a few notches every week. And as each week passes it gets more and more difficult to expect a sober judgment on these matters. Once issues like this get political, then it becomes very difficult indeed for all parties to maintain objectivity and humility before one another.
Part of the problem is that the first presbytery report published gets the most press. I know other presbyteries have similar study committees currently working on questions related to AAPC, N. T. Wright, and whatnot. Other presbyteries appear to be taking their time and carefully looking into the issues. Consequently, in the near future, probably toward the end of this year, we can expect to see more balanced and carefully nuanced reports. My own presbytery will likely produce a document very different than MVP's.
Until then, remember James 1:18-19, "Know this, my beloved brothers: let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires."
Please distribute freely. If you click here, you will download a pdf file. If you go here, you can read it online.
Important note: Don't be overwhelmed that this is a 55-page document. The first 10 pages are crucial and can be read rather quickly. In those first 10 pages Mark interacts with all the places in the MVP report where he is mentioned or cited. The remaining 45 pages of the document are appendices which contain the complete essays/articles by Mark that are cited by the MVP report or by him in his response.
My hope and prayer is that Mark's own words would reach everyone that has read the MVP report and has falsely concluded that Mark is unconfessional or even heterodox.
You might also read Joel Garver's insightful reflections on the MVP report. |
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