PCA HISTORICAL CENTER
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Studies & Actions
of the General Assembly of
Seventh Session - Thursday Evening 29-56 Assembly Reconvenes Sixth Session - Thursday Afternoon 30-54 Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the
Military After the singing of "To God Be The Glory", TE Stephen Leonard, Chairman, led in prayer, and presented the report. He presented the majority position of the committee. [See text and action at 30-57 below. Also see Index, p. 760 for a reference to all relevant ext in 2001 and 2002 GA Minutes.] 30-55 Assembly Recessed The Assembly recessed at 5:30 p.m. with prayer by TE Stephen Leonard
to reconvene following worship this evening. Seventh Session - Thursday Evening 30-56 Assembly Reconvened The Assembly reconvened at 9:10 p.m. with prayer by TE Ron Bossom. 30-57 Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military (continued) The Chairman introduced TE Peter Lillback who also spoke to the report. Recommendations 1 - 4 were moved by the Chairman as a unit. He then yielded to TE Stephen Clark, who presented the minority report [Recommendations 1 - 3] as a substitute motion. The substitute motion was defeated. Recommendations 1 - 4 were adopted. Seventy-seven commissioners requested that their negative vote on the motion be recorded. The Assembly dismissed the committee with thanks. FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO 30TH ASSEMBLY (For the Pastoral Counsel of Members of the Presbyterian
Church in America) This committee presented its biblical and theological findings to the Twenty-Ninth General Assembly: namely, that it is the teaching of Scripture that men are duty-bound to defend women and children, both born and unborn. Our Lord gave Himself up for His Bride, the Church, and we are to follow Him by loving our brides as He loved His Bride, proving our love by giving up our lives for them. While it is true that women, also, are to care for the weak and defenseless, Scripture lays the man under a special obligation to follow Christ in this duty. If the Church Adopts the Language of Duty, Will Not Women Come Under Discipline? It has been argued that the adoption of any statement by this assembly declaring it the biblical duty of man to defend woman will have the unintended result of placing women of the PCA serving in direct combat military positions under session censure. This charge is groundless, flying in the face of the practice of the church and the teaching of Scripture concerning church discipline. Rather than protecting the women of the PCA, it serves only to cloud the issue, leading gentlemen to fear that, by voting in favor of the man's duty to defend woman, they may inadvertently place women at the center of battles in the session meetings of their home church. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples, and it is preaching, teaching, and pastoral counsel that are discipleship's normal tasks-not censure or excommunication. In fact, preaching is the first line of church discipline and this committee, by its report, calls the church to restore the public proclamation of the Word of God to the pulpits of our congregations. Through this committee's study, it has become apparent that the sin of our present circumstances is not that of women who have taken on the role of warrior-defender, but that of brothers, fathers, and husbands who have abandoned their daughters, wives, and mothers to the androgyny and sexual anarchy which has been the seed-bed of this violation of God's creation order. It is this sin which must come under the discipline of the church. Were the assembly to adopt this committee's recommendations, the fear of the courts of the church being filled with cases of men being excommunicated for their refusal to defend their daughters, mothers, and wives is rather comical. By the assembly's action, this sin would not somehow be raised above the sins of greed, lust, or envy. Discipline moves to censure, temporary suspension, or excommunication only rarely, and even then, only after preaching, teaching, and pastoral counsel have failed to produce the fruit of repentance, and the offense is so egregious that both the souls of the flock and the honor of Christ are placed in jeopardy. But Scripture Does Not Address This Issue Explicitly So the Church Must Not Speak: Quoting from this committee's minority report, text after text demonstrating the nature and meaning of sexuality "can hardly be raised to the level of a binding command (having) to do with.women in the military." Flying in the face of the history of interpretation on this issue, this committee's minority boldly claims that Scripture gives specific teaching that applies the male headship of the creation order to the home and church, but they deny the extension of that order to society: "Once we remove the biblical boundaries that authoritatively apply Genesis 1-3 to the relationship between the husband and the wife, we will be in danger of being left with an Islamic hermeneutic of the role of women in society." Church fathers such as Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Hodge would not have taken kindly to being placed in such company! Such statements effectively deny the good and necessary consequence doctrine of reformed hermeneutics (please see Man's Duty To Protect Woman, pp. 6-9, passim) Our committee's report establishes from the text of Scripture the general principles of male headship and the duty of man to protect woman. At the same time, our report also cites those instances in Scripture in which reference is made to these principles (e.g. Isaiah 3:12), thereby indicating that these principles are abiding laws for human life. Nevertheless, the minority report seeks to dismiss the implications of these principles for life and conduct. We remind the assembly that the arguments made by past assemblies against abortion come to us through the application of general principles and their confirmation in the Bible's obiter dicta (passing comments). Neither of the two texts most commonly cited in connection with the biblical condemnation of abortion-Exodus 21:22 and Psalm 51:5-directly address the ethical issue of abortion. Nevertheless, these texts confirm the Bible's fundamental presupposition of the sanctity of human life from conception. In the same way, texts such as Isaiah 3:12 are powerful doctrinal truths leading us directly to the timeless presuppositions of biblical sexual ethics. It will be a Pyrrhic victory if, seeking to prevent this assembly from acknowledging man's duty to defend woman, we embrace a hermeneutic that bars us from mounting a biblical case against abortion. Truth be told, there is significantly more data in Scripture leading us to proclaim the duty of man to defend woman than the data calling for the protection of the unborn. The Church is the pillar and foundation of God's truth. Our nation's
leaders and the members of the PCA are looking to the Church for godly
direction in this matter. This committee calls the Thirtieth General Assembly
to respond by adopting the following recommendations. FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF AISCOWIM TO 30TH ASSEMBLY 1. Acknowledging that the child in the womb is "a person covered by
Divine protection" (Statement
on Abortion, Sixth General Assembly); and that women of childbearing
age often carry unborn children while remaining unaware of their child's
existence; and that principles of just war require the minimization of
the loss of life-particularly innocent civilians; the PCA declares that
any policy which intentionally places in harms way as military combatants
women who are, or might be, carrying a child in their womb, is a violation
of God's Moral Law. Adopted
[Note: The following two pages contain the combined text of the actions taken by last year's assembly and AISCOWIM's final recommendations. RECOMMENDATIONS OF AISCOWIM ADOPTED BY 29TH ASSEMBLY: 1. That the Philadelphia Presbytery Overture, the PRJC letter, and the
Report of the Bills and Overtures Committee be answered by this report. The complete 2001 report of the Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in
the Military can be found in the Minutes of the 29th General Assembly at M29GA, 29-57, p. 258ff. That report is comprised of three
parts:
MINORITY REPORT TO THE 30TH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY This Assembly acknowledges that there are plausible grounds in Scripture, as interpreted by the Constitution of this denomination for members of this denomination, to conclude, with respect to their duty as citizens, that women may not serve in the military in various circumstances, and that women may not be conscripted for military service, though these grounds are not sufficient to require that same conviction of all of the members of this denomination. Therefore be it resolved that the 30th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America adopts the above as pastoral counsel for the good of the members, the officers, and especially the military chaplains, of the Presbyterian Church in America. Be it further resolved that the Presbyterian Church in America supports the decision of any of its members to object to, as a matter of conscience, the conscription of women or the use of women as military combatants.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO THE 30TH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY Additional Recommendations: 5. That the AISCOWIM has received Overtures 2, 21, and 26
to the 30th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America referred
to it by the Stated Clerk's Office. We answer them in the negative with
the rationale that they are answered in the report of the committee as
scheduled in the docket in both majority and minority reports. [See text
and action at 30-53, III, 7, p. 245.] Communications 1, 2 and 6 were not explicitly dealt with by the Women in the Military Committee, but were answered by Assembly action on the majority report. COMMUNICATION 1 from Mississippi Valley Presbytery
(to Women In Military) As a presbytery we would like to communicate to you the firm position of our presbytery in regard to the issue of women serving in combat in the military. After hearing reports and discussing the papers presented to the last General Assembly, we voted to affirm the 'duty' position and to urge our denomination to take a stand and communicate to our national leaders that women ought not to be allowed to serve in combat positions in our arms services. It is our hope that the Presbyterian Church in America will adopt this position and communicate that to Congress and to President Bush. Thank you for your faithful labors on behalf of our Lord's churches. May the Lord continue to bless you. Sincerely, COMMUNICATION 2 from Northern California Presbytery
(to Women In Military) ATTN: Study Committee on "Women in the Military" Dear Sirs: The Presbytery of Northern California passed the following motion at its March 5 & 6, 2002 Stated Presbytery meeting on the Report of the Ad Interim Study Committee on "Women in the Military":
In His Service, COMMUNICATION 6 from Philadelphia Presbytery (to
Women in Military) NOTE: This was an overture to Philadelphia Presbytery. It is a communication not an overture to the General Assembly. Whereas, the issue of the use of women in military combat has been a topic of discussion in the culture in general and in the PCA in particular. And, Whereas, the 26th General Assembly erected an Ad Interim Committee to examine the issue and report to the 27th General Assembly. And, Whereas, the report of the Ad Interim Committee on Women in Combat was not adopted by the 27th General Assembly, but only received as information. And, Whereas, there appears to be a growing likelihood that women will be put in harms way by being assigned to increasingly dangerous combat assignments. And, Whereas, it is the duty of the Church, as the pillar and foundation of the truth, to declare the will of God on all matters of faith and practice. And, Whereas, by not adopting the report of the Ad Interim Committee on Women in Combat, the General Assembly has, by default, declined to embrace a position one way or the other. And, Whereas, this implicit silence on the issue places the women in Philadelphia Presbytery in jeopardy by not providing them with the Church's declaration on the issue, leaving them to plead only their personal beliefs should they be conscripted. And, Whereas, the shortfalls in recruiting accompanied by the increasing demands caused by numerous deployments and escalating attrition of the ranks of the armed services is creating an environment in which conscription of men and women is becoming more likely. Therefore, be it resolved that Philadelphia Presbytery hereby adopts the report of the Ad Interim Committee on Women in Combat as our position. Be it further resolved that the adoption of this Ad Interim Report be communicated to the churches of Philadelphia Presbytery and that copies of the Report be sent to each Session to be kept on file and made available to members of churches that request it. /s/ Frank D. Moser, Stated Clerk Eighth Session - Friday Morning 30-60 Send Report of Study Committee on Women in Military to the President A motion was made and failed to direct the Stated Clerk to send the report of the Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military to the President of the United States. The Moderator was asked to rule the motion out of order as new business. He declared the motion to be in order, his ruling was challenged and on division the Chair was sustained.
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