Ruling Elder Robert Mattes made PCA history tonight with his reference to H.P. Lovecraft, the father of modern horror-fantasy.
Robert was speaking against a proposal to change the PCA Book of Church Order to forbid intinction (taking communion by dipping the bread into the wine).[Correction: He was actually speaking in favor of forbidding intinction, see his comment below.] The motion carried and will be sent down to the presbyteries for ratification and a second vote at the next General Assembly in Charlotte.
The floor debate was long, and somewhat heated, and in the end the motion carried by a mere FOURTEEN votes out of around a thousand commissioners on the floor.
The problem with the motion, in my view, is that it singles out one non-biblical practice which is very ancient and ignores other more egregious violations of apostolic practice such as swapping grape juice for wine or using tiny plastic shot glasses instead of a common cup.
Hi Travis,
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you again at GA! Thank you for recording this historical highlight. I mentioned this here at fellowship Sunday, and very few even knew who Lovecraft was. Sad. At least they knew what Dagon was (nothing!).
For the record, though, I was speaking FOR the minority report & substitute motion to forbid intinction in the BCO. Although I agree that we have other issues, this was the one that was overtured and on the floor for discussion at the moment.