Reasons for Ecclesial Resolutions of 4 March 2018
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The Resolutions to which this wiki is a partial response were moved as an amendment when the following was moved:
The "following" was not "moved". Rather, it was a suggestion to have the matter considered by the AB's on behalf of the ecclesia to have it discussed and clarified. It was a misunderstanding to interpret my suggestion as a motion to be moved for adoption in the March business meeting. Hence we are where we are because of that misinterpretation -
- Colin, you may be right: My recollection is that the Chair pressed you on the question of whether you wanted the meeting to decide to refer it to the AB committee; on the other hand I have no recollection of a seconder. I certainly believed that I was moving an amendment to a motion. Please see the discussion page for my suggestion.
If we seek a clarification of thinking for the benefit of members who may not be aware of the ramifications of biological evolution, we could consider for adoption the following:
"For the sake of clarification, we confirm our belief that:
- Adam was real and miraculously created by God from the dust of the ground as the first man of the entire human race, and declared to be "very good". Eve was created from Adam's rib and became the mother of all living.
- Because Adam sinned in disobeying God's law in Eden, God brought upon him the sentence of mortality, which condition (involving a tendency to sin) is common to all his descendants, the whole human race. We all sin which brings death as its due.
- God's plan to redeem mankind from this circumstance was to bring about a man (Jesus Christ) begotten by the Holy Spirit from Mary with our nature but who would voluntarily overcome sin by perfect obedience and offer himself as a sacrifice for sin. It is through his sacrifice that those believing the truth of the gospel and baptised into him, may obtain forgiveness of sins, be reconciled to God, live a godly life, and eventually be delivered from the body of this death if they are adjudged worthy to receive eternal life when Christ returns.
- We do not believe any theory of creation requiring an evolution of humans or other beings which were contemporary with (or prior to) Adam, nor that God's plan of redemption involves any other than the human race descended from Adam.
- We do not agree to anyone at Sutherland Christadelphian Ecclesia promoting directly or indirectly such views as in No 4 above, in any form, either to our members or Christ's household anywhere else, nor accept it from any other Christadelphian.
This is not intended to alter our acceptance of the BASF and is not an addition or elaboration of it since the Scriptures in the BASF are clearly conveyed in this Statement."
The wording of the amendment echoes the statement of the Watford Ecclesia's arranging brethren reporting in 1966 that they had recommended that their ecclesia withdraw fellowship from brother Ralph Lovelock, which said in part:
We wish to make it perfectly clear that we are not closing our eyes to the problems that confront us when the theories of modern scholarship are compared with the understanding and interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis commonly accepted among us, although we would emphasize that there is by no means complete agreement among scientists themselves concerning the ideas they advance, and a so-called fact of one generation may sometimes become merely the fancy of the next.
At the same time, we are strongly of the opinion that the problems that undoubtedly exist should be frankly admitted by us as a community, for we do naught but dishonour to the word of God by pretending that these problems are not there. Our Brotherhood bears a responsibility to those in search of Scripture truth, and especially to those of tender years, to turn its attention to the solving of these difficulties in an atmosphere of calm, sincere, conscientious study, unhindered by the rumours, mistrust, suspicion and hasty judgments that have been all too prevalent among us in recent times.
