Grace Presbyterian Church

Last Sunday, I went to Grace Presbyterian Church in Layton, Utah. Grace Presbyterian Church is part of the Presbyterian Church in America. The Presbyterian Church in America is the largest conservative branch of Presbyterianism in the US, and the second largest Presbyterian Church in the US after the more liberal Presbyterian Church USA.

To avoid giving my readers a headache from the very long and convoluted history of splits and mergers that is the Presbyterian Church in America, let me give an extreme simplification of it. This follows the pattern of a number of churches in America. There was a mainline church which began modernizing in the early 20th century. Many in the Church disagreed with this modernizing. One group split early on and formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (which I blogged about earlier). In the 1970's conservative Presbyterian bodies that had split from the mainline bodies merged into the Presbyterian Church in America which continued acquiring several other conservative bodies. Meanwhile, most of the mainline Presbyterian churches merged into the more liberal Presbyterian Church USA.

This lead to the common pattern we see in many churches in America of a moderate to progressive branch (in this case the Presbyterian Church USA), a strongly orthodox and conservative branch (the Orthodox Presbyterian Church), and a church that falls somewhere in the middle (the conservative Presbyterian Church in America being this church).

Beliefs of the Presbyterian Church in America:

• Belief in the Trinity.
• Belief Jesus is the Messiah and second person of the Trinity fully God and fully man.
• Mankind is sinful and totally depraved due to Adam's first sin. All of mankind is born worthy of Hell and damnation.
• God has chosen people from every nation and time to save through his own mercy. These sinners are undeserving of God's mercy.
• Christ's death and resurrection atoned for the sins of those he would save.
• The Spirit sanctifies those who God has chosen to save.
• Those whom God has chosen to save are saved by grace through faith alone. They will endure to the end and lead lives pleasing to God.
• The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God.
• At death, the souls of the saved go immediately into the presence of God. All others go to Hell for all eternity.
• Baptism by pouring, sprinkling, or immersion for infants and adults. Sign of entering into the Covenant with God.
• Christ will return.
• Practice communion as a means of grace.
• Sex outside of marriage is sinful.
• Homosexuality is sinful and contrary to God's will.
• Divorce not permitted except in the case of adultery or abandonment.
• Abortion in all cases is wrong.
• Women may not be ordained to the ministry.

So what was a Sunday like at Grace Presbyterian Church?

Atmosphere:

Grace Presbyterian Church is a beautiful, modern building. Originally the building was a Lutheran church but was sold to the Presbyterians. They have maintained the beauty of it. The exterior is a white brick building that is spiraled like a nautilus shell. There are lovely gardens outside which include trees and flowers.

The building has a couple stained glass windows. This one is my favorite.

The interior of the chapel was lovely. I'm sure when the Lutheran church was here it was probably slightly more ornate. But Presbyterians being Calvinists, simplicity in worship spaces is always the order of the day. But this chapel proves that simplicity doesn't mean it can't be pleasing to the eye or elegant. I loved the shape of the room, the lighting with both natural and artificial light, the cross on the wall behind the sanctuary, and the overall appearance of the room.

Overall, very elegant and simplistic atmosphere with lovely design.

The People:

There weren't a lot of people in this congregation, maybe 20 to 30 at most. The congregation was mostly white and people of every age, though primarily older. When we first entered the building, there was a man, who later turned out to be the pastor, who came and greeted us. He gave us a quick tour of the church and welcomed us. Most people didn't really go out of their way to talk to us, but a few did and nobody seemed to question why we were there or not want us there.

Overall, the people seemed warm and friendly. Not much else to say about them.

The Service:

The service was fairly basic, and what I've come to expect from traditional Protestant services. The really nice part about it was the music. I'm amazed that of all the churches I've visited, that violins and cellos haven't really been utilized. But instead of a contemporary music band up front, they had people playing string instruments and violins in a very traditional manner.

They sand a traditional hymn, the pastor offered an opening prayer, announcements were made, a few more hymns were sung, and a collection taken. There was then a confession prayer done. This was pretty much just the pastor up in front praying to God explaining to him all the horrible things we do as people, but assuring that God's grace will save us.

Afterward, the pastor gave the sermon, per usual, more about that in the next section. After the sermon, there was another hymn and a blessing given from the Bible.

Overall, very basic service. The music was amazing. I wish I could hear more violin and cello music in churches.

The Message:

The sermon was part of a series on the Ten Commandments. This week's sermon was on the sixth commandment, "You shall not murder," or more poetically in the King James Version, "Thou shalt not kill."

The pastor started by saying that very few of us have ever actually killed anybody and that this commandment often seems the least relevant to our lives. But, that this commandment has a lot of relevance to us today.

He said that children witness thousands of murders before their eighteenth birthdays and most of these simulated on television. He said that we are a culture obsessed with violence, death, and murder in our entertainments. He talked about how we become very desensitized to these acts of violence to when we see them in reality, they often don't carry the same amount of shock that they should. Indeed, it takes more and more violence to shock us in our entertainment.

He borrowed a phrase from Pope John Paul II that he feels sums up our society, he called us a culture of death. He said that this persistent violence has caused us to cheapen life. But that this isn't anything new. He talked about how ancient cultures all had prohibitions against murder, but that these cultures often had laws about vengeance that were brutal and often involved murder. But that the Bible puts human life on a pedestal and God truly values life as this commandment says.

I have to say, this is complete rubbish. The Bible doesn't put a strong value on human life. There's the commandment not to murder, then there are plenty of offenses that are capital offenses. Among them are:

• Working on the Sabbath.
• Not being a virgin on your wedding night.
• Being a rebellious child.
• Incest.
• Cursing the name of God.
• Murder.
• Adultery

The Bible also has God commanding genocides, allowing people to slaughter entire towns and take up wives from the surviving inhabitants. The Bible puts no more value on life than any other ancient culture. We've just grown accustom to not reading the Bible or looking at unsavory details of it through rose tinted glasses. The Bible's morality is far more brutal and inconsistent than our modern morality. It's an ancient book with ancient values that are very troubling to our modern sensibilities and have to be explained away to most audiences.

He then talked about how we all are guilty of enjoying violence in media. He even listed some of his favorite shows that were violent proving he's not above this. He didn't offer a solution to this. He said that we can't just live in a world where all we do is watch The Andy Griffith Show and pretend everything is fine. But that we need to address just how much we have come to glorify violence.

I liked this part of the sermon. Whether you agree with him or not, he does touch on a very real issue with no easy solution.

He then lost me with this statement. He said that our culture allowing things like abortion or teaching evolution cheapens life. When you're just another rung on the latter, life is meaningless so it's easy to not value life.

For the sake of a shorter blog, I'll leave the abortion portion of that out. Abortion is a very complicated subject with a lot to talk about and I can see where he comes from on that. But evolution, no. We're going to talk about that. I talked about that with the Seventh-day Adventist blog, but evolution doesn't cheapen life. Not for most. Evolution doesn't just say we're another rung on the latter. Characterizing this is a misrepresentation of evolution. Evolution simply says that over time, species change in relation to their environment. Those most suited to their environment survive in larger numbers and survive. Those not well adapted to their environment die out over time. That's it. We're not progressing towards something greater and greater with some end goal of a perfect species. We're simply adapting to our current environment. Humans are able to control our environments allowing us to adapt to diverse environments, but we adapt nonetheless using air conditioning, heating, farming, etc. A polar bear isn't any better than a lion. Both would die in the other's environment because they're not suited to it. But in their native environments, they flourish because they adapt to it.

I hate that he had the nerve to say believing in evolution was on par with accepting murder. Evolution is just a scientific truth we've uncovered. It has no moral teaching in and of itself. But for me personally, evolution doesn't cheapen human life. Instead, it makes it more meaningful for me. Instead of thinking we're these creatures God put here to subdue the earth, I realize now that we're just one species among many, and we rely on them because we're part of their web of life. All life becomes meaningful at that point. The fact that we're the survivors to this point together is pretty remarkable.

American religious culture has this horrible habit of painting evolution and any science that disagrees with a very narrow view of the Bible as evil and murderous. If you believe in these things, you're evil and no better than a murderer is what is said from the pulpit. Of course people aren't going to investigate this stuff. They're scared of losing their souls or that they'll become monsters. Most only parrot what the church or pseudoscience literature say about it in order to keep their faith strong. They're not truly interested in science, but in maintaining their beliefs at any cost. This has got to change. Science isn't the enemy. Science has helped us extend our lifespans, visit space, create medicines, expand our populations, live in places once considered uninhabitable, etc. These advances are due to the same things that led us to understand evolution, in fact, much of modern medicine depends entirely on our understanding of evolution. Denying science is a death warrant for sliding back into another dark age.

Overall, other than the evolution comment, I felt that this was a good sermon to bring up because people do need to talk about things like this. Whether you agree or not, at least the discussion is being had.

Overall Experience:

The church atmosphere was good, the people friendly, and believe it or not, I even liked the sermon and found it engaging. I had a good time at Grace Presbyterian Church. I don't know that I would go back, but it was rewarding to go.

Additional Notes:

Only four more religions left! It's so exciting being at this point. I have something special planned for all of you after this blog is done, but I need to get more details on it. Thanks to everyone for everything so far.

Until next time, peace be with you.

Going to see the Orthodox Presbyterians

This will be the third Presbyterian church I've been to during this blog expedition. All branches of Christianity (and religion in general) have a spectrum of belief from conservative to liberal, orthodox to modern. Presbyterianism is no exception. The Presbyterian churches I previously attended were the Presbyterian Church USA and the Japanese Christian Church. Both of them are more theologically modern and, especially on the part of the Presbyterian Church USA I visited, more theologically liberal.

This week; however, I will be attending the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church split from the Presbyterian Church USA in the 1930's over what it saw as an alarming trend towards modernism. As the name implies, they seek to adhere to the traditional, conservative doctrines of Presbyterianism. These include:

• The Bible is the Word of God, completely free from error and trustworthy in all matters of doctrine and practice.
• The Bible is the only source of revelation of God.
• Belief in the Trinity.
• Total sovereignty of God, nothing is beyond his control or will.
• Mankind is totally depraved by nature, dead in sin due to Adam's transgression.
• Christ is fully God and fully man, incarnated through the Virgin Mary.
• Christ's atonement frees man from the burden of sin and fills mankind with God's redeeming grace.
• Christ's atonement is limited, only for those God has predestined to save.
• God predestined the fate of each person. Those whom God has chosen to save will end up in Heaven all others will end up in Hell.
• Those whom God has predestined to save, the elect, will find his grace irresistible and seek to please him in their lives.
• Those who believe seek to keep the Commandments because they love God, not in an attempt to earn salvation.
• Ministry of the Church, particularly of preaching and the sacraments of baptism (both adult and infant) and the Lord's Supper (in which Christ's body and blood is spiritually present among believers).

Additionally, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church generally espouses conservative social values and practices:

• Prescribed gender roles for men and women.
• Condemnation of homosexuality.
• Condemnation of abortion except in the case of the mother's life being in jeopardy.
• Belief the Roman Catholic Church is in extreme error in doctrine and practice.
• Barrier method and rhythm method birth control are allowed, while other methods such as morning after pills or IUD's are considered sinful as fertilization may have happened at that time.
• No sex outside of marriage.
• Communion for only those who are Christians in good standing with their church and of a similar understanding of God's word.
• Belief in creationism and denial of evolution.

The church that I'm attending is Berean Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The interesting thing about them is that they do not have a permanent building. Instead, they meet in the chapel of the United Church of Christ here in Ogden. I find this an interesting pairing as the Orthodox Presbyterians are extremely traditional and are theologically conservative, whereas the United Church of Christ is what is referred to as Progressive Christianity which seeks a modern interpretation of scripture, theology, and tradition. I have already covered the United Church of Christ, in fact, it was my very first blog. I may stay for both services just to enjoy the diversity of the Christian spectrum a bit.

Until next time, peace be with you.

The Bells of First Presbyterian

Today I went to First Presbyterian Church in Ogden, part of the Presbyterian Church USA. How was my first time in a Presbyterian church?

Atmosphere:

First Presbyterian Church is located in downtown Ogden. The church is a brick building that is more modern in design.

The interior was quite interesting. It was a sleek, modern design offset with traditional elements. Blocky shapes and straight lines, open undecorated spaces, mixed with traditional stained glass windows and lit candles. The people who designed this church designed it well seamlessly mixing modern and traditional design. I feel this really accented the type of faith these people have which blends modernity with tradition.

Overall, the building was amazingly beautiful and felt very homey. Well done for atmosphere, First Presbyterian, well done.

The People:

As soon as we walked in the door, we were greeted by several people. One lady who was handing out programs asked if we'd ever been then told us welcome and that there would be a present for us afterward. She then came and sat with us showing us the hymns and just helping us follow along with the service, which I thought was really sweet.

A number of people came over and introduced themselves to us, one of them was an old professor I had met a in college. They seemed genuinely happy that we were there and I didn't get the feeling from anybody that they were just playing nice, but that we weren't welcome. They seem like a very genuine and inclusive bunch.

The Service:

The service was a very traditional Reformed service just like I was expecting. Basically what that means is that it took some of the structure of the Catholic Mass, but stripped it of the pageantry and structured prayers and ritual elements, focusing instead on preaching and impromptu prayer and simple ritual.

The service began with a few announcements, and they presented us visitors with goody bags, which I really thought was cute.

The service then moved into a musical introduction. The musical was quite beautiful for one reason, they mixed traditional organ/piano music with that of a live bell orchestra. The opening hymn was a duet with the piano and a woman tapping the bells. The song was called, "Celtic Farewell" and definitely had an Irish feel to it. I was very moved by this and that alone made the trip worth it.

Afterward there was a call to worship and an opening hymn followed by a confession. At the end of the confession, the associate pastor gave a pronouncement of pardon saying, "You don't have to seek out God's forgiveness. It has has already been done for you. There is nothing you have to do to. Just believe it, because this is the good news of the Gospel."

They then exchanged the Peace like Catholics do. This means turning to your neighbor and offering them a sign of peace, such as a handshake, etc. This is one of my favorite Christian traditions because it offers warmth and community in the service which I feel is important.

The pastor then gave a heartfelt prayer over concerns of the world and concerns of the local congregation. Afterwards there was a reading from the Old Testament. The reading was from Ezekiel and talked about God being the true shepherd.

After the reading, there was a musical number called "10,000 reasons." This number was done entirely with bells. This time they had about a dozen people up in the front of the church each playing one or two bells. The musical number was quite beautiful.

They then read a New Testament scripture from the Gospel of John, the famous passage where Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd.

A sermon followed, more on that later. After the sermon, they recited the Nicene Creed and then took up an offering as the bell orchestra played another song, "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho." There was then a final hymn and prayer before dismissal.

The service what I expected it to be. What really elevated it to a truly beautiful service were the bells. I highly recommend you check out First Presbyterian for the bell orchestra alone.

The Message:

The message was simple, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we should be his sheep, we should remember that our leaders should serve the people not the other way around, and that Jesus is the only true way.

I have always hated the imagery of us as sheep following Jesus. The pastor even brought up the very reason I take issue with it. In his own words, "Remember, sheep are dumb." Now the pastor wasn't saying we need to be dumb, but rather we need to trust in the Shepherd because he's wiser than we are. But I take particular issue with being sheep blindly following someone because we are dumb.

A lot of New Testament imagery encourages Christians to be dumb and naive. Jesus tells people to be like children or to follow him as the Good Shepherd. I don't like this because when taken at face value, it says that you shouldn't think critically. You should be simple, just accept what's taught to you, don't question it. If you do, you're a lost sheep and need rescuing. This is a manipulative message and in the wrong hands has dire consequences. Because God is never the one actually leading these flocks, it's man with their own agendas who are leading these flocks. People listen to them because they are speaking for God, but if the people blindly follow these men and their interpretations of scripture without question, we have seen just how disastrous it can become.

I am not saying Christians are in large part dumb and naive. That's certainly not the case and many are well respected scholars. But the idealization of being dumb and naive is found within the pages of the Bible and enshrined in Christianity. This is not a positive message and one that should be examined more carefully by Christians.

Overall Experience:

I really enjoyed my time at First Presbyterian. The people were so warm and welcoming, the service enriching, and the atmosphere elegant. In spite of my issues with the message of the Good Shepherd, I really loved the service and would definitely return.

Additional Notes:

I'm really enjoying this blog, it's opened so many lines of communication and doors I never expected to see. I want to thank all of you for reading it.

I have not decided where I am going this next week, but I will let you know.

In other news, I will be leaving the country for a year starting in August. I landed a job in China. Therefore I will not be able to continue this blog through the end of the year as was my intention. That being said, I am still dedicated to getting 52 faiths in by the time I leave. This means there will be many more weeks with multiple services in them. I hope you enjoy my journey as I amp up the pace with these churches.

Expect 4 different churches for the Christian Holy Week. I will be doing one for Palm Sunday, one for Maundy Thursday, one for Good Friday, one for Holy Saturday, and one for Easter Sunday.

Can't wait for this experience. Until next time, peace be with you.

Get ready, Presbyterians, I'm coming to see you!

This Sunday, I will be visiting First Presbyterian Church here in Ogden which is a member of the Presbyterian Church USA, the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the US which resulted from the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

Presbyterianism is a mainline Protestant religion, meaning that it is a historic branch of Protestantism going back to the Reformation. Presbyterians have their origin in Scotland, where it is the historic religion of the Scottish People. Historically, Presbyterianism has been a Calvinist tradition. Calvinism is a traditional Protestant theology with it's five major points being:

• Total depravity of Man: That is that mankind's nature is to be an enemy of God and to only serve our own desires.
• Unconditional election: God has already decided from the foundations of the world who will and will not be saved and it is based on no merit of the individual. Nothing you do can determine if you will be saved.
• Limited atonement: Jesus's sacrifice wasn't for all mankind, but only for those whom God elected to save.
• Irresistible grace: That those whom God has elected to save cannot resist the gift of salvation. Essentially, if God has chosen to save you, you will be saved.
• Perseverance of the saints: Those whom God has elected to save will be faithful to him to the end. Those who fall away were not truly saved to begin with.

The Presbyterian Church USA has modernized as time has gone on and allows a spectrum of belief within their congregations. Essentially, they are rooted in their Calvinist history but informed by modernity which I like.

Some of the more modern aspects of the faith:

• Ordination of women
• Open discussion on allowing homosexuality
• Academic approach to studying the scriptures
• Diversity of beliefs
• Gender equality
• A focus on human rights

I'm quite excited to see this church in action and I'm looking forward to my first adventure in a Presbyterian Church.

Wish me luck. Until next time, peace be with you.