July 2009 New Horizons

The Seventy-sixth General Assembly

by Peter J. Wallace

After forty-two years, the Seventy-sixth General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church witnessed the completion of the work of what may be the longest-serving special committee in the history of the OPC: the Committee on Revisions to the Directory for Public Worship. The same Assembly also handled what may have been the shortest appeal in OP history: approximately thirty-five seconds! Since there were two appeals related to the same case, when the Assembly determined to send the first appeal back to the presbytery, the second appeal became moot, and so there was no point in discussing it further. The moderator of the 76th General Assembly, the Rev. William Shishko of Franklin Square OPC in Franklin Square, New York, presided with wisdom and justice. In his opening remarks, he warned the Assembly about the lightning speed with which he would call speakers to order if they wandered from the subject being discussed, adding that "in New York we have defined a nanosecond. A nanosecond is the amount of ... Read more

Darwin on Christian Theism

by William D. Dennison

While Calvinists celebrate the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth this year, secularists are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. On this occasion, let's examine Darwin's argument against Christian theism as stated in his autobiography. Darwin claims that he gradually lost his "orthodox" Christian beliefs during his famous voyage on the Beagle from 1836 to 1839. However, his "Christianity" was only a religion of morality, based on his mother's Unitarianism. Moreover, he disdained the God of the Old Testament as a vengeful and untrustworthy "tyrant." Four more points were important in Darwin's thinking. First, the more science reveals the "fixed laws of nature, the more incredible do miracles become." Second, the Synoptic Gospels differ on "important details" and thus do not provide the accurate reportings of eyewitnesses. Third, only science can explain the modern world. Finally, Christianity cannot be true because of the "damnable doctrine" of everlasting punishment. ... Read more

Total Depravity

by "Uncle Glen"

Dear James, I cannot express my horror at learning about the bus accident that involved several Rutherford athletes last week, nor my relief in hearing that all lives were miraculously spared. I am sure that the trauma over the campus will not lift for a while, especially as the campus awaits news about the extent of the survivors' critical injuries. No doubt this has provoked discussions in the classroom and in the dormitories. You are not alone. Other small colleges have experienced damaging wildfires or deadly flooding. The episode brought to mind the grief I experienced during my sophomore year at Rutherford when a classmate died of leukemia. He was a model student—why did God strike him down in the prime of his youth? What did he or his family do to deserve this? Meeting his family at the funeral made the grieving only harder—why did God allow this to happen? Tragedies like these should prompt humble reflection on God's higher ways, as your chaplain has apparently suggested. The trend ... Read more