THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (SINGAPORE) STORY
Introduction
History is of great importance to man. As the saying goes, "those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it". From the study of history we know our roots and the reasons for calling ourselves Bible Presbyterians. If we believe that Presbyterianism, as practiced by our Bible Presbyterian Church, is that ecclesiastical system which is most biblical, then we must embrace it, protect it and defend it. It is difficult to ask someone to defend, protect and love something he has little knowledge of. Wolves in sheep's clothing will come in to undermine the church, thinking that they are doing God’s work by "opening the eyes of the blind Bible Presbyterians". Some might try to convert us to a "Bible" Church without its PRESBYTERIANISM or make us into a Presbyterian church without it being a BIBLE Presbyterian church.
I believe that if we know the following three important factors, we will remain steadfast and be thankful to God for our heritage as Bible Presbyterians. We will not only love it but we will heartily promote it and defend it unto the glory of God. The three factors are: the history of the B P church of Singapore; the doctrines which are unique and distinctively BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN; and PRESBYTERIANISM rather than Baptist or Methodist or Anglican or Congregationalist.
The Split in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
In the year 1936, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. split because of liberalism and ecumenism. This did not happen over night. The events which led to this split began on 26 December, 1923. In that year, a committee of 149 Presbyterian clergymen met in Auburn, New York to issue an "Affirmation". The "AFFIRMATION" asserts that:
a. the General Assembly was wrong to require all ministerial candidates to hold to the five fundamentals which are the inerrancy of the original manuscripts of Scriptures, Christ's virgin birth, His vicarious atonement, His bodily resurrection, and the reality of miracles as recorded in the Scriptures;
b. neither the Bible nor the historic creeds taught inerrancy;
c. tenets such as Christ's virgin birth, vicarious atonement, bodily resurrection, and miracles were theories;
d. the General Assembly had unconstitutionally declared belief in these doctrines as essential for licensing, ordination, or good standing in the church.
e. the General Assembly had no right to bind presbyterians to any "essential and necessary" doctrines unless the presbyteries themselves so voted.
By 1926, EIGHT foreign missionaries had signed the Auburn Affirmation and FIVE of the fifteen ordained officials of the denomination's Board of Foreign Missions were Affirmationists. In 1932, William Hocking, Chairman of the Commission to look into Missions Work, wrote a book called "RE THINKING MISSIONS". In it, he advocated uniting Christianity with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism in a common front against the enemy of materialism.
This downward slide brought about a confrontation between the conservatives and the liberals. So in 1933, Gresham Machen exposed a number of the liberal missionaries in his debate with Robert Speer, Chairman of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. No house cleansing was achieved nor was compromise allowed. That same year Machen formed the Independent Board of Foreign Missions.
From 1934 to 1936, Machen, Carl McIntire and J. Oliver Buswell, together with seven other Bible believing pastors were placed on trial. They were de frocked by the General Assembly in 1936. In that same year, they formed the Presbyterian Church of America but had to rename it to Orthodox Presbyterian Church because the Presbyterian Church in U.S.A. wanted to sue them over the similarity of names.
The Split Within the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
In the year 1937, Machen, the founder of OPC died. That same year, Carl McIntire, J. Oliver Buswell and Allan MacRae came out of the OPC and founded the Bible Presbyterian Church and Faith Theological Seminary.
THREE major issues caused the Split in the OPC:
a. A Mission Issue--Should OPC continue with an Independent Board of Foreign Missions which co-operate with non Presbyterians such as Baptists, brethren, etc? The OPC said NO. McIntire and company said YES as long as they were fundamentalists and separatists it does not matter which denomination they came from.
b. A Moral Issue --Should the denomination officially recommend total abstinence from intoxicating beverages to all its members? The OPC said NO. McIntire and company said YES.
c. A Doctrinal Issue --The Bible Presbyterians were exclusively pre millennialists whereas the OPC was made up of both A millennialists and pre millennialists.
Thus we see that the three doctrinal issues which gave rise to the birth of Bible Presbyterianism were Non-Presbyterian Missionary Support, Total Abstinence and Pre millennialism. [to be continued]
<1> David O. Beale, In Pursuit of Purity, (Greenville, South Carolina: Unusual Publications, 1986), 149, 155 156. For the complete text of the Auburn Affirmation see The Presbyterian, January 17, 1924, 6 7. Also appears in Edwin H. Rian, The Presbyterian Conflict, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing House, 1940), 291 7.
<2>"The same church, which in 1893 had suspended Charles A. Briggs for denying the inerrancy of the Bible, now readily suspended seven conservative ministers for their insistence on obeying the same inerrant Word" (Beale, 319). In 1955, Chester Tulga, a Baptist, made this interesting observation in a paper entitled The Theological Situation in the Conservative _Baptist Movement: "It is strong men who formed movements, weak men mould them, eventually pervert them and then purge the original founders who will not compromise their convictions" (Beale, 321, n. 9).
<3>Beale, 323 4.