Aimee Byrd, OPC and NAPARC - the patriarchal veil is lifted

I have the utmost respect for highly capable women who are finding their way within the bounds of complementarian/patriarchal churches.

• Beth Moore is a member in the SBC and has repeatedly affirmed the SBC complementarian stance and reminded detractors that her mission is specifically to Christian women. Yet, the comp/patriarchal leadership in her denomination and elsewhere continues to undermine her platform and message.

• Rachael Denhollander is also a member of a complementarian denomination. She has publicly stated that pastors and church leaders are cordial to her face, but backbiting behind closed doors.

• Aimee Byrd is a member of the OPC. She has the full support of her pastor and elders. Yet, again, behind closed doors in a private Facebook group, OPC and NAPARC pastors, elders and members are engaged in disrespectful and inappropriate behavior.

This fits in with the authoritarian/superiority theme. First off, these men are not arguing "roles" - they are simply pushing a framework of male superiority. They are pushing unwritten rules for how women fit into the family and church. These vile men are now trying to damage control since their comments have been made public. Keep in mind that the administrators of the group, including Shane Anderson (Ruling Elder, OPC) can delete any comments they find offensive! Although Anderson is probably one of the worst offenders.

Aimee Byrd's callout: https://aimeebyrd.com/2020/06/19/genevan-commons-and-the-qualifications-for-church-office/

Christianity Today writeup: https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2020/june/complementarians-closed-rooms-aimee-byrd-beth-moore.html

Commentary on the announcement of her new book:

- seriously, this is just vile


- PCA Pastor


Inappropriate lampooning of another book by Ms. Byrd




















^ OPC church planter










[Doesn't he seem to be acknowledging that this is inappropriate?] - Ruling Elder, OPC


Commentary on the actual cover photo:

- Associate Pastor PCA

 
more vileness


Comments about her press photo:


Conspiring to drum up official church trouble:

Kevin Medcalf, Jim Stevenson - OPC Pastors

More vile slurs (This is about Rachel Green Miller):

Steven Carr - Pastor RCUS


Note that the real fear seems to creep in "honored pastors" - the concern here is that Aimee's critique of misogynistic and patriarchal preaching in conservative denominations will somehow free women of their patriarchal manipulation and control. More comments about her look. More smears against women (sandwich + eisegesis).


Now the hard questions... The CRC was kicked out of NAPARC because of their egalitarian views. I think we should be pretty confident that the OPC and PCA will not act against these pastors and elders. What does it say for the sister denominations in NAPARC to hold full fellowship with a denomination whose leaders display such vile behavior.

Remember, Byrd is complementarian. What these pastors are saying is far beyond complementarianism and is much more akin to patriarchy and subjugation. These themes come out:

• Byrd's husband should be shutting her up
• Her session should be shutting her up
• She should go back to being a housewife and "sandwich maker"
• [Not imaged, but in the blog] Women should not be educated
• It's not okay to call these men's teaching into question

I hope this comes up front and center in church searches. Someone who wants to know the character of the OPC or PCA should find these comments - and know what to expect.

It would be something else if these were ordinary members in the OPC/PCA, but these are men who are seminary-trained, examined by their churches and denominations and found to be exemplary, and chosen by their congregations. These men TRULY REPRESENT the OPC and PCA denominations, and that is scary!

An article about Christian nationalism sheds light on RPCNA practices...

I'm not generally a big fan of Al Jazeera, which seems to be a pro-Islam media site, but this article really resonated with my RPCNA experience.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/power-worshippers-american-religious-200422144158404.html

It is, in fact, modern in its methods and doctrines, which "notwithstanding their purported origins in ancient texts have been carefully shaped to serve the emotional needs of its adherents, the organisational needs of its clerical leaders, and the political needs and ambitions of its funders".

Translation, there is a triangle of power inherent in Christian fundamentalism. The adherents give money to support politicians and church leaders in exchange for the feeling of moral superiority and being part of a righteous movement. The church leaders get money, power and prestige in exchange for preaching political talking points and delivering members as a voting bloc to politicians. The politicians get votes, money and power in exchange for championing moral legislation and appearing onstage with religious leaders.

Al Jazeera: What are some of the ways in which the emotional needs of adherents are exploited by movement leaders? 

Stewart: Among the emotional needs of some adherents is a desire for a certain empowerment as members of a special or uniquely virtuous group of people. So religious nationalism goes overboard in insisting on the unique virtues of the religion and culture with which its followers identify.
   An additional emotional need of some adherents, exploited by leaders of the movement, is to validate feelings of grievance and resentment, and to focus them on some imagined impure "other," a scapegoat.
   Christian nationalism, like other forms of religious nationalism around the world and throughout history, delivers a set of persecution narratives that represent the "good" religious people as under threat and as victims of an evil "other".

So, religious nationalist organizations, like the RPCNA, encourage their adherents by creating a cultural narrative that is equated with righteousness. In the RPCNA, it is "National Reform" - that is, a focus on theocracy (a national covenant), and a political focus on specific moral issues, especially abortion.

Al Jazeera: How have the doctrines been shaped to meet the needs of the movement's clerical leaders?  

Stewart: Fundamentally the doctrines of religious nationalism reinforce authority - of scripture, of course, but also the authority of religious and political leaders.
  This is what religious nationalism does around the world. Their doctrines make an absolute virtue out of obedience to a literalist or strict interpretation of their religion.

Wow, she pretty much nails the RPCNA here. Under the guise of faithful obedience to God, the church promotes a narrow interpretation (WCF and RPCNA Constitution), especially as it relates to the authority of, and unquestioned obedience to, the church and her leadership.

Al Jazeera: Who funds the movement, and how have the doctrines been shaped to meet their needs?

Stewart: The movement has multiple sources of funding, including small-dollar donors, various types of public subsidy and funding, and affluent donors.
  Many of those affluent donors belong to super-wealthy hyperextended families. So it is not surprising that many of the doctrines the movement favours are about money. They say the Bible and God oppose progressive income taxes, capital gains taxes and minimum wage laws. That the Bible favours low taxes for the rich and minimal rights for the workforce. They argue that environmental regulation, regulation of businesses, and public funding of the social safety net are "unbiblical" or "against the biblical model".
  In this way, I think, Christian nationalists have betrayed what might have been their strongest suit. Christianity, as most people understand it, has something to do with loving our neighbours. But leaders of this movement have thrown in their lot with a bunch of selfish economic reactionaries who tell us we don't owe anybody anything.

I've always wondered this... why does the RPCNA argue against welfare, when the OT provided welfare - and it wasn't about reforming welfare, but eliminating it altogether.

The article goes on to trace the origins of the Christian nationalistic movement, and it is deeply troubling. The RPCNA, which held deep convictions against slavery and racial injustice, with churches serving as stops on the Underground Railroad, got duped into supporting pro-segregation southern theologians like Jerry Falwell and Bob Jones, who were looking for another source of tax-sheltered funding, because "segregation" lost as a worthy cause of support.

Despite the fact that most evangelicals were initially in favor of abortion laws, Falwell and Jones were able to galvanize support under a "pro-life" stance, which delivered the power proposition to conservative denominations and political leaders.
---

This article really put things neatly together. For example, I've had minor skirmishes with a few RP pastors over the teaching of the Bible, the WCF and the Constitution. Practically, what I found was that their authority trumped all of the above. When I backed them into a corner, that was the argument ender - not the Bible, not the church standards, but their claim to superiority.

I also had a rude awakening to the whole scheme when the local Right-To-Life chapter refused to endorse an obviously pro-life candidate. They had a FAQ on their website that explained that "electability" was one of their criteria in endorsement. So, their goal was not to endorse all issue-qualifying candidates, but to deliver a bloc of voters to the candidate of their choice. In fact, that was a lie, too. The next election was a pro-life incumbent Democrat vs. a pro-life Republican. They endorsed the Republican, despite the electability. Hmmm.

Since then, I realized that pro-life is such a galvanizing issue among Republican politicians that they dare not do anything to change the status quo. This is done under the guise of virtue signaling - that is, they cannot allow the state to give out free condoms that are proven to reduce the abortion rate, because they must take the moral high ground. Of course, they compromise on welfare laws, they compromise on healthcare, they compromise on educational funding and homeschooling laws, they compromise on protection of rights, but for some reason, abortion is all-or-nothing, or at least abortion can only be dealt with by making it harder to get, not by making it unnecessary in the first place, through better sex education, better consent laws and better reproductive services.

More calls to fast...

Racial injustice has come to the forefront with the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Organizations everywhere are looking outward and inward to see how they have overlooked or ignored institutional racism.

Not surprisingly, in the tradition of Reformed introspection, Geneva College has called for a fast. President Calvin Troup has made the following statement:

Here are some categories for prayer:

• Our Own Hearts: Pray that the LORD might root out sin in our own hearts, particularly cleansing us of prejudice and every form of pride. That we might turn toward our brothers and sisters to serve one another with grace and outdo one another in showing honor—thinking of others as more significant than ourselves, looking to the interests of others rather than our own interests, and seeking the good of our neighbor.

• Geneva College: Pray that that the LORD will make Geneva College a home of healing and hospitality and refuge against racial injustice, where we can experience the wholeness of Christ’s body, learning what is good—to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God…together.

• Beaver Falls: Pray that the LORD will lead us through the City-College Alliance to dismantle racial injustice and to cultivate peace in our local community through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Government: Pray that the LORD might establish justice in practice through governing officials that identify and replace unjust laws, enforcement practices, and policies; replacing them with laws that reflect biblical principles of justice and righteousness.

So, note that in every category, there is the implied presence of culpability and sin. Our hearts house prejudice. Beaver Falls has racial injustice to dismantle. Our Government needs to replace unjust laws... But Geneva... yeah, Geneva has no need to repent or consider introspection of her sins contributing to racial injustice.

I think this reflects perfectly the Reformed response to cultural sin. The problem is not the RPCNA church or its leadership. The problem lies in individual, non-ordained members, or outside.

I believe racial injustice is simply a reflection of the tribalism and xenophobia present in our culture, in sinful combination with the authoritarian bent. It is not just racial injustice. Authoritarian police brutality knows no limits.

The two common tenants of this institutionalized injustice...
1) Might makes right - whether this is "spiritual authority", "parental authority", "governmental authority" or simply financial or physical superiority, our culture assumes that the lesser should defer to the greater.
2)  Generalization, categorization and confirmation bias - it is hard to be fully informed about all these issues, so we tend to accept the opinions of others and then are tuned to experiences that confirm our generalizations. As an example, we hear talk about "liberal Christians", and despite the fact that many of them love Jesus just as we do, we associate all these stories of their theological struggles as evidence that they are simply desiring to justify their sin.

My experience with Geneva. They hired off-duty, WHITE, police officers from the Beaver Falls police department as security guards. They allowed the police unfettered access to harass and threaten students in the presence of the Student Development department, including the Dean and Assistant Dean of Students, without so much as a raised eyebrow or a request to tone it down, or even reminding students of their Constitutional rights.

In exchange for this access to students, the Beaver Falls Police Department allowed the college to internally investigate and punish crimes without any sort of public disclosure that might damage the college's reputation. This isn't limited to Geneva, many colleges and universities either have their own police department, which does damage control, or has close relations with a local police department. For example, BYU had a relationship with the local police department. The police department illegally forwarded reports by rape victims who were students at BYU, and then BYU would expel the women for "morality code violations" they found in the reports. These sorts of scandals have been exposed at The Master's University, Bob Jones University and even public universities like MSU where Larry Nassar had unquestioned access to molest his patients.