This passage stuck out to me yesterday at church:
You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? (John 5:39-44)
The last sentence is exactly where the RPCNA is right now. The RP leadership is a bunch of people seeking the admiration and approval of... each other! Maybe some are deluded into thinking they're serving God but that's not what's happening in practice.
I overheard an elder at his own relative's funeral talking to another elder. "Hey, it's probably not the best time, but I really want to know what everyone thought about the Presbytery report I wrote." I was pretty shocked, to say the least.
The rest is just spiritually abusive. A bunch of people that are trying to win each others' approval, but then trying to convince the flock that they are really 100% devoted to serving Jesus. So, when they parade their buddy in front of the congregation and nominate him as the next elder. It's about serving Jesus. When they remind people they need to unquestioningly obey elders, it's in the name of Jesus. When they bemoan people leaving the church, it's all because they loved them to the best of their ability and not because they were faithfully tithing while members.
As I said before, not every elder is an abusive wolf, but the system is maintained by and for abusive wolves. When the wolves want the ends, the means are not a concern, but when the wolves are unhappy with the ends, the means must be critically assessed. The people who write complaints about presbyteries "binding their consciences" are the ones who gleefully tell people what they must and must not do from the pulpits.
To look at Odom's paper in light of this. The RPCNA handling of IRPC did not achieve Odom's ends, therefore the means are suspect. He attempts to expose procedural errors the GLG made. However, when talking about how the elders of IRPC handled the case, the means must be flat out ignored because they were trying to attain (by his estimation) the right ends. When you unravel the IRPC fiasco, it's just a bunch of powerful good old boys protecting each other. Faris, Olivetti, Magill, Larson, Odom, Perrin, all trying to win points with each other. I'm sure there are others in that network. Faris listed a bunch of names who approved of the "grace" offered to Olivetti by serving him communion.
