Presbypalooza -- Whatever happened to the Trinity

I’m writing just after having voted against the Trinity Paper presented by the Office of Theology and Worship. This paper has kicked up considerable controversy because of its very subtlety – in the opinion of many, the paper blurs our understanding of the very names of the Triune God whom we worship. I have some serious concerns about this paper, and I was in support of a substitute motion that would have referred the paper back to the Office of Theology and Worship for a further two years of input from churches.

By a very narrow margin (thirteen votes, if I have my numbers right), the Assembly voted to approve the paper.

Quite honestly I don’t know what this does for the church. I wonder if people will get the difference between receieving a paper and approving a paper (one ammendment changed the language so that the Assembly technically didn't approve the paper) – I have heard many say that this Trinity paper will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back – that we will no longer be an orthodox Christian church. Have we indeed slipped into some kind of neo-gnosticism?

I will say this – I am very, very concerned.

And so I affirm my friends
I believe in God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I trust in God's soveriegnty and that out of this troubling development, His glory may yet increase.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell