Atheist Joins Presbyterian Church

[VickiVM]

It's just that "joining" mean different things to different faiths, denominations, churches.

I forgot about this -- did we ever figure out what "joining" means in the Presyterian Church?

Members are received by either 1)profession of faith, 2)Re-affirmation of faith, or 3)letter of transfer from another church

Apparently, Jensen did profess his faith, just not in the traditional way or words we associate with faith. St. Andrews' session board (current governing church elders) found his profession of faith to be satisfactory to them. Oh, and he had evidence, I believe, of being baptized as a child in a Presbyterian Church.

PCUSA's Book of Order does not have a series of questions with "correct" answers to ask a person desiring membership. That's really the crux of the entire debate.

If you want to dig into the minutes of the Mission Presbytery Meeting you'll find more details - too much for me to post:

http://www.mission-presbytery.org/downloads/Jun06PresMin.pdf

 

[Conservative Hippie]

This could only happen in Austin. If you've never been there... Austin is a liberal island in a vast sea of conservatism. Have you seen that blue dot in the middle of Texas on the red/blue political map? That's Austin! There's a bumper sticker around here that says, "Keep Austin weird!" Very appropriate!

That being said, this gentleman could not be a member of my church if he didn't confess Jesus as Lord. He'd be welcome to attend, but could not "officially" become a member.

Exactly.

Anyone who wonders why I'm called the Conservative Hippie....I live in Austin.