Documents of Synod:
Studies of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod
(1965 to 1982)
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ABORTION COMMITTEE REPORT
[154th General Synod Minutes, 21 May 1976, p. 137; Documents of Synod, pp. 18.]
Dr. Mark Pett presented the following:
Dear Fathers and Brethren:
The continued committee on the study of abortion respectfully declines
to fulfill the task given to it and asks that the committee be dissolved.
The majority of the committee has come to conclude that we should not
deal with the material requested of us. While the committee agrees that
there are deficiencies in the present report, it is of the opinion that
answering the questions given to it by Synod will not rectify those deficiencies.
For in some cases the Synod has asked for explicit ethical statements
concerning matters which can be inferred from the principles contained
in the present abortion report (post contraceptive devices, abortion as
a contraceptive form, population). In other cases the Synod asked for
answers to questions which are either beyond the ethical scope and abilities
of the committee or concerning which there appear to be legitimate differences
of opinion among Reformed Christians (the presence of the soul from conception,
the relationship between the soul and physical life).
It appears to the committee that the Synod request, agreed
to in haste during the closing hours of the 1975 session, is simply a
request for amplification of the principles already contained in the present
report. Such amplification is clearly within the facility of RPCES ministers.
Further, it also seems evident to the committee that there is a danger
of developing a detailed casuistry at the Synod level if responses to
the questions posed in the Synod request are given. We, the members of
this committee, fear an ethical legalism more than we fear that the ministers
of our church will not be able to handle the questions posed by Synod
on the basis of the Scriptures and ethical principles already enunciated.
We urge the dissolution of our committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Nixon
Douglas Rogers
Mark Pett, Chairman
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ACTION
Synod adopted the recommendation and dissolved
the committee with thanks.
[Documents of Synod, page 18.]
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