GEERINGDECISION Confusion Not Resolved

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31522, 9 November 1967, Page 26

GEERINGDECISION Confusion Not Resolved

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, November 8

“No-one can doubt Professor Geering’s sincerity and goodness—indeed his ‘here I stand’ speech before the bar of Presbyterian orthodoxy has something of the appeal of the similar stand made by Martin Luther in the face of the Catholic Church,” says this week's issue of the Roman Catholic newspaper, “Zealandia,” in an editorial.

“We all admire the rebel who has the courage to stick to his guns in the face of strong opposition. The real question is: Where does this leave the Presbyterian Church, now that it appears to have sold orthodox Christianity down the river? And where does it leave us in our ecumenical endeavours in relation to the Church? “It seems quite clear that if the decision put forward by the General Assembly is a real doctrinal decision and not just an emotional reaction to a sincere defence by a patently good man whose brilliant eloquence can make a rather flimsy argument sound much more persuasive than it really is, then we are wasting our time engaging in ecumenical discussion. CHURCH POSITION

“For the Roman Catholic Church will never accept the notion that the gospel she teaches is a tissue of manmade doctrines and dogmas which now have to be abandoned.

“Between Professor Geering’s position (which now appears to be that of the General Assembly) and the Roman Catholic position, no reconciliation is possible. “But it seems most unlikely that the General Assembly’s view does really represent the views of the ordinary Presbyterian. Indeed, it may be no more than a decision made to avoid issuing an official condemnation of a sincere man.

“Even so, It is likely to cause more bewilderment rather than to resolve the present confusion.” DIFFERENT VIEW

The editorial says earlier that after listening to and reading the professor’s defence it became clear that (a) he was a brilliant orator, (b) the one firm doctrine he held was faith in God. and (c) his view of Christ and Christianity was quite different from that held by Roman Catholic Christians.

When the assembly held him innocent of any error in doctrine it became clear that the official Presbyterian Church in this country accepted the Geering premise that every Christian was free to make up his own gospel and that faith was the sole plank of the Presbyterian platform.