'Forgive, forget and move on!'
There is an approach to the problems of the Free Church of Scotland which can be put like this: 'We have all made mistakes. Let's just forgive and forget the past and move on from there. We must get back to the task of preaching the gospel. Don't you see the world out there is perishing?'
There is something very appealing about this proposed solution to the Church's complicated situation. It offers a way in which the knot can be cut at a single stroke, time saved for us all and the past wiped out. This solution also has the merit of sounding very spiritual. After all, the Saviour did call on his people to forgive and to turn the other cheek. If somewhere someone has done evil would it not be best to leave it all to God to put right in the great Day of Judgment? Let the whole thing go, and get back to the task of preaching. It certainly has a welcome sound. But is this really a spiritual or a good solution? What are the objections to it?
Impossible
Firstly, this approach is wrong because it is now impossible to put the Church back to where it was some ten years ago by a mere formula of 'forgive and forget'. The stubborn fact is that the rumours which have rocked the Church in these past years have altered the Church itself and damaged it very seriously. The Free Church of Scotland once took very high moral ground and not many years ago was a bold outspoken critic of the moral evils of this nation. It was not afraid to expose the sins of even those in high places of the land. Our Church was renowned for righteousness. We could then expose sins because we ourselves had a reputation as a Church. Our name was good at home and abroad. But we can no longer take up that high moral posture. Our public utterances and our writings do not challenge the sins of the day in the way they used to do. We have lost our moral credibility. The world can now smile at us and say: 'Put your own house in order first!'
Damaged reputations
Secondly, we cannot just 'forgive and forget' because recent events have left a train of terrible casualties behind them which cry out for remedy. The reputations of many ministers and men have been attacked and they have often had no opportunity to defend themselves. The reputations of many women have been damaged - some of them Free Church members - and they have not had the Church's compassion sufficiently shown to them. Deep divisions have been opened up in the Church over unresolved issues which cry out for action to put them right. Someone somewhere is lying and it has not been sufficiently cleared up who it is that is guilty. As in all such evil times, the general unrest has provided a climate in which the spirit of indiscipline has been able to flourish and grow. The fear of God meantime grows weaker among professing Christians.
Need for Church Discipline
Thirdly, above all, it is the biblical duty of all churches to see that discipline is realistically exercised over its members. How can any church pray for blessing on its preaching when it is guilty of the glaring fault of not having done what it could and should have done to see that biblical discipline is maintained in its midst? How can any church expect the people of the world outside to believe its message if it has a poor reputation itself for godliness of life and behaviour?
Required action
But what is the kind of action needed? It is this. There ought to be a libel served on the person or persons at the centre of the evil rumours within the Church. This is the legal and the time-honoured way by which Presbyterian churches in Scotland have dealt effectively with such evils as the present one in our Free Church.
The 1996 Trial
'But' says someone, 'surely the court case of 1996 has gone into all that and has settled the matter'. The answer is that it has not settled the church issues which need to be settled. Criminal courts do not take to do with sins but with crimes against the laws of the land. A thing which is not punishable under criminal law may be very censurable at the level of church law. Further, a church cannot just let the verdict of a criminal court stand as if it were its own verdict but should conduct its own ecclesiastical trial, especially when the rumour of scandal still goes on and when a deep sense of injustice within the church continues to be felt. Moreover there were matters of procedure in the 1996 trial which we believe were contrary to natural justice in that men who could ably demonstrate their innocence were declared to be guilty of conspiracy without ever having been given the opportunity to appear in court and defend themselves.
No trial yet
The problems at the heart of the Free Church of Scotland today have not been, in our opinion, handled in the right way. There has never been a church trial. The result is that the Church which we love is riddled with suspicion of scandal and many are outraged at the way in which injustices are left undealt with. There is no other way open to the Church to put its present evils right. If people feel that there is a 'cover-up' or if they really believe that there is not fairness in the Church, they may be patient for a time. But sooner or later they will vote with their feet and they will go to some other church. This has started already and is likely to accelerate as time goes by. The great question is: Will the Church grasp the nettle?
Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the editor.
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