Dear Friend,
As you might imagine, though I have for many years prayed for you regularly, I have prayed for you with greater vigor over the past several months. As you also know, over the past year my heart has grieved over the gross and heinous sins committed by men who were both dear friends of mine, and men I believed to be zealots for the Reformed faith. If you had asked me four years ago to list the ten people I thought, in all the world, were the most committed to the Reformed faith, on that list would have been D— X—, who is now excommunicated for her unrepentant and ongoing adultery, T— Q—, who has been deemed repentant by his presbytery, and is out of the ministry, J— Z— who likewise has been deemed repentant by his presbytery and is out of the ministry, and you.
I don't know if you remember what was to me the single most memorable moment in all my seminary classes. As we turned our syllabus page for Dr. Pratt's class, having looked at the story of David and Bathsheba, he explained why the usual little drawing, the memory aid to help us understand the message to the original audience and to us, wasn't there. He said that when he had taught this before in Jackson, at this point in the class he would take the class into the hallway, and, moving from graduating class picture to graduating class picture point out all the men who were out of the ministry because of sexual sin. Then he said something like this, "If you think you can't fall into that kind of sin, you're next." There are any number of tips that can help us flee evil. But there is only one underlying safeguard. We must cling to the cross of Christ. And I am asking you to do the same.
Everyone agrees, I think, that private sin should be dealt with privately, and public sin publicly. And everyone agrees that God forgives the repentant, and we must do the same. The trouble is, that doesn't cover everything. First, there is the question of what is public and what is private. It is my contention, and I believe, of course, a rational one, sins of sexual infidelity are not private, but public. The reason is simple—the vows we are breaking in that context are public. Marriage is not a private matter, and neither is it a private matter when a man's private parts are sexually engaged with another person, male or female. Neither, by the way, are ordination vows a private thing.
Your sins, therefore, with your student G— that I know of, are public sins. (And the circle extends to at least me, since I am the one who encouraged him to go and study with you.) The only way out is the only way there has ever been, true repentance.
I don't know why you have been either silent on this, or why you have denied it. My guess is that it is related to one of your mentor's rather unusual understanding of repentance. I remember giving some counsel to one elder before he had to go deal with a wife seeking a divorce from her adulterous husband. He agreed with you and with your mentor that if the husband was repentant, then she could not divorce him. I shook that elder up when I reminded him that he could not discipline someone for being within the bounds of the Confession, just because some in leadership were outside the Confession. The truth is that confessing to G— and his wife does not end the matter. (Especially when you refuse to answer any further on the matter to the presbytery you formed. I've seen the evidence, and it is damning.) You have wronged me. You have wronged your dear wife. You have wronged your presbytery. (And worse still, you have fallen into the very sin you suffered under, violating I Corinthians 6. You should be ashamed.) You have wronged your congregation. You have wronged your office in a most grievous way. You need to publicly repent of this, and do it now. You should call the men that remain in your church first, and tell them what this is really about. Then you should hand in a confession and resignation either to every man that is in the old presbytery you dissolved, or the new one you made up.
When we spoke about this you expressed how weary you are. You expressed that you were dumbfounded as to why G— would do this to you. You expressed anger at the other TE in your presbytery, who only wanted to see you find repentance. The only thing you didn't express was repentance for your sin with G—. Since that time you have continued to break your vows and to lie to your congregation as you try to escape what God in His mercy has set before you. You are sinking deeper into your sin, and in doing so not only making a mockery of your years of service, but mocking the God you claim to serve.
I know I have no standing with you in a Presbyterian sense. You will remember that I would not help form presbytery with you. Part of my motivation was—wrongly—public relations. But part of it was to ensure that I didn't place myself in a de facto sense, outside real authority. I have always wanted to be in a place where I knew I could be held accountable. You have done the opposite, and now your soul is in grave danger.
I can't imagine how difficult it would be, to do what I'm urging you to do. I can tell you this. First, I'm not interested in tagging you with a label. As far as I'm concerned the far greater issue than G—'s gender is his relationship to you. He was your sheep, and your student. That's the issue. And second, while I believe your confession must be public, and while I believe you must never again act as a minister of the gospel, I believe in the forgiveness we receive in Christ. I want nothing more than for you to enjoy that peace with God, and for us to enjoy peace together. I want your life to continue to be a testament to the grace of God in Christ.
In the King's Service,
RCJR