Bible-Presbyterian churches (Singapore)
| Bible-Presbyterian Church | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Presbyterian, Fundamentalist, Evangelical |
| Origin |
1955 Singapore |
| Separated from | Presbyterian Church in Singapore and Malaysia |
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Congregations | 32 |
| Members | 20,000 |
The Bible-Presbyterian Church was a conservative reformed denomination in Singapore.[1] It existed from 1955 to 1988. Since that time, Bible-Presbyterian churches have continued to exist separately. The movement grew out of the Bible Presbyterian Church in the United States. As of 2009, there were 20,000 members in 32 churches.[2]
Roland Chia suggests that the BPC was noted for a belief in literal six-day creation and a preference for the King James Version.[3]
History
The Bible-Presbyterian Church was founded in 1955 by Timothy Tow. Tow had been influenced first by John Sung, and later by Carl McIntire. He was strongly opposed to liberal theology and ecumenism, and the Chinese Presbyterian Synod was connected to the World Council of Churches. A conflict ensued, and a number of churches left the Synod. Tow had been the pastor of the Life Church English Service at Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church, and left to form Life Bible-Presbyterian Church.[4]
In 1988, after experiencing a period of significant dissension, the Synod of the Bible-Presbyterian Church voted to dissolve itself.[5] According to Roland Chia, it was "mainly due to strong differences in interpreting the Doctrine of Biblical Separation, Fundamentalism, and Neo-Evangelicalism".[3]
Divisions
Fundamentalist and evangelical
The Bible-Presbyterian churches are essentially divided into two factions. One group of churches subscribes to the fundamentalist stance of the founders; the other considers itself to be evangelical. This latter group of churches is denounced by the former to be "neo-evangelical" or "liberal", and are often called "the new B-Ps" because of a different interpretation on the doctrine of "Biblical Separation". The evangelical branch of Bible Presbyterian churches embraces the fellowship of any church and seminary that professes evangelical Protestant Christianity and extends cooperation with para-church organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ International. Thus, many aspiring ministers prefer an evangelical seminary (such as Fuller Theological Seminary, Singapore Bible College, Trinity Theological College, Singapore or University of Nottingham) over the B-P's own seminary, Far Eastern Bible College, which is fundamentalist.
Verbal Plenary Preservation
In the early 2000s, there was a debate in the denomination over Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP), which argues that the bible is 100% preserved till the point that "no jot or title shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled" as quoted from Matthew 5:18.
The fundamentalist faction supported VPP and from there, claimed that the Greek Textus Receptus/Majority Text and the Hebrew Masoretic Texts underlying the King James Bible were the supernaturally, perfectly preserved texts since they were made available throughout church history without corruption, unlike the older texts underlying the modern versions. They point out how God would preserve his truth throughout all ages without needing his followers to excavate for them and thus, the Byzantine Texts and Masoretic Texts which were made available to Christians throughout church history were to be favoured.
On the other hand, the evangelical camp denounced VPP and felt that it reinforced KJV-Onlyism, of which is unscriptural. The camp views VPP proponents as erroneously combining the doctrine of the inspiration of scripture and divine preservation of only one particular type of text. The fundamentalist's conclusion is that all New Testament and Old Testament manuscripts besides the KJV are corrupted, as opposed to the perfectly preserved text that underlies the KJV. But the accuracy over the Textus Receptus underlying the KJV is doubted, since there are close to 2,000 areas whereby Erasmus's Textus Receptus differs from the Majority Text (the text which he complied from) and 52 variations have been found within just two verses within the Majority Text. Therefore, the Evangelicals conclude that the Textus Receptus is seen to not be the perfect copy of the original autograph.
See also
References
- ↑ Ahn, Daniel S. H. (2015). "Changing Profiles: The Historical Development of Christianity in Singapore". Religious Transformation in Modern Asia: A Transnational Movement. Brill. p. 258. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- ↑ Benedetto, Robert; McKim, Donald K. (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Reformed Churches. Scarecrow Press. p. 438. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- 1 2 Chia, Roland. "What led to formation of Bible-Presbyterian Church?". Retrieved 4 September 2015.
- ↑ Quek Suan Yew. "Our History". Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
- ↑ Tow, Timothy (1995). The Singapore B-P Church Story (PDF). p. 216. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
External links
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