Regarding Moderator Gray's recent letter: For those outside the church to become members means that they are to be baptized. The baptismal questions suggested in the Book of Common Worship (BCW) make a definite connection between trust in Jesus Christ and obedience to his Word. An honest and authentic answer to those questions would bar anyone who refuses to repent of what Scripture calls sin from being baptized and thus from joining a Presbyterian Church.

The BCW has three sets of questions and in each the renunciation of what the Bible calls sin is part of the baptismal promises. While the Book of Order states clearly that "Refusing people membership in the church for reasons not related to profession of faith in Jesus as savior is forbidden," the BCW makes clear exactly what matters are related to profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. The BCW introduces these baptismal/profession of faith questions by having the Minister of Word and Sacrament say: Through baptism we enter the covenant God has established. Within this covenant God gives us new life, guards us from evil and nurtures us in love. In embracing that covenant, we choose whom we will serve, by turning from evil and turning to Jesus Christ. As God embraces you within the covenant, I ask you to reject sin, to profess your faith in Christ Jesus, and to confess the faith of the church, the faith in which we baptize.

Here are some of the questions from each set: Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? Or: Do you renounce all evil, and powers in the world which defy God's righteousness and love? And Do you renounce the ways of sin that separate you from the love of God? And Will you be Christ's faith disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love to your life's end? Or: Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? And Will you be Christ's faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love? (BCW, Baptism, pp. 406-408)

Can those questions be administered with integrity by a person who knows that the required affirmative responses are false? Or perhaps something is heretical in our Book of Common Worship?

Sincerely,