‘I found my faltering and uncertain
faith had been stimulated by this humble Free Church minister,’ wrote
journalist Kevin McKenna in the Daily
Mail. His subject was David Robertson, Moderator of the Free Church of
Scotland, and minister of St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee, where attendance at
services has grown from 7 to over 250 since his ministry there began in the
1990s.
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| David Robertson |
David Robertson takes no personal credit
for this. He told the journalist, refreshingly that ‘The only thing that would
bring people here would be the knowledge that God lived here too’; McKenna
concludes that Robertson ‘is fast becoming the most important Christian leader
in Scotland.’
But this is the man who in a recent
public debate with another McKenna, Scott, minister of Mayfield Salisbury
Church of Scotland in Edinburgh told him that if he were a member of St Peter’s
Dundee ‘I’m sorry, I would have to say this. I would excommunicate you.’
The background to this is as follows:
David Robertson had disagreed with something Scott McKenna said in a sermon
about the way Jesus removes the barriers between us and God. To Scott, the
teaching that Jesus died as our representative, our substitute, bearing on our
behalf the wrath of God so that our sinfulness can be forgiven portrays God as
‘vindictive and immoral’ in requiring sacrifice before forgiveness can be
given.
David pointed out (correctly) that this
belief was central to faith in the New Testament, and has been a key Christian
conviction across the centuries, though he accepted that other pictures are
used to describe what Jesus achieved (for example overcoming powers of
darkness, paying a ransom, setting captives free.)
After a private meeting, Scott invited
David to take part in a public exchange on their views at his church. 250
people attended the event on 30th September – there’s a full
transcript on David’s blog https://theweeflea.wordpress.com.
The debate covered a couple of topics
besides the significance of Jesus’ death.
Both men agreed that the Bible was inspired by God, but Scott pointed
out that it was also a very human book, written in specific cultural contexts,
and must be interpreted in the light of this. On the future of the church in
Scotland, David was forthright: the Church of Scotland was ‘dying’ because it
did not preach the whole gospel as David defined it.
Throughout the debate, Scott emphasised
that both men were on the same journey, a journey with Christ, in and towards
God. David (though tempted as he said in a later blog post to agree in order to
make things easy for himself) could not conscientiously accept this.
Because Scott didn’t hold to a
fundamental belief about how Christ
saves us he was not, in David’s eyes, a genuine Christian. ‘I had hoped for
Scott’s conversion,’ David wrote afterwards in his blog.
My place on the spectrum on belief is
between these two men, but closer to Scott than to David. Over the years I have
journeyed towards Scott’s view of the Bible – and I believe God has led me in
this journey of re-thinking.
On the issue of Jesus’ death, I accept
he took my place; I accept that ‘Jesus died for my sins’; I say this with a
loud Hallelujah! But I don’t believe it is appropriate to judge who is ‘in’ and
who is ‘out’ on the basis of this issue.
Scott sees in David ‘a real love for
Jesus which I certainly share myself.’ He speaks of being ‘secure in the love
of Jesus.’ But in David’s eyes, far from
loving the same Jesus, Scott believes in ‘a different Christ.’
I couldn’t disagree more with David on
this. I believe the pictures the Bible gives us are there to help us understand
something immense beyond our ability to comprehend. The Christ behind these
pictures is the same Christ, the sole Christ, and that if we entrust ourselves
to Christ, then whatever our particular views on how Jesus’ death ‘worked’, we
are nourished in taking the bread and wine.
Surely what matters is love for Jesus, and
Jesus-inspired love for others, not precise doctrine? Jesus didn’t teach
substitution in his encounters with people. For him it was ‘Follow me! Love me!
Obey me! Be born again!”
Like David, I am passionate about Jesus
(though mine is a gentler passion than his). I am passionate about the power of
Jesus to change lives and change society, to bring us hope and a future.
And for all his bluntness and occasional
unwise words, I love David Robertson as a Christian brother. I am simply
concerned that he doesn’t recognise that many of us in Scotland whose
understanding on some issues differ from his, are sisters and brothers, not
enemies; partners of the living Jesus.
(Christian Viewpoint from the Highland News dated 22nd October 2015)
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