Big Change - in the positioning for the Church Manual

[BobRyan]

In my opinion the "best kept secret" of the .... is still a great secret.

It is true that the big "benefit" of the GC session is not a secret. We have God's appointment in a leadership team and we have solid support for the Bible doctrine on origins that forms the foundation for the Sabbath Commandment.

That is not "news" any more.

What is still "not discussed" is the sobering fact of the Church Manual.

Our records show that when the manual was first introduced in the 1800's there was a lot of debate and a lot of assurances that the manual would NOT turn into canon law -- but rather was simply "good suggestions" from the GC leaders.

Under that mandate - many "suggestions" have gone into the manual over the decades. Afer all - what harm could a "few more suggestions" do?

However based on the votes I saw taken at this GC session - they slapped a label on the manual that now makes it "Canon Law" (Here I am clearly borrowing a phrase). Get ready for your new Church manual my friends. It now owns you.

Some might conclude (as I tend to think) that this vote to make the Manual binding rather than "a suggestion" totally eclipses the issue of the 28 FB.

As for the rationale behind the vote - read the first two pages (pages 1 and 2 in chapter 1) of the existing manual published in accord with the 2005 session -- very carefully.

It appears that taking this final step - places chapter 1 - at odds with the "introduction" to the church manual.

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I am placing this here - since the GC 2010 discussion forum is ending;

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in Christ,

Bob