Why Presbyterian and Not Pentecostal?

[Apologetic_Warrior]

Hello everyone. As you probably could guess, my name is Troy. As a student of Lee University, I have a history assignment that is due this Wednesday. My assignment is to write a one page letter as if I am a Presbyterian, and is a letter to a pentecostal. It is supposed to be a letter that explains my faith tradition as opposed to their faith tradition. The only thing is, I belong to a pentecostal church (in real life) and do not know very much about Presbyterians. This is where you guys and gals come in. I know that all Presbyterians are Calvinists (though not all Calvinists are Presbyterian), which is why I have chosen this forum in hopes that my Presbyterian family here could help me out.

Why are you Presbyterian and not Pentecostal? I urge you give a wide variety of reasons why this is so, but on each reason please keep the information fairly short. I hope that those who are able help me with this assignment will do so and thus be gracious by blessing me with such help.

Dear Troy, sorry my response is about ten years too late, and I hope the assignment turned out favorably. For all I know, you're a Presbyterian yourself at this point, doubtful I'll ever know this side of Heaven. Interesting assignment you were given, kind of a thought experiment, an attempt at putting yourself in another person's shoes. I suppose the reason your post caught my attention, is because I grew up attending mostly Pentecostal Churches (especially an Assembly of God Church), I acknowledged Christ as Lord and Savior in one, and Baptized a couple months later at a young age. So I thought of Christianity through the lens of Pentecostalism, and held to it, until around the age of twenty eight. There is no way I could briefly explain everything that led to me becoming a Calvinist, but one of the chief contributors was through experiences of defending the faith, growth in the field of Christian apologetics, and really spending time thinking issues through, more than that, wrestling and wrangling with my theological assumptions at the time. Anyway, I was simply a "Calvinist" for some time before embracing Presbyterianism. Even so, I tend to have a high degree of appreciation for all conservative "Calvinists", whether they be Anglican, Baptist, etc. The shortest answer to your question that comes to mind is, because God sovereignly conditioned all of my experiences such that I would become a Presbyterian, and He knew every last detail that would cause, bring this into motion, before the foundation of the world, and this according to His purposes, for His glory. Thanks for asking, God bless.

 

[JM]

Why are you Presbyterian and not Pentecostal?

Most Reformed/Calvinistic folks would probably say because the canon is closed, that means no more prophecies, God has spoken.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I know that all Presbyterians are Calvinists (though not all Calvinists are Presbyterian)

just fyi, fwiw, iywtk (if you want to know),
I know a member of Presbyterian Church
who is not Calvinist. (They told me freely).

 

[Apologetic_Warrior]

I doubt many are aware of the EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church), from their about page:

"Our name describes us well. The EPC is both evangelical and Presbyterian. We are evangelical in our zeal for the gospel, as well as evangelism, missions, and living obediently as followers of Jesus. At the same time, we are rooted deeply in the Protestant Reformation and especially the theological and pastoral work of John Calvin. We embrace the Westminster Confession of Faith as our doctrinal standard, and the rule of spiritually mature elders linked together regionally as the best way to guide local congregations.

When the EPC started in 1981, we determined that we would not disagree on the basic essentials of the Christian faith, but on anything that was not essential—such as the issue of ordaining women as officers or practicing charismatic gifts—we would give each other liberty. Above all, we committed ourselves to loving each other and not engaging in quarrels and strife. The result is that when we get together in our regional and national meetings, we spend most of our time in worship and fellowship and almost none in arguing with each other.

The EPC consists of more than 600 churches with approximately 145,000 members. We have a world missions program with a priority on sending missionaries to unreached people groups. We are eager to plant churches across the United States and especially in urban communities and college towns. Our desire is that every one of our congregations will be an outpost of the Kingdom, with every member viewing himself or herself as a missionary on a mission." source (bold and underline by me for emphasis)​

So not all Presbyterians can be said to be cessationists, and the same goes for some Calvinistic Baptists who might describe their view on charismatic gifts as "cautiously optimistic", using memory without checking for any changes on the matter, a few names that come to mind are Wayne Grudem, D.A. Carson, and John Piper...hmm...come to think of it, Carson identifies more as a Reformed Evangelical, while Grudem and Piper identify as Baptists. Anyway, there is a variety of Reformed and Calvinistic denominations across the globe today.