 | The Reverend Doctor Cathy Northrup was born in Ft. Meade, MD, and was raised in a variety of places in the United State and Germany, as her father was in Counter Intelligence with the Army. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, with a double major in English and Religion. She graduated from Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC, and practiced law with the Federal Reserve Board for a number of years before attending Union Theological Seminaryin Richmond, VA. She graduated from Union, and served several churches in North and South Carolina, at the same time obtaining her Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Northrup is currently the Pastor/Head of Staff of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita, KS. She is married and has two black Labrador dogs who were rescued from abusive situations. You can contact Dr. Northrup at cnorthrup@firstpresbywichita.org or by phone at (316) 263-0248, ext. 26. |
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ANSWER: I know that many people have wondered about this issue. Let me say two things about it. First, I believe that all that any generation needs is contained in the Bible. The Bible may not, for example, give us a specific answer to a question in our time such as stem cell research, but it does give us principles to use in determining an answer. Also, God has given us minds to use in his service so that we might think on our own, based on the principles in the Bible.
The second thing I would say is that we continue to be "inspired" by God through his Spirit each time we read the Bible in faith. We should test our "inspiration" to make sure it does not contradict the Bible, but we also have to allow God's Spirit to inform our understanding of what is written in the Bible. The great motto of the Reformation was "the church reformed, and always being reformed, by the Word of God and the Spirit." That is what Presbyterian Christians still believe today.