The other Presbyterians

Published 6:30 am Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Presbyterian Church USA made headlines last week when the majority of its churches voted in favor of a measure allowing homosexuals to be ordained as ministers.  The vote scrapped the church’s constitutional requirement that its ministers live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.”

    Rev. Janet Edwards, the Moderator of More Light Presbyterians, wrote in a website commemorating the event that, “together we are building a Church that reflects God’s heart.”  Michael Adee, More Light’s Executive Director added, “It is necessary and absolutely OK to celebrate this moment in the life and witness of our Church, the end of categorical discrimination against God’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) children which was wrong in the first place.”

    The key issue in this and any other moral question facing a Christian congregation or individual centers on what the basis for

“wrong in the first place” will be, and whether “God’s heart” is revealed in the Holy Scriptures or by the ballot box. Orthodox, evangelical Christians believe that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God, while liberal theologians reject literal interpretations in favor of a more elastic application of the Scripture.

    On this issue, the premise for embracing homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle ignores the clear moral teachings of both the Old and New Testaments and instead uses cultural attitudes and norms to re-define right and wrong.  Nonetheless, from God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Abraham’s day to Paul’s defense of traditional marriage in decadent Rome, the message of Scripture is consistent.

    This conflict between literal and loose interpretations of the Bible has been raging for centuries and is the reason why there are so many different denominations today. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) split from the Presbyterian Church USA in 1973 when the parent organization began rejecting the authority of Scripture. Another split occurred a few years later when the Evangelical Presbyterian Church split again from the PC USA on similar grounds. Today the PCA and EPC stand in stark contrast to the PC USA on everything from abortion to homosexuality.  Baptist and Methodist denominations had similar splits.

    Those outside the church may view these arguments as irrelevant. But I suggest that ultimately core beliefs really do matter, and that the basis for those beliefs should be Scripture alone.  Like it or not, everyone has a foundation for what they believe to be right or wrong, whether philosophy, tradition, personal opinion, or perceived social norms.

    Should the Church mirror the morals of modern society, or reject moral relativism by proclaiming the unchangeable truths found in the Word of God?  Doing the latter may invite ridicule and accusations of intolerance, but is the purpose of Religion to serve the masses, or the One who created them?   The answer to that question has lasting consequences.

    Craig Ziemba is a pilot who lives in Meridian.