Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dvnspc1!tom@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Gay Ordination in the Presbyterian Church Message-ID: Date: 4 Apr 91 05:57:58 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Unisys Corporation, Devon Engineering Offices Lines: 40 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [OFM writes:] >The situation of homosexuality is a particularly difficult one (again, >assuming for the moment that the act is not itself sinful), because >there are two dangers to be avoided. I agree with you that if someone >is tempted to homosexual activity but feels it is wrong, it's a bad >idea to encourage them to violate their conscience. However there are >a number of people who are already practicing homosexuals, and who >consider themselves beyond the pale of the church, and sometimes >failures as a human being. (I'm basing this on testimonies of >homosexuals posted in this group in the past.) It could help such >people to see homosexual pastors. Bad move. The assumption that homosexuality is not sinful is biblically indefensible. Would it also help drunks and adulterers who feel "beyond the pale of the church" to contact drunken and adulterous pastors? Doesn't the Bible, the apostle Paul in particular, treat all these sins in a similar fashion, and worth repenting of (I Cor. 6:9,10)? What biblical reason is there for extending some special exemption to the homosexual? It seems the Bible makes it clear that folks need to be confronted with their sin and offered the hope of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. The cure can only be affected by proper diagnosis of the disease. This is the only way sin can be dealt with. It cannot be "reclassified" as a medical or social aberration. Sin is sin, and to treat it as something else seriously damages witness of the Christian Church (as many oldline denominations are painfully discovering), and waters down the meaning of the gospel. Unfortunately, too many modern churchmen (sorry, churchpersons) are happy dealing with symptoms instead of root problems. -- Tom Albrecht [The message to which I was replying said that even if you accept that homosexual activity is OK, we should not ordain homosexuals because of danger to "weaker" brethren. The only way to examine such a claim is to assume that homosexual activity is OK, and look at the implications. --clh]