Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!hsdndev!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: A pastoral letter to the members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Message-ID: Date: 16 Jun 91 17:35:52 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 137 Approved: christian@geneva.rutgers.edu A number of people have been interested in discussions within the Presbyterian Church (USA) about sexuality. Thus I thought you might find it interesting to see the text of the letter that the General Assembly asked to be read in all churches today. ----------------- A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.) Dear Members and Friends: We, the commissioners and advisory delegates to the 203rd General Assembly, write you out of pastoral care for our church. We have acted on a number of important matters. None, however, has drawn more attention than human sexuality. We write to communicate our actions and to offer a pastoral word for our church. We have not adopted the special committee's Majority Report and recommendations, nor have we adopted its Minority Report. We have dismissed the special committee with thanks for their work, and with regret for the cruelties its members have suffered. We have reaffirmed in no uncertain terms the authority of the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. We have strongly reaffirmed the sanctity of the marriage covenant between one man and one woman to be a God-given relationship to be honored by marital fidelity. We continue to abide by the 1978 and 1979 positions of the Presbyterian Church on homosexuality. We are also convinced that the issues riased again by this report will not go away. Though human sexuality is a good gift of God, we and our families are in pain. We are being torn apart by issues of the sexuality and practice of adults: single, married and divorced; teenage sexuality and practice, sexual violence, clergy sexual misconduct, new reproductive technologies, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and the sexual needs of singles, gay and lesbian persons, the disabled, and older adults. That pain was felt by us here in Baltimore, expressed by people of very different perspectives. Some of these are issues on which these is considerable theological and ethical disagreement within the church. We also believe that at the heart of the recent debate lies a painful distrust of the General Assembly by many of our members. Often the General Assembly has been perceived as telling individual members what to think. Let it be said that in Baltimore the 203rd General Assembly heard the cry of the church for an Assembly that listens to its grass roots. In that spirit, we have instructed the Theology and Worship Ministry Unit of the General Assembly Council to prepared a plan to encourage us as Presbyterians in our theological and ethical decision-making. We reaffirm that the church is healthiest when it honors what we Presbyterians have always believed, as expressed in the "Historic Principles" of 1788: That God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men and women which are in anything contrary to God's Word, or beside it, in matters of faith and worship; and also that there are truths and forms with respect to which people of deep faith may differ (G1.0300). This is an opportunity to learn again what it means to be a Presbyterian. In conclusion, we wish to reaffirm that we are all one as Christ's body and while we are diverse, we are one family of faith because of the unconditional love of God for all persons. We welcome your responses to our action as we rejoin you this Sunday. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ keep us and bless us in the spirit of divine grace and love. Yours in Christ, Herbert D. Valentine James E. Andrews Gordon C. Stewart Moderator Stated Clerk Moderator, General 203rd General Assembly Assembly Committee on Human Sexuality ------------- I talked with our pastor, who was at the meeting where this was adopted, to get a feeling for the intent. To a large extent this is an attempt to allay widespread concerns by the membership that the church was rejecting critical Christian values. In fact, none of the proposals rejected the authority of Scripture -- though the majority used somewhat free interpretive approaches, nor did they challenge the sanctity of marriage. This Assembly has clearly left the church with very serious unfinished business. The report of the Special Committee had created so much opposition (in many cases bordering on hysteria) that it is unlikely that any study based on it would have accomplished much. Thus a new start was needed. My personal concern is that the church may find itself in a position it is impossible to get out of. The membership is simply not prepared to believe that the God allows sex outside of marriage. But at least the leaders understand that the current stand of the church is viewed as unrealistic by many members and children of members, and that many of these people consider that the church's position is causing them great personal pain. I believe many people are hoping to find a way to reaffirm traditional values without being willing to take a clear stand that those who violate them need to repent. The letter itself shows clear signs of this ambivalence. I have long believed that the unsettled issues of Biblical authority are a time bomb ticking away within the liberal churches. I think the bomb may be about to explode. What I mean by this is that churches such as the Presbyterian Church (USA) have both rejected inerrancy and accepted that the Christians may do things that are condemned by passages in the Bible. Our seminaries teach the critical approach to the Bible, and our leaders accept liberal interpretive principles. However our membership by and large does not, and even our cleryg are unwilling to accept all of their consequences. As far as I can tell, the church has not made a serious attempt to educate its membership in the approach to the Bible that its scholars believe is correct, nor to look seriously at what the implications of those beliefs would be for ethics. The Special Committee is one of the clearest expositions possible of the consequences of liberal Biblical interpretation (though there are some areas in which even on its own principles some further ethical guidelines are called for). So far it appears that the church is trying to reject the consequences while continuing to practice the nethodology that leads to them. ------- By the way, I promised a few people that I would tell them how to get copies of the report. Unfortunately I do not find anything in the report saying how to get a copy. However it seems a pretty safe bet that you could contact Distribution Management Services Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 100 Witherspoon St. Louisville, KY 40202-1396 I believe their number is 1-800-524-2612. Although it isn't the exact title of the report, I think the clearest way to refer to it is the report of the General Assembly Special Committee on Human Sexuality. You probably want both the majority and minority reports.