Presbyterian Lay Committee statement:
Undermining the foundations
The Presbyterian Lay Committee, May 11, 2011
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has just amended its constitution to allow the ordination of officers who do not restrict their sexual activity to the bounds of Christian marriage. By doing so the PC(USA) has undermined its own foundation of scriptural integrity. It contradicts not only Scripture, but its own Confessions. The PC(USA) has thus severed itself from “the faith once delivered to the saints,” practiced by the one holy and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee declares that:
- In deciding for itself by a “majority vote” that what the Bible deems to be sin is not sin, the PC(USA) has set itself against the Scriptures and undermined the Word of God as foundational to the faith.
- In deciding for itself that shifting cultural trends trump the Church’s historic confessions, the PC(USA) has set itself against the counsel of Reformed Christians throughout the ages.
- In establishing a system where each governing body is free to do “what is right in its own eyes,” the PC(USA) has undermined its own connectional principle of governance.
Like Jude, we feel “compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” (Jude 3) Today, as in the days of Jude, “…certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 4, NASB)
Right and righteous responses to what the PC(USA) has done will vary. Some will advocate allowing the wheat and tares to continue to grow up together, waiting for God to sort it out on the Day of Judgment. Others will feel compelled to heed the call to “come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 6:17, NASB)
Whatever may come, a season of discernment is upon us all, as we choose whom we will serve. As you seek God’s call for your church, know that the Presbyterian Lay Committee will stand by you as we contend for the integrity of the faith, together.
We urge that the PC(USA) return to God, and once again walk in the ways of the Lord as revealed in Scripture.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee
May 11, 2011