Redstone Presbytery overtures call for clear marriage statement, Biblical counseling, no partial-birth abortions
The Layman Online, November 30, 2005
The Presbytery of Redstone, which includes 92 congregations in south-central Pennsylvania, has approved three overtures that will test the 217th General Assembly’s commitment to a Biblical perspective on marriage, abortion and counseling.
All of the overtures were submitted by the session of a single, 300-member congregation, West Newton United Presbyterian Church in West Newton, Pa.
They call for a Biblical response to some of the thorniest issues in the denomination:
- 1. A clear, unequivocal statement affirming that the only valid marriage is between a man and a woman and a declaration that “no sexual union outside the bonds of marriage, such as in domestic partnerships or same-sex unions, is within the will of God or approved by this body.”
- 2. A resolution urging “our pastors, elders and all those who serve in ministries of discipleship to offer pastoral counsel and support toward repentance, forgiveness, and new life in Christ to all those struggling, sometimes failing, to live a life in accordance with biblical standards.”
- 3. A resolution ending the denomination’s sanctioning of partial-birth abortions.
The overtures also ask the General Assembly to direct the staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to uphold these same views “in their communications with both church and society.”
The following is the text of the three overtures:
Overture 27. On Reaffirming That Marriage Between a Man and a Woman Is a Gift God Has to All Humankind – From the Presbytery of Redstone.
Resolved, that the Presbytery of Redstone overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to reaffirm that the church, as salt and light in society, bears witness to the timeless truth that marriage between a man and a woman is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. (W-4.9001). Therefore, no sexual union outside the bonds of marriage, such as in domestic partnerships or same-sex unions, is within the will of God or approved by this body. The matter is so serious, and of such great import in our own time, that we urge our churches to provide loving and consistent teaching in this area and to call erring members and leaders to repentance.
We direct our national offices to uphold and urge this historic understanding of marriage in their communications with both church and society.
Rationale
For the churches witness to be effective, we must examine our own teaching and living in order that we may live lives consistent with God intentions for us and in so doing bear witness in our culture with integrity. Although some in society seek to redefine marriage, marriage is a relationship instituted and defined by God and we are not free to change it. We believe that God’s revealed intent must be the basis for our life and witness. Our culture needs the consistent witness of the church in order to resist pressures that would distort the meaning of marriage.
The following examples show God’s revealed intent for and affirmation of the marriage union, as well as God’s disapproval of a sexual relationship outside the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman:
Genesis 1:26,27: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:20-23: But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now one of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Exodus 20:14: You shall not commit adultery.
Lev. 18:22: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Matt. 19:4-6: Haven’t you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.
Romans 1: 26-27: Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Eph 5:31-32: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery but I am talking about Christ and the church.
Hebrews 13:4: Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
1 Cor. 6:9-11: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Cor. 6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The following examples show the PC(USA) constitutional position and teaching affirming and blessing marriage while condemning sexual relationships outside the marriage of a man and a woman:
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has several passages in its constitution expressing its understanding of marriage. For example, the Westminster Confession declares, Marriage is a union between one man and one woman, designed of God to last so long as they both shall live. (6.133).
The Directory for Worship (W-4.9001):
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith.
The Larger Catechism interprets the Seventh Commandment as forbidding adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, purposes, and affections and all other provocations to, or acts of, uncleanness either in ourselves or others (7.249).
The Book of Order stated more succinctly, among the historic confessional standards of the church, the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness (G-6.0106b).
In 1978 the United Presbyterian Church (USA) adopted a policy statement on “The Church and Homosexuality.” According to that policy statement, we conclude that homosexuality is not God’s wish for humanity. Even where the homosexual orientation has not been consciously sought or chosen, it is neither a gift from God nor a state nor a condition like race; it is a result of our living in a fallen world. Reviewing biblical passages related to sexuality, the statement found: that homosexuality is a contradiction of God’s wise and beautiful pattern for human sexual relationships revealed in Scripture and affirmed in God’s ongoing will for our life in the Spirit of Christ. It is a confusion of sexual roles that mirrors the tragic inversion in which men and women worship the creature instead of the Creator.
The PCUSA has at various times and in a variety of documents and policies declared its position on marriage and sexual relationships outside marriage. However, on some occasions the message from our church to the culture has been unclear. In this time of sexual confusion, so prevalent in our society and in the Church, including occasions in which some in the church seek to challenge the teaching, it is proper for our General Assembly to reassert itself succinctly on this matter as a means of clarifying its teaching and making it indisputable that such teaching applies to our own time.
Overture 28. On Pastoral Counsel for Sexual Sin – From the Presbytery of Redstone.
Resolved, that the Presbytery of Redstone overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to declare the following: Recognizing the clear biblical teaching on sexuality and its own long history of upholding a standard of fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and chastity in singleness, urges our pastors, elders and all those who serve in ministries of discipleship to offer pastoral counsel and support toward repentance, forgiveness, and new life in Christ to all those struggling, sometimes failing, to live a life in accordance with biblical standards, and further,
We direct that the materials produced by our national offices reflect both the standard of fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and chastity in singleness, and God’s readiness to forgive and restore every person through Christ, and further,
That our National offices not encourage governing bodies at any level to recognize as legitimate or confer to couples of either same-sex or opposite sex, domestic partnerships or civil unions, the same rights and benefits as those men and women living in a covenant marital relationship as defined by our Confessions and the Bible.
Rationale
Reformed people hold very basic beliefs both about God’s standards of holiness and about God’s tender mercies and readiness to forgive. John Calvin wrote that as we cross the threshold of the Christian Church our first experience is with God’s forgiveness. We are, each one, broken, and in need of a Savior.
As our Confession of 1967 says, our time in history is characterized by sexual confusion and anarchy. Our culture is replete with messages and pressures to abandon biblical sexual standards. Even in the church, the voices are often mixed in the conflict between those who are committed to upholding and those who are committed to changing the church’s historical understanding of God’s will for blessing in sexual expression. As a consequence, many Christians fall into sexual temptations and practices that do not honor God.
As much as we acknowledge the harm of living outside God’s will, we also rejoice that the life-changing power of God and the desire of God to redeem us, forgive us, and restore us is at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As his disciples, we are called to love each other and care for each other, and especially to care for those among us who fall into sin. Scripture teaches us to lead our erring brothers and sisters gently to repentance and a knowledge of the truth. (2 Tim. 2:25)
Overture 26. On Late Term Pregnancy – From the Presbytery of Redstone.
Resolved, that the presbytery of Redstone overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to declare the following:
We affirm that the lives of viable unborn babies – those well-developed enough to survive outside the womb if delivered – ought to be preserved and cared for and not aborted. In cases where problems of life or health of the mother arise in a pregnancy, the church supports efforts to protect the life and health of both the mother and the baby. When late term pregnancies must be terminated, we urge decisions intended to deliver the baby alive. We look to our churches to provide pastoral and tangible support to women in problem pregnancies and to surround these families with a community of care. We affirm adoption as a provision for women who deliver children they are not able to care for, and ask our churches to assist in seeking loving Christian adoptive families.
This General Assembly holds this statement as its position on a Christian response to problems that arise late in pregnancies. We find it to be consistent with current General Assembly policy on Problem Pregnancies and Abortion (1992), and declare that it supercedes and replaces all other statements on late term pregnancies and abortion.
Rationale
The church’s support for the protection of human life is based on the biblical teaching that human beings are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), that we are charged to protect the lives of innocent human beings (Prov. 31:8,9; James 1:27), and forbidden to shed innocent blood (Jer. 7:6) and that God expects us as followers of Christ to minister to those who are needy as if we were serving our Savior himself (Matt 25:40). Our confessions affirm this teaching of Scripture (Westminster Larger Catechism, 7.244-7.246)
Our General Assembly has affirmed as policy that:
”After a human life has begun, it is to be protected and cherished as a precious gift of God, and ‘The strong Christian presumption is that since all life if precious to God, we are to preserve and protect it.” (From Problem Pregnancies and Abortion, the General Assembly’s current policy, adopted in 1992, page 11.)
In addition to the support for the preservation of life in Scripture, our confessions, and church policy, sound and common medical practice favors delivery over abortion as a safer and more humane method of terminating a late term pregnancy.
Particularly in pregnancies where babies could live if delivered live, the church is called to speak and act in ways that protect the lives and health of the unborn as well as their mothers. Both mother and baby benefit physically and spiritually from live birth.
Today, in the United States, there are more than two million couples waiting to adopt a child. Many of these waiting couples are willing to adopt babies with medical problems and other special needs. The church should encourage and undergird this desire among its own members to minister to the needy and vulnerable among us.
Since General Assemblies have addressed the matter of late-term abortion several times and have a statement that has been so modified that it is unclear in intent, this new statement is meant to provide the church with a clear moral and pastoral position.