Overture asks staff to cease ignoring GA mandates to use Bible in teaching about sex
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, March 15, 2006
The national staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has delayed past General Assembly mandates to revise youth sexuality curricula “well beyond an acceptable time frame and the reasonable patience” of the national governing body, an overture from the Presbytery of Shenango says.
The overture calls on the 217th General Assembly, which will meet in Birmingham, Ala., June 15-22, to order the Congregational Ministries Division and “other PCUSA entities” to cease ignoring the mandates by past General Assemblies to incorporate Biblical teaching in materials and Web site resources about human sexuality.
Responding to criticism of the Congregation Ministry Division’s “God’s Gift of Sexuality” curricula for teen-agers, the 210th General Assembly first mandated revisions in 1998.
The criticism was aimed at portions of the material that advised sexually active teens to “use effective contraceptives” and the declaration that Jesus’ teaching about extramarital sex “goes beyond the act to the state of the heart. Motivation and intent are the deciding factors.”
The failure of the Louisville staff to revise the material continued for years despite repeated General Assembly mandates.
“The General Assemblies of 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2002 spoke to guiding our youth toward decisions of sexual purity and revising, rewriting, or otherwise correcting the existing PCUSA sexuality curricula materials to reflect Biblical and confessional teaching on this subject,” according to the Shenango overture.
The 216th General Assembly (2004) did approve a compromise. Instead of continuing the mandated revision, it voted to allow the staff to simply compile a list of resources about human sexuality. Furthermore, it gave the staff – and not elected bodies – the right to review and revise the material.
But Shenango wants the Louisville staff to go back to the original intent of the General Assembly decisions between 1998 and 2004: to prepare material that is consistent with Biblical teaching about sexuality, including Biblical teaching against premarital sex, adultery and same-gender sex.
The overture is also broader than the earlier instructions that the youth sexuality curricula be revised.
It asks the General Assembly to order the “Congregational Ministries Division and all other PCUSA entities to use the Biblical and confessional teachings that sexual relationships belong only within the bond of marriage of a man and a woman as the standard for the development of any future materials or recommendations for materials in print or in its Web site.”
The continued efforts to get the staff to comply with its mandates also bogged down in regard to other sexuality materials.
In 1991, a document titled “Human Sexuality Report,” which was prepared by an overwhelmingly liberal task force, was presented to the General Assembly. Rejecting key Biblical views about human sexuality, the panel essentially endorsed sexual relationships outside of marriage as long as the consenting participants were committed to “justice-love” in adulterous, premarital and homosexual relationships.
The 1991 General Assembly overwhelmingly rejected the report (the vote was 523-17). Nonetheless, the Louisville staff and Presbyterian agencies continued to use the material as a resource.
The Shenango overture says, “It is the church’s role to communicate faithfully the Biblical message regarding sexual relationships to our children and youth and encourage parents in their desire to see their children grow into faithful disciples of Christ in thought, word and deed.”
The full text of the overture:
Overture 102. On Sexuality Curricula and Other Materials Being Consistent with the Biblical and Confessional Teaching – From the Presbytery of Shenango.
Resolved, that the Presbytery of Shenango meeting on February 28, 2006 at Grove City College overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to direct the Congregational Ministries Division and all other PCUSA entities to use the Biblical and confessional teachings that sexual relationships belong only within the bond of marriage of a man and a woman as the standard for the development of any future materials or recommendations for materials in print or in its website.
Rationale
The General Assemblies of 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2002 spoke to guiding our youth toward decisions of sexual purity and revising, rewriting, or otherwise correcting the existing PCUSA sexuality curricula materials to reflect Biblical and confessional teaching on this subject. Louisville offices have delayed action in this area well beyond an acceptable time frame and the reasonable patience of the General Assembly.
Youth are especially vulnerable to the messages concerning sexuality being sent by our culture in the various forms of media. Even many of our schools tend to send mixed messages in the formal instruction of youth with a lukewarm encouragement to delay sexual relationships while offering and even promoting contraception.
Scripture teaches the holiness of the sexual relationship in marriage. It values the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit and urges disciples of Christ to glorify God with our bodies. The Biblical teaching also is intended to protect our children and youth from the abusive relationships and lifelong harm that result from sexual relationships outside the marriage relationship.
It is the church’s role to communicate faithfully the Biblical message regarding sexual relationships to our children and youth and encourage parents in their desire to see their children grow into faithful disciples of Christ in thought, word and deed.