By Mark Tooley
At one point during this this week’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the hundreds of delegates, known as commissioners, gleefully bounced scores of red balloons in the air. At another point, they collectively broke into dance, confirming that most Protestants, especially if they’re old, white and Anglo, don’t look so great wiggling around. (Here’s a video, for mature viewers only.)
Mainline Protestantism, at least in its official curia, has been liberal for nearly 100 years. But for most of that century it was a thoughtful, dignified liberalism that still roughly adhered to historic Christianity’s moral architecture, even if it no longer upheld the core doctrine. But the yonder years of stately Protestantism, at least in the old Mainline, are largely over. And this week, the 1.7 million member PCUSA suffered a meltdown, authorizing clergy to conduct same sex unions, reaffirming its commitment to largely unrestricted abortion rights, and voting to divest from three firms doing business with Israel.
The church’s redefinition of marriage, by a 71-29 percent vote, got the most attention, although it was anticlimactic. Sexual liberalism captured the denomination in 2010, when the PCUSA voted to abandon its expectation of monogamy in marriage and celibacy in singleness for its clergy. Since then, hundreds of congregations have quit, organized conservative resistance largely stopped, and the 2012 General Assembly was expected to authorize same sex unions but fell short. In just the last two years, the PCUSA lost nearly 200,000 members, a rate, which if continued, would mean no more PCUSA in less than 20 years.
Read more at http://spectator.org/articles/59722/presbyterians-become-silly-church
19 Comments. Leave new
The PCUSA has become a denomination of depravity. God’s Word, and therefore God, is no longer the highest authority for this social organization that masquerades as a church of Jesus Christ. If the PCUSA is not ashamed of itself, I’m ashamed for it. It is a denomination that was once blessed by God, but now it has turned its back upon God by rejecting God’s Word. The PCUSA has placed itself above God and worships itself… it has embraced sin, perversion, and the reasoning of depraved minds. It has sold its soul to the devil and sadly, there appears to be no repentance in sight… no turning away from the idols it has bowed down to… and therefore its future, the future of the PCUSA, is surely doomed. And the commissioners who voted these changes into effect can proudly proclaim, as they did 2000 years ago, “His blood is on us and on our children!” (Matthew 25:27).
Apply whatever terms one chooses silly, loony, la-la land of ponies and rainbows, all apply.
In terms of sex, the official/governmental PCUSA is a church of sexual libertines. When, whomever, in various couplings and situations, catch as catch can, as long as it is subjectively interpreted as “loving”. I was surprised the Man-Boy love lobby did not sponsor a booth on the convention floor. Maybe Portland in 2016.
Its politics are anywhere between Marx and the late Chavez of Venezuela. It has maintained an over 50 year love affair with the murderous Castro and Cuba and embraces the genocidal Mugabi of Zimbabwe. The fact it has now sided with Hamas is no shock. The recent taking root with anti-Semites is a newer development.
And yes, they continue to slide into existential nothingness, institutional suicide. You will not be missed PCUSA.
Will a congregation leave the PCUSA when they will lose their property (which they merely use and hold in trust for the PCUSA). Or will they leave when the female elders and deacons must give up the power they have in this denomination? It is easier for some to bury their heads in the sand than to stand up for what is right. So what do people really worship? Money and power. Bottom line….that’s all.
Very well said.
100 per cent accurate
Everything you say is right.
PCUSA Depraved?? They do not think so, they are delusional.
i agree and would phrase it as “the church of ‘Yea, haveth God said?” only instead of sewing together aprons, they’re reveling in their depravity. I wonder if the men of Sodom will rise up and testify against this generation?
“…when the PCUSA voted to abandon its expectation of monogamy in marriage and celibacy in singleness for its clergy.”
Can someone kindly tell me what this is a reference to? A source would be great, thanks.
Sorry but i have to disagree. Are you aware how hateful it is to link homosexuality and the abuse of boys? the fact that you could say it is shocking and that this website would publish it is even more shocking. Are you all here just to spew hatred or to actually have a conversation?
I’m just curious……..isn’t the plan being sent down to presbyteries to re-define marriage as being between “two people” still terribly oppressive and marginalizing…….to bi-sexuals? Using the un-Biblical ” justice-love” rationale of the GA, shouldn’t bi-sexuals be able to have both a wife and a husband?
Ron, good to see your incisive thoughts about this sorry situation. I would love to know what Louis thinks of all this and ECO.
Here’s a beginning of a statement from the PCUSA regarding the 2010 Presbytery action and subsequent approval by a majority of Presbyteries to remove the “fidelity and chastity” language from the ordination standards for the church:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approves change in ordination standard
‘Submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ’ replaces ‘fidelity and chastity’
In 2012, at the last General Assembly, the PC(USA) voted to allow ordination of practicing homosexuals. Since then, 200,000 members have left, membership has dropped from 1.95 million to 1.75 million (end of 2013), and many churches have departed for two other Presbyterian denominations. With the departure of many evangelicals, this General Assembly was able to easily pass same-sex marriage as well as divestment from three US companies doing business in Israel. That has provoked a firestorm of criticism from US Jewish groups.
Who are these radical liberals that have taken over the PCUSA at the highest levels? They vote like atheists who are not in fear of their mortal souls.
Conversation? Basically you just talk to yourself The GA showed that.. Of course there is a link between homosexuality and abuse. Unless you choose to blind yourself to the facts.
Why do liberals always bleat about conversation and dialogue when they really mean to impose their will not matter what? Remember this folks when someone in the EPC starts talking about “acceptance” and “inclusiveness.” Toss them out immediately or you will be the ones having to leave.
Not to worry. I read the Book and I know how it ends. It’s Friday but Sunday is coming!
the most disturbing words/images i know of that speak the truth about what’s going on inside the PCUSA can be found in the twitter posts of the wife of a PCUSA elder. via ‘hidden’ communication/media such as twitter, you can see for yourself in their own words exactly what’s going on. i suggest google searching ‘amyhamnerwalker twitter’, the posts are far beyond shocking.
I believe that the PCUSA should lose any tax exempt status that it may have. It has crossed the line from a religious denomination to a political organization that appears to be just the opposite of the “Tea Party”. The positions that it takes makes me believe that it is bent on undoing traditional America and forming some sort of socialistic government that is subservient to it and a world government;or maybe, the World Council of Churches?