COMMENTARY : Human Sexuality Report Tackled Tough Modern Issues : Beliefs: The bottom-line issue in this debate is biblical authority.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has by its 96% vote overwhelmingly rejected the controversial report on human sexuality. It has tackled some of the toughest issues facing contemporary society in a way that unequivocally reaffirms the authority of biblical revelation. And it has spoken in a way that is just, loving, pastoral and decisive.

Its decision is not the sentimental statement of a religious new morality or a secular political correctness. Nor is it the strident, judgmental preachment of self-righteous Pharisaism. It affirms the goodness of human sexuality while recognizing that no person or family lives without sexual pain.

Our denomination is committed to dealing with the oppressive evils of rape, sexual abuse, clergy sexual malpractice, gender injustice, pornography and patriarchal violence. We will continue to pastorally embrace the homosexually oriented who, in addition to whatever inner struggle they experience, are also the victims of homophobic attitudes and physical violence.

We will continue to acknowledge and minister to the increasingly prevalent incidence of premarital and extramarital heterosexual intercourse with its concurrent emotional and spiritual chaos, often accompanied by unwanted pregnancies, life-debilitating sexually transmitted diseases, plus the many other manifestations of personal relational brokenness.

Let’s be clear. The bottom-line issue in this debate was not human sexuality. It was and is biblical authority.

All through human history there has been sexual confusion and the heartbreak that emerges when we fail to take seriously divine revelation that gives us the insight into how to live the wisest, most intelligent way. The rejected document was fatally flawed in the way in which it implicitly declared that what the Bible says is sin is no longer sin.

We Presbyterian pastors, elders and deacons take ordination vows to “accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture, and continually guided by our confessions.”

The Bible is not just the record of humankind’s quest after God. If that were the case, all would be relative, any lifestyle that was not intentionally injurious of others would be acceptable and God’s grace would be unnecessary.

Historically, the church of Jesus Christ has seen the Bible as the divinely revealed record of God’s quest after humankind, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. It discloses a God whose love for us is infinite, who anguishes with us in the ambiguities of our human existence, taking human form in the person of Jesus Christ. Through his atoning work on the cross, we are privileged recipients of the good news that there is no sin that is unforgiveable--except our refusal to admit our need, repent of sin and receive God’s forgiveness.

I am enthusiastic about being part of a denomination that does not shy away from an endeavor to think in a Christian way about complex and controversial issues. All through my ministry my colleagues and I have endeavored to convey unconditional love and understanding to those of varying sexual orientation and practice.

We are called to minister vulnerably, acknowledging our own daily dependence on God’s grace for our sins. The church’s leadership must take vows of accountability to live humbly according to the teachings of Scripture. No avowed, practicing, unrepentant sinner qualifies for leadership in Christ’s church.

The church must not simply adapt itself to culture but follow the God who is sovereign over culture, faithful to his word and the inspiration of his Holy Spirit, whatever the personal cost and misunderstanding this creates in an increasingly secularized society.

Be assured that we have not heard the end of the human sexuality controversy.

At least now, for a while, we Presbyterians can redirect some of the energies and resources siphoned off by this costly disruption into moving forward with a positive, holistic mission to fulfill, in a balanced way, what our “Book of Order” lists as the “Six Great Ends of the Church,” “the proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth, the promotion of social righteousness, and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.”

BACKGROUND

Delegates to the annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) earlier this month soundly defeated a report proposing greater sexual freedom. It urged that premarital sex, homosexuality and bisexuality be encouraged if the partners are truly consenting adults. The Rev. John A. Huffman Jr. and Chris Glaser, who was denied ordination in 1977 because he is gay, examine the action and what might happen next.