Local Option Brings Scandal on the Church

So, what should be done if local option does come to pass, and Self-Acknowledged Practitioners of Homosexual Acts (SAPHAs) are legally allowed to be ordained in the PCUSA? Given the political, theological, and ecclesiastical problems inherent in local option, it is simply impossible for any Biblically orthodox Presbyterian, any congregation or any presbytery to tolerate it. For a Biblically and Confessionally Orthodox Presbytery (BACOP) to remain in full fellowship with SAPHA-ordaining presbyteries (SOPs) would be for the BACOP to be in league with a false church, and thus to compromise the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why is that? First for political reasons. G-9.0103 makes clear the political problem: “All governing bodies of the church are united by the nature of the church and share with one another responsibilities, rights, and powers as provided in this Constitution. The governing bodies are separate and independent, but have such mutual relations that the act of one of them is the act of the whole church performed by it through the appropriate governing body.” In short, for a BACOP to remain in fellowship with a SOP would be for the BACOP to state that it approves of the things the SOP does. Unless the BACOP can somehow strongly and publically distance itself from the actions of the SOP, people both within and without the church will believe that it agrees with the SOP, and thus that the BACOP is also proclaiming the false gospel that the SOP preaches.

We must not deceive ourselves: denominational labels speak, and sometimes very loudly. For better or worse, the many different Presbyterian denominations are known for what makes them different, not for what they hold in common. The PCA and the OPC are known as the denominations that don’t ordain women. The EPC is known as the denomination that allows sessions and presbyteries to decide for themselves whether to ordain women. With the adoption of local option, the PCUSA will become known as the denomination that ordains SAPHAs. And without somehow distancing itself from the rest of the denomination, every BACOP will be implicated in that scandal.