It's Not the Sin, It's the Standard:

Straight AheadIn the Presbyterian Church, (USA), Book of Order, there is this statement under heading G6.0106b: "Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament." This is the standard regarding personal sexual conduct that is required for ordination in the PC(USA.) Is sexual sin the worst sin that a Christian can commit? Are these kinds of sins the ones mentioned most often in Scripture? The answers to these questions might be interesting to ponder, but are really irrelevant. It's not the sin, but the standard which is the important point. In the catalogs of sin and vice to be found in the Bible, we discover a variety of misdeeds and transgressions of the law of God. Is it fair to designate one particular type of behavior as making a person unfit for ordained office in the PC(USA?) After all, the Book of Order doesn't say anything about drug addiction, robbery, murder, lying, covetousness, or cursing. It certainly must be admitted that this so-called "fidelity and chastity" amendment was not even a part of the Book of Order until 1996. No doubt, there were plenty of possibilities for the ordination of folks whose sex lives didn't necessarily match up with these standards. The church believed in 1996 that this one area was where the line must be drawn most clearly--not only because of the increasing presence of gay and lesbian persons, but also because of the increasing influence of the "sexual revolution," casual sex, and other forms of sexual immorality. Paul, in several of his epistles, singled out sexual sins--not because sexual sins are necessarily worse than other sins, but because they are so terribly obvious and so prevalent, and because they pervert the very order of creation and the process of life itself. Some will say that it is very unfair to single out one lifestyle for special treatment. After all, shouldn't a gay or lesbian person be able to live with whomever he or she desires without forfeiting the opportunity to serve the Lord as a church officer or minister? To that, I would answer that the Christian life is not usually the easy way. From our sinful human perspective, it will not always seem fair. However, it is the way of the cross. If we are truly Christian, then the path of discipleship is the path God has called us to travel. It is not a matter of saying that one sin is worse than others; but it is the standard our denomination has adopted regarding ordination to the offices of elder, deacon, and minister of Word and Sacrament. Anyone who cannot, in good conscience, affirm that this is the standard by which they will seek to live, should not seek ordination to office in the PC(USA.) It is not simply a minor point of doctrine with which one may "scruple." It is an essential point of conduct to which one should gladly give assent.