Committee considers deleting fidelity and chastity standard By Robert P. Mills The Layman Online Tuesday, June 12, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When the assembly committee on Ordination Standards convened Tuesday morning, it quickly was presented with a motion to approve an amendment that would delete G-6.0106b from the Book of Order. The Rev. Molly Douthett of Miami Presbytery moved "that this committee recommend approval of 01-08 and recommend that this action be our answer to 00-13, 00-48, 01-03, 01-06, 01-12, 01-19, 01-22, 01-27, 01-28, 01-29, 01-32," the most overtures on the topic before the committee. Overture 01-08 from New York City Presbytery would ask the presbyteries to strike G-6.0106b from the Book of Order and approve the following authoritative interpretation: "Interpretive statements concerning ordaining service by homosexual persons by the 190th General Assembly (1978) of The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the 119th General Assembly (1979) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and all subsequent denominational affirmations thereof, shall be given no further force or effect; and Section G-6.0106a of the Form of Government, together with the other prerequisites for ordination expressly stated in our Book of Order, hereby are affirmed as the sole and exclusive standards for ordination by ordaining bodies acting in prayerful discernment of the leading of Almighty God." After some procedural wrangling, the committee went into a quasi-committee of the whole for 90 minutes, with speakers limited to five minutes each. A nearly equal number of commissioners lined up to speak for and against the motion to approve the overture. Speaking in favor of her motion, Douthett said, "In focusing attention on this particular overture, we draw in all the other overtures. The one thing that comes through clearest to me is the fact that there is fear in this issue. I heard people say, 'This will be the end of the church.' Why are we so afraid of death? We are here in this room because God conquered death through Jesus Christ. The fear of death is an unfaithful response. If I step out in faith, there is no fear, even of death." Speaking against the motion was elder Camille Josey from Greater Atlanta, who said, "As I walk around this town, I see councils of war. If we pass this and send it back down to the presbyteries, we are waging a war that cannot be won. I hear advocates of this overture saying they don't think it will pass the presbyteries. They see it as an engagement in battle. So long as we remain in diatribe, we will never find common ground." Elder Paul Becker from Pittsburgh Presbytery quoted a series of Scripture passages that showed God's condemnation of sexual immorality and assured those who repent of God's forgiveness. Kathryn Morgan, an elder from West Jersey Presbytery, said, "The Bible is not an easy thing. I'm not a biblical scholar, but I read the Bible. I also listen to what God's people say. I see God's word lived out in lives, which helps me understand what God has to say. I have seen God's word lived out in the lives of homosexual couples in a monogamous, committed, faithful relationship. I have come to an understanding, that maybe God has led me to, that homosexuality is not a sin." Jay McMillen, a minister from Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery, began by declaring that "a couple myths need to be dispelled. One is that the Bible is not literally true. The other is that the Bible contradicts itself. Both come out of a depressed German nihilism. If there is something in our lives that comes between us and God's revealed will, we are to pluck it out or cut it off, even if it be as near and dear to us as an eye or a hand. The Old Testament and New Testament are a unity." The Rev. Charles Ring from Newton Presbytery said, "The people on the other side of the issue keep lifting up the Bible as the ultimate authority. What we have made is an idolatry of the Bible rather than faithfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ. The church has changed over the years as Jesus and the Holy Spirit have led us." Ariel Brower, a Youth Advisory Delegate from Boston Presbytery, quoted Matthew 5:48, adding, "God wants nothing less than perfection. But when we falter, there is repentance. I understand the pain and the hurt many of you here feel because I have felt it too. I have felt the pain of friends who have tried to fill their lives with sexuality. I have seen the pregnancies of half a dozen friends of mine. The pain and the hurt is real, but so is transformation by the blood of Jesus Christ. Total transformation may not occur in this life. But it is the struggle that transformation is attained." Elder Eleanor Hopke from Northern New York Presbytery used a phrase echoed by many who spoke in favor of the motion when she said, "I believe this overture is the third way we are seeking. I believe it is the middle ground we are seeking." Kristin Hawke, an elder from Alaska Presbytery, said, "I don't think this is the third way. We all need to affirm that individual sanctification and reformation of conscience is a process that requires patience both with ourselves and others. It's not going to happen in a flash, it's not going to happen with legislation. Both sides probably have something to give up. I think a task force is another top-down measure. It's just another small group speaking to all of us. How much more powerful if every member of this denomination were on their knees and prayer and reading Scripture 15 minutes a day." Christie Kilby, a Youth Advisory Delegate from Shenandoah Presbytery, began by quoting Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "We all share a sinful nature," she said, "it is a birth condition, a social condition and a choice. I believe that our struggle is to overcome our sinful nature. I was born a greedy, jealous and proud person. Life is a struggle. "How can we keep our church holy and uphold standards that will keep our eyes on Jesus?" Kilby asked. "I believe the answer is to keep [G-6.0106b] in our Book of Order, but to reaffirm that we accept all members into the body of Christ. All people in a state of repentance are welcome. The function of our leaders is to be examples, as in I Timothy. The only way we can do that is to keep these standards. Only in obedience and in love can we achieve what he wants us to be as his church." Debate briefly was interrupted to allow for a report from Charles Hayward, vice moderator of the assembly committee considering a proposal to create a theological commission. "This is not definitive, but the committee appears willing to consider a task force of some kind that will allow it to address several of the overtures before it," he said. Haywood said that, in particular, the committee was "wrestling with the form this task force would take, the representation on the task force, with how the grassroots would be involved from the pews to the sessions to the presbyteries. It is looking toward conversations in the future rather than changing ordination standards now."

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