On June 19, the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee issued a statement repudiating the actions of the 221st General Assembly in redefining marriage.
The PLC’s statement called on Presbyterians to not only resist these actions, but to protest them.
“You should tell your pastor and the members of your session that you disapprove of these actions. You should refuse to fund the General Assembly, your synod, your presbytery and even your local church if those bodies have not explicitly and publicly repudiated these unbiblical actions,” the statement reads.
To help implement the PLC’s recommendations, a sample letter to a pastor or session and a session resolution to a presbytery are below.
Text of a sample letter to your pastor/session
Text of a sample Session resolution
Session position statement on same-sex marriages
Session position statement to the church on same-sex marriage
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I praise God that these two letters are available so quickly. After discussing this with my wife, I will determine when to send these letters to Pastor Fowler and the Session membership. We must stand for God’s word and perfect plan for the family.
In His precious name,
-William G Payne, Jr
This is despicable. You are advocating extortion. Your stance is do it my way, or else.
This is also un-Presbyterian. It denies the belief in democracy in the church and it is simply blackmail.
It is time for the PLC to leave. Just go.
Kind of like extortion? Don’t you mean kind of like divestment?
Light cannot have fellowship with darkness.
Dear Calvinist: Your beloved PCUSA has practiced extortion, shake downs, and other wise confiscation of that which it did not earn or deserve for many, many years. You know my name, are you afraid to use yours, or are you like so many other theological liberal bullies that only see life and issues in one direction, yours. And prefer life in the shadows and darkness of social media? God knows and sees all.
And oh by the way, the PCUSA is not, never was, never has been a democracy in any sense of the term. It is best described as a closed system oligarchy dominated by careerist institutional bureaucrats and their appointed agents,
I find your “extortion” remark quite hysterical considering that Presbyteries all across the county have been extorting individual churches in their dismissal attempts. Plus, your final request for the PLC “to leave: just go” is very revealing. I have contented all along that folks with your mind set have all along just wanted faithful Believers to “just go.” Of course, you want the money and property that has been built up over many generations. Faithful Believers have been told to “just go” since the beginning of Christ’s Church. In fact, our Reformed foundations began with faithful Believers “just go”ing. So for me a true sign of holding strong to Scripture is for someone like you to tell the faithful to “just go.” You are of the world: the world hated Christ; therefore the world will hate the faithful. But, I rejoice in your hatred of the faithful, because my Savior has already overcome the world. And, as such, has overcome you. “For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine: I will repay, says the Lord.’ And again, ‘The LORD will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:30-31.
@ Peter Gregory.
Commissioners to GA are elected usually on the basis of seniority. Hence, they reflect the church on a random basis. Some, but not many presbyteries elect on the basis of viewpoints, but that again would reflect the viewpoints of the presbytery. Get a clue. EP’s are chosen by presbyteries in an interview process and do not have the luxury of influencing votes at GA. The decisions made by commissioners are not subject to pleasing an EP and the ballots are secret. To suggest that careerist bureaucrats run GA is just plain laughable.
@Boris
Well the trust clause is a point of law. Those churches forget how they started. Period.
The bottom line is the church has changed and you don’t like it.
And finally, I am a Calvinist. Years ago my wife had an abortion for an ectopic pregnancy. We went to Planned Parenthood. For years—I mean 17 years—we received hate mail from anti-abortion protestors as they took down our license plate and found our names. One of those people who harassed us was a member of PPL. So I prefer to remain anonymous.
@ A. Calvinst
How convenient you throw up the trust clause as law when the GA just threw out the PC(USA) Constitution in order to perpetuate a purely cultural political agenda. Talk about an oxymoron! The one statement we do agree upon is “the church has changed.” However, God’s Word has not changed. Never has, never will. I recommend you read it sometime. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” Isaiah 5: 20-21. May you find true regeneration in Holy Scripture. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31
PLC must be overjoyed at the resuls of this GA. They found one more weapon to destroy the PCUSA.. While I don’t condone what occured (including the divestment) I can continue to worship God and put my faith in the risen Christ. Maybe PLC needs to go support EPC, COE and others.
The model session statement has a few errors. Where it reads: “Whereas we will each stand one day before the holy God and held to account for our submitted obedience to God’s Word, God’s Son and God’s will,” you’ve omitted the word ”be.” Correct the first sentence half to: “Whereas we will each stand one day before the holy God and BEhold ‘his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth,’” inclusive of a citation of John 1:14. In the second sentence half replace “account for” with “recount“ and “submitted” with “submissive” to get: “Whereas we will each stand one day before the holy God and BEhold ‘his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, and recount our submissive obedience to God’s word.” “Only begotten” at John 1:14 is the Greek word μονογενοῦς (mono-genus), which means “single-race” or “single-sex.” Thre Son is a sexless entity that embodies the feminine quality of grace and the masculine quality of truth. I think you meant to conclude with “We hereby repudiate the actions of the 221st General Assembly in viewing the marriage of the Lamb and his wife as justification for same-sex marriages and grounds for the disregard of the commandment at Lev. 20:16: “And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman.” Rev. 19:7: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”
I don’t think that Revelation 19:7: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” necessarily means that the marriage ceremony is an animal ritual immune from the strictures of moral law. Verse 9: “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” makes clear that the role of the Lamb in the ritual is culinary: the lamb is to be eaten, not joined in matrimony. Gen. 2:24 (Mark 10:7, Eph. 5:31): “For this cause, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they (the groom and the lamb) shall be one flesh” has the groom gorging himself on lamb after the ceremony in order to honor the precept at 1 Corinthians 14:35: “for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” Just as “lamb” is both masculine (Hebrew keves, Greek amnos; 44 time in the Old Testament) and feminine (Hebrew kivsa, Greek amnas; 8 times in the O.T.), so the bride and the groom exchange roles, and the male’s mouth is prevented from speaking in church through its occupation with mastication. The tragedy of male same-sex marriages is their adulterous aspect. While the two lovers prepare for the ceremony, the wife of one of them cooks the lamb for the reception. “For the marriage of the (males) is come, and his wife (the sacrificial lamb of the one) has made herself (the main-course lamb of the second) ready.” Eph. 5:32: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”