I think you make a very good point. Churches have been struggling with this issue for the last 40 years. I believe the CRC first tried to fully resolve the issue back in the 1990s, but it keeps coming back. I am happy that the CRC is taking the initiative to clarify and enforce the traditional belief that homosexual practices are sinful (as well as objectively harmful to both the individuals and community), as well as trying to treat those with impacted with compassion. Other denominations such as the Episcopal Church, American Baptists, and United Methodists have ended up having people with traditional beliefs leave because, even if the denomination as a whole maintained traditional beliefs, they were ususally not enforced in the local church. I also have talked to a number of members of my present church, who are there because they were tired of the issue coming up repeatedly in their local Methodist or Lutheran Church, and that is largely why my wife and left a local American Baptist Church. We left a previous American Baptist Church way back in 1991 because its leaders suddenly affirmed homosexual relationships (largely because a long-time member had, unknowingly, been into it for some time). Why did we leave? How can anyone support an organization that officially promotes immorality? I think that a major weakness of our culture is that it does not strongly promote the importance of families and the joy of having children. As a result, sexual stimulation becomes divorced from the romantic ideal of having a lifetime spouse and family.
Posted in: Three Responses to Synod 2024
I think you make a very good point. Churches have been struggling with this issue for the last 40 years. I believe the CRC first tried to fully resolve the issue back in the 1990s, but it keeps coming back. I am happy that the CRC is taking the initiative to clarify and enforce the traditional belief that homosexual practices are sinful (as well as objectively harmful to both the individuals and community), as well as trying to treat those with impacted with compassion. Other denominations such as the Episcopal Church, American Baptists, and United Methodists have ended up having people with traditional beliefs leave because, even if the denomination as a whole maintained traditional beliefs, they were ususally not enforced in the local church. I also have talked to a number of members of my present church, who are there because they were tired of the issue coming up repeatedly in their local Methodist or Lutheran Church, and that is largely why my wife and left a local American Baptist Church. We left a previous American Baptist Church way back in 1991 because its leaders suddenly affirmed homosexual relationships (largely because a long-time member had, unknowingly, been into it for some time). Why did we leave? How can anyone support an organization that officially promotes immorality? I think that a major weakness of our culture is that it does not strongly promote the importance of families and the joy of having children. As a result, sexual stimulation becomes divorced from the romantic ideal of having a lifetime spouse and family.