1: A friend has described the PCC as “The United Church 20 years later.” In those 20 years the UCC, if it stops short of suicide has nevertheless stabbed itself in the back and is bleeding badly. Its ordination of homosexual persons is, of course, not the sole cause. Its liberal theology is also a cause among others. Almost every month a rural UCC congregation is closed. The urban situation is not much better. In downtown Montreal there is no sizable United Church congregation and the closest one in Westmount, Dominion Douglas, is at death`s door. Are we prepared as Presbyterians to suffer similar losses?
2: Yet the ordination of homosexual persons has not been a great success in UCC. Few UCC congregations with children and young people will call a homosexual minister. They take college positions.
3: Why are we as a church more prepared to follow the biblically-misguided UCC and Anglican churches rather than the biblically-sound Roman Catholic and Greek and Syrian Orthodox churches? They do not subscribe to sola scriptura yet they take God`s commandment with utmost seriousness.
4: No fancy footwork will make it possible to reinterpret the Bible`s unambiguous condemnation of homosexual practices.
5: The acceptance of homosexual marriage is both contrary to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Living Faith. These two church standards will need to be changed by a Barrier Act. While homosexual persons insist on their rights they disregard the rights of children who have a right to be raised by both a mother and a father of opposite sex.
6: I hope and pray that our beloved church will not rush headlong to disaster and like the Gadarene Sswine cast itself off the cliff into the abyss.
William Klempa
Principal Emeritus of Presbyterian College, Montreal
