How Purity Policing harms the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the mission of Christianity

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Life is complicated & faithfulness to God happens in unexpected ways. I spoke with the Redeemed Zoomer, Richard Ackerman, a few episodes ago about his General Assembly overture requiring ordained elders to affirm monogamy. Faithfulness to monogamy is not a real problem in the PCUSA, but his overture effectively institutes a morality police. The PCUSA tried this in 1998 “live in fidelity within the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” amend. That hurt so many good & faithful ppl & set the church back decades. Both Richard and I greatly admire Karl Barth who did amazing things for the reformed church in the 20th century. But this overture would have forced Barth out of the church because he had a complicated marriage. Purity policing is like what Jesus takes about the Pharisees in Matthew 23. In verses 23 and 24, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!" This so relevant to the distractions that the purity minded folks in the PCUSA are trying to institute. In this thoughtful episode I discuss the nuances of the faithfulness to the bible and confessions and the danger of using them for policing. Our book of order says that the we should not use the historic confessions as litmus tests and that we have freedom of conscience, but these amendments do exactly that. 

On the Real Bible Rob for Teens podcast @redeemed_zoomer commented
I wanna be clear that the LAST thing I wanted in writing the anti-polyamory overture was to make our church look bad. I care a TON about the image of the PCUSA as someone who regularly tries to get people to join it, and I get mocked online publicly anytime the PCUSA does anything bad. I felt genuine regret about writing the overture after seeing the bad image it gave our beloved church. 

The reason I wrote the anti-polyamory overture was because I genuinely believe the radical progressive minority that is vastly over-represented in our denomination's seminaries and high courts supports polyamory (they have all but said so) and will very soon try and push for its broader acceptance and normalization in the church

The GEN-09 overture created a committee that will study "diverse family structures" and behind closed doors people have admitted that it's going to be the beginning of a campaign for the church to accept polyamory.

My goal was to show moderate progressives like yourself just how far the radical progressives in our denomination are willing to go. I would not be shocked at all if, in 2028, the GEN-09 committee recommends something like "deconstructing monogamy"

@realbiblerob Reply
Thanks so much for your comment. It helps me understand the context of the overture. Our conversation helped me a lot. I have very mixed feelings about the direction of the denomination. I share your concerns about the overly political and aggressive lurch to the left in some groups. I was not aware of GEN-09 and appreciate you highlighting it. At the same time however, we have to get progressive women on board, because many I speak with view the sexuality and monogamy discussions as a back door for returning patriarchy. That said, the young people I speak with appreciate what you are doing. From our conversation, I recognize that you are an asset and your group is potentially a point of unity in the future. I think a focus on confessions really helps especially if the next confession fulfills its  promise. Peace be with you.

@realbiblerob follow up reply
Dear Richard, I have thought about this so much and I am grateful for your honesty. Karl Barth, who and I both hold in such high regard, would have been excluded from the church by your overture. He had a complicated relationship with his wife and his mistress. He didn’t divorce his wife which would have been devastating to her in that era. I wouldn’t condone his arrangement, but the church and we would have been greatly impoverished by forcing him out of the church. Amendment B in 1998 did the same to many good and faithful elders, forcing them out of the church because they were not married but faithful couples. The morality police can be like the Pharisees in Matt 23, where they tithe their mint, dill and cumin while neglecting justice, mercy and faith. I hope you will see that these hard lines do more harm than good. Peace be with you and thank you for your witness.