Thread by @TravelingNun

The PCA general assembly voted to pass Overture 23 with an overwhelming majority. The overture states, in part, that same-sex attraction is a sin & that calling yourself gay or same-sex attracted disqualifies you from office.

Behold, Christian “love.”

A few additional notes:

Some are saying that this overture only disqualifies gay people from holding office if they deny that same-sex attraction is a sin, deny sanctification, or fail to pursue victory over their sinful desires. In other words, calling yourself gay is okay.

In fact, that is patently not the intention of this overture. Discussion amongst its supporters explicitly expressed their desire to prevent people from calling themselves gay or same-sex attracted. See here from @TheGrantHartley:

https://twitter.com/TheGrantHartley/status/1410805975116922883

Denny Burk, in his paraphrase of the overture, sums it up like this:

https://twitter.com/DennyBurk/status/1410818664492900356

The intention of this overture is clear: they don’t want gay people calling themselves gay. Not even that, that don’t want them even calling themselves same-sex attracted. They don’t want gay people talking about themselves, PERIOD.

Worse, the overture states that gay people must declare that same-sex attraction is a sin. Forcing sexual minorities to declare that even their ATTRACTION is a sin, apart from any act or behavior on their part, is cruel.

This basically forces gay people to say that they are living in perpetual and uncontrollable sin all day long JUST for being gay. Where is the overture stating the same for straight people & disqualifying them from office? You won’t see it.

Worse, what we see here is the set up for a kind of double jeopardy. The overture is worded in such a way that a gay person could be ousted at the accusation of anyone for just about anything.

If gay people “deny the hope or reality of progressive sanctification” they are disqualified from office. In practice, gay Christians know this will be used to enforce conversion therapy under the guise of “sanctification.”

Gay ppl will be asked if they are daily praying for God to remove their same-sex attraction, if they are actively pursuing the smallest, faintest glimmer of attraction to the opposite sex, if they are “open” to getting heterosexually married should they find a “good match.”

All of the above is just the tip of the iceburg of proving that you are progressing in your sanctification, and no matter how “sanctified” you make your life, there will ALWAYS be more “sanctification” that you need to prove. It will never be enough.

Eventually, your inability to demonstrate sufficient hope in your own sanctification will lay the grounds for your dismissal. This is not a hypothetical. I’ve seen this happen enough times in enough churches to know this is how the above language will be used.

Finally, saying that gay people must pursue “spirit empowered victory” over their “sinful temptations” is code language for “any indication that this is a continuing source of struggle in your life means we kick you out.”

Gay people will be forced to bury their life and experiences underneath a mask of heterosexual normalcy. If they want to speak openly about anything they experience, they will risk being accused of not living in “victory” over their sin.

There will be no room for gay people to be open about their sexuality, speak honestly about their experience with temptation, or confess to any shortcomings because ANY could be used as evidence of failing to live in “victory.”

Again, this is NOT a hypothetical. I have seen it happen over and OVER again. This is how the above language is used, every time. It is a means of kicking gay people out of churches, no matter what we say, do, or believe.

If you think this is not what’s intended by the overture, I am sorry but you are simply wrong. When you’ve been down this road even once, you know where it leads. And I’ve been down it countless times.

The PCA general assembly just passed an overture to homophobia. God have mercy on their unrepentant souls.