Today, another mainline denomination is safely over the rainbow flag of the Gay Rights Movement. This time, it’s the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). John Calvin must be turning over in his grave. After years of debate and waning opposition in recent years, the church has finally voted to allow the ordination of openly gay people.

According to Cynthia Bolbach, the moderator of the General Assembly, which is the denomination’s highest legislative body, the vote was “reflective of the fact that [the denomination] is moving forward one other step.” One cannot help but wonder, however, how the denomination is moving forward by forsaking clear biblical teaching.

The Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is a sin. For instance, consider the following:

(1) The word “sodomy,” which originally meant unnatural sexual relations with a member of the same sex, was derived from the homosexual proclivities of the men of Sodom, whom the Bible describes as “sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (Genesis 13:13). According to Genesis 18:16-33, God determined to destroy the Sodomites because “their sin [was so] grievous.” Following an attempt by the city’s male inhabitants to forcefully have sex with a pair of angels, God destroyed Sodom with “brimstone and fire…out of heaven” (Genesis 19:1-28).

(2) In the New Testament, Jude refers to God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone as a warning of the punishment of “eternal fire” that awaits all who are guilty of sexual perversion (Jude 7).

(3) In both Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, the Bible calls homosexuality "an abomination”; that is, “a detestable thing” in the eyes of God.

(4) In Deuteronomy 23:17-18, God forbids the inclusion of “sodomites”—male prostitutes—among His chosen people.

(5) In Judges 19:22, homosexuals in Gibeah, who demand that a visiting Levite be handed over to them for their sexual pleasure, are condemned as “sons of Belial,” which means “wicked” or “worthless men.”

(6) In Romans 1:18-32, the sin of homosexuality is condemned in no uncertain terms. Paul identifies it as a sin that is characteristic of people who have been given over by God “to a reprobate [depraved] mind.” According to the Apostle Paul, once homosexuals begin giving into the “uncleanness” and “vile affections” of their sinful “lusts,” they  proceed to “dishonor [degrade] their own bodies” by doing that which is “against nature” and “unseemly.” Despite the fact that they know “the judgment of God”—“that they which commit such things are worthy of death”—homosexuals persist in their sin and even “have pleasure” in others who do the same.

(7) In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV), Paul makes it plain that no one  practicing the homosexual lifestyle—“male prostitutes or homosexual offenders”—will “inherit the kingdom of God.” Furthermore, Paul intimates that no Christian is a homosexual. Although some  Christians “were” homosexuals before being “washed…sanctified [and] justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God,” no true Christian will ever be found living the homosexual lifestyle subsequent to conversion.

(8) In 1 Timothy 1:8-11, Paul numbers homosexuals—those “that defile themselves with mankind”—among “sinners” who are “lawless…disobedient…ungodly…unholy and profane.”

Now, none of the above should be misinterpreted as hatred toward homosexuals; in fact, it is the opposite! We serve no one well by refusing “to speak the truth” to them “in love” (Ephesians 4:15). If I didn’t care about homosexuals and their immortal souls, I wouldn’t speak the truth to them. I’d be like everyone else, catering to their feelings and unconcerned about the forfeiture of their souls.

My sole purpose in writing the above is to counter the popular, but biblically baseless argument that the Scripture neither condemns homosexuality nor identifies it as a sin. Just as any open-minded person is forced to admit by a basic understanding of human anatomy that homosexuality is unnatural (sexual perversion), they are also forced to admit by a basic understanding of the Scripture that homosexuality is also a sin against God. There’s no getting around it. You can disagree with what the Bible says, but you can’t deny what it says.

Following the vote to allow gay ordinations, the clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Rev. Gradye Parsons, expressed his “hope that going forward [the denomination would] stay together and be faithful witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Inasmuch as the denomination’s vote to sanctify gay ordinations is a complete contradiction of Christ’s Gospel, it’s hard to see how the good Reverend’s hope is anything other than an absolute absurdity. I mean, after all, how can you be a faithful witness of what you contradict and move forward with what you’ve just forsaken?

As absurd as I find Rev. Parsons’ hope to be, I find the comments of Rev. Heidi Vardeman even more ridiculous. According to Rev. Vardeman, the senior minister of Macalaster Plymouth United Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, her “denomination has [finally] seen the error of its ways and [repented], which means, literally, to turn around.” Contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which commissions Christ’s church to preach repentance to sinners (Luke 24:47), Rev. Vardeman’s church has repented from preaching repentance. Instead of sinners being won to Christ by the church, Rev. Vardeman’s church has been won over by the sinners.

When it comes to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I don’t know whose church it is, but I do know one thing for sure, it’s not Christ’s church! If it was, it would believe the Bible, preach repentance and turn sinners from sin to Christ, not contradict the Bible, repent of its preaching of repentance and turn from Christ to sinners.