Presbyterian Church (USA) Heresy Hits New Low

In recent years, few historically Christian denominations have provided more vivid real-life examples of the devastating impact of incremental theological and heretical drift than the Presbyterian Church (USA).

While an official entity after the result of a merger between the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1983, the roots of the PCUSA date back to 1706. The Presbytery of Philadelphia was defined by two primary doctrines: the supreme authority of Scripture and the sovereignty of God.

Just how far has the denomination fallen from its founding?

The PCUSA is currently embroiled in a debate over whether its ordained clergy who are sexually active should be required to live exclusively in a one-partner relationship. The denomination’s General Assembly will be addressing a proposal looking to draw that line later this month.

You’ll recall that back in 2011 the PCUSA abandoned foundational biblical norms when they allowed the ordination of openly homosexual clergy. Three years later, the denomination voted to redefine marriage.

Those votes led to the departure of hundreds of churches from the denomination and an acceleration of a loss of members from the churches that remained. It should be noted that many of the churches still in the denomination are being held somewhat hostage due to property disputes. Nevertheless, PCUSA membership has plummeted from more than three million members in the 1980s to under one million today. 

What’s especially telling from this latest debate regarding monogamy is that three committees within the denomination are opposing it.

According to the “Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice,” requiring clergy to live in a monogamous relationship reinforces shame and constitutes spiritual coercion. The “Advocacy Committee on LGBTQIA+ Equity” claims it reinforces white privilege and a prejudicial definition of the family. They actually claim polyamory is healthy. 

Finally, the “Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy” is concerned the monogamy policy would be destructive because it would guarantee the denomination would be too tied to rigid sexual norms. 

Keep in mind, the proposal doesn’t try to reestablish marriage to what the Bible says it is – a union between one man and one woman. Instead, it’s simply stating that polygamy or other sexual deviances involving more than one partner, are not acceptable for members of the clergy. 

The proposal, introduced by the New Mexico Presbytery of Sierra Blanca, states that polygamy creates “power imbalances, emotional harm, and spiritual confusion, particularly for women, children, and historically marginalized persons.” 

“More Light Presbyterians,” a theologically radical group attached to the denomination, claims the proposal is somehow antibiblical. 

“It centers a single model of relationship as the only faithful expression of Christian life, ignoring both the breadth of biblical witness and the lived realities of many faithful people,” they declared. “Scripture speaks richly about covenant, mutuality, justice, and love but does not prescribe one uniform relational structure across all contexts.”

Tragically, those serving up such heresy are unfamiliar with, or more likely blatantly reject Scriptures’ clear teaching on the subject:

“But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” – Mark 10:6-9

“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” – 1 Cor. 7:2.

The debacle that is the PCUSA is a chilling example of what happens when individuals and churches fail to hold fast to God’s Word. It’s also a reminder for each of us to maintain biblical principles and never compromise truth.