Dear Editor,

I deeply appreciate Joan Gray as our moderator. I observe her to be balanced and truly in touch with reality, and courageous enough to speak reality when no one else in leadership has done so. In that context, I offer my thoughts on her recent letter concerning what she calls a "pernicious heresy":

1. The Book of Order directs us not to withhold membership from a person for any reason "not related to profession of faith". It is not pernicious heresy to consider the Lordship of Christ to be an issue related to profession of faith. Can one profess that "Jesus is Lord" and actively pursue homosexual relations? Can a heterosexual couple profess that "Jesus is Lord" and actively pursue sexual relations outside of marriage? In both cases, I would say No. In both cases, it would be appropriate to wait and see whether the persons involved truly wish to follow Jesus, who taught the enduring one-flesh union of a man and a woman as the only God-ordained model for sexual activity. One may choose not to treat this aspect of the Lordship of Christ as an issue related to profession of faith, but to do so is not a pernicious heresy.

2. I would agree with Joan, however, that the language used to reject homosexual persons (in the cases she describes) is indeed mistaken and in need of correction. No one should be shut out of the Church based on which problem desires may beset them, whether it be same-sex attraction, attraction to children, heterosexual lust, or the desire for mind-altering drugs (the list could be much longer).

3. Our Book of Order does specifiy a pernicious heresy in G-1.0304, where it affirms "That truth is in order to goodness, and the great touchstone of truth, its tendency to promote holiness, according to our Savior's rule, 'By their fruits shall ye know them.' And that no opinion can be either more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level, and represents it as of no consequence what a [person's] opinions are." To "twist the grace of God into licentiousness" (aselgeia - Jude 1:4, which is arguably Jesus' term for homosexual behavior in Mark 7:23) has always been recognized as a pernicious heresy.

Rev Tom Hobson (PCUSA)
Ph D student, Concordia Seminary, St Louis, MO