DISAPPROVES OF SYNOD’S DECISION ON HOMOSEXUALITY
Anyone who reads the report of the committee and the decision of the 1973 Synod on homosexuality faces the question—is it a sin or a sickness. The Church Order tells us how any matters or problems are to be dealt with. It states that if a member presents a problem or a grievance to the council (elders) it must do its “home work” to solve the problem in the light of Scripture. If the member is not satisfied he informs the council he is taking the matter to the Classis. The Classis then must do its “home work” seeking solution in the light of Scripture. If the brother is not satisfied, according to Scripture as he sees it, he goes to Synod with his problem. Apparently this procedure was not followed. The council of the Canadian churches, instead of making a study of its problem and presenting that to the Synod, asked Synod in 1970 to appoint a committee to study the matter and report to the Synod which it did in 1973. Synod’s decision: that homosexuality b a sickness and that the homosexual member needs sympathy and help. Some go along with that decision. But many members of our church are disturbed by Synod’s decision. Some are asking what must we do? My reply is let your voice be heard to the effect that the decision is not in accord with the teaching of Scripture.
Turning to the Bible for answers we quote (all quotes are from ARV) Genesis 2:22–24: “And the rib which God had taken from man made he (builded he) a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.”
Genesis 1:28: “God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and have dominion over it.” From this it is clear that the woman was not merely created for biological reproduction; she was created to fulfill man’s fundamental need of companionship, to complement him, and to help man see that the two cleave unto each other in love and become one flesh. Matthew 19:3 the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause.” His reply: “Have you not read that he which made them in the beginning made them male and female; for this cause a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they twain shall be one flesh? What therefore God hath joined together. Let no man put asunder.” In Romans 1:24 Paul writes: “Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.” In verses 26, 27 he states: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections (passions) for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature; and likewise the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.” Paul distinguishes there between the “vile passions” or lusts of the heart and the sinful act: both are a dishonoring of the body and sin in the sight of God.
This is confirmed by what Christ teaches in Matthew 5:27, 28: “Ye have heard, thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed already in his heart.” The sinful desire of the heart is sin in God’s sight as well as adultery. In Ephesians 5:3 Paul writes: “But fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.”
There is only one cure for sin that God provides. He sent His Son into the world to bear the penalty on the cross. He came to destroy sin itself. Homoscxuals can be saved by the grace of God. In Voices of the November 9 issue of The Banner a member of a CRC states that he “was a homosexual actively involved in the life of the church.” And he states, “that Jesus broke the power of sin in his life and that he can testify of the love and presence of the indwelling Christ.”
JOHN D. PIKAART
John D. Pikaart, a nonagenarian, makes his home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He observed the 59th anniversary of his ordination on October 11, 1973. He retired from the active ministry in 1952.
Anyone who reads the report of the committee and the decision of the 1973 Synod on homosexuality faces the question—is it a sin or a sickness. The Church Order tells us how any matters or problems are to be dealt with. It states that if a member presents a problem or a grievance to the council (elders) it must do its “home work” to solve the problem in the light of Scripture. If the member is not satisfied he informs the council he is taking the matter to the Classis. The Classis then must do its “home work” seeking solution in the light of Scripture. If the brother is not satisfied, according to Scripture as he sees it, he goes to Synod with his problem. Apparently this procedure was not followed. The council of the Canadian churches, instead of making a study of its problem and presenting that to the Synod, asked Synod in 1970 to appoint a committee to study the matter and report to the Synod which it did in 1973. Synod’s decision: that homosexuality b a sickness and that the homosexual member needs sympathy and help. Some go along with that decision. But many members of our church are disturbed by Synod’s decision. Some are asking what must we do? My reply is let your voice be heard to the effect that the decision is not in accord with the teaching of Scripture.
Turning to the Bible for answers we quote (all quotes are from ARV) Genesis 2:22–24: “And the rib which God had taken from man made he (builded he) a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.”
Genesis 1:28: “God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and have dominion over it.” From this it is clear that the woman was not merely created for biological reproduction; she was created to fulfill man’s fundamental need of companionship, to complement him, and to help man see that the two cleave unto each other in love and become one flesh. Matthew 19:3 the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause.” His reply: “Have you not read that he which made them in the beginning made them male and female; for this cause a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they twain shall be one flesh? What therefore God hath joined together. Let no man put asunder.” In Romans 1:24 Paul writes: “Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.” In verses 26, 27 he states: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections (passions) for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature; and likewise the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.” Paul distinguishes there between the “vile passions” or lusts of the heart and the sinful act: both are a dishonoring of the body and sin in the sight of God.
This is confirmed by what Christ teaches in Matthew 5:27, 28: “Ye have heard, thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed already in his heart.” The sinful desire of the heart is sin in God’s sight as well as adultery. In Ephesians 5:3 Paul writes: “But fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.”
There is only one cure for sin that God provides. He sent His Son into the world to bear the penalty on the cross. He came to destroy sin itself. Homoscxuals can be saved by the grace of God. In Voices of the November 9 issue of The Banner a member of a CRC states that he “was a homosexual actively involved in the life of the church.” And he states, “that Jesus broke the power of sin in his life and that he can testify of the love and presence of the indwelling Christ.”
JOHN D. PIKAART
John D. Pikaart, a nonagenarian, makes his home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He observed the 59th anniversary of his ordination on October 11, 1973. He retired from the active ministry in 1952.