My Response to the Presbyterian Church on SSA

The Presbyterian Church of the USA wrote an article labelled, Limping Along. Here's my comment to their article:

Thanks for this discussion. 

I agree with you that, "The most fascinating aspect of the position paper as it now stands is that it never mentions same-sex attraction. Not once. For a committee entitled “Ad-Interim Committee on Same-Sex Attraction and Ordination Standards,” it is more than a little odd that SSA would be completely ignored in its position paper."

This does seem very weird. 

I would encourage you to seek definitions on a number of terms. If someone has different definitions, then it makes communication very difficult. Below are my definition of these terms:

1. 'homosexual' - the simple definition is someone who is *sexually attracted* to other men. 
   
   
2. 'SSA' - this is clearly 'same sex attraction'. But presumably this does not include the attraction that two straight men have for each other, which is same sex *platonic* attraction, not same sex *sexual* attraction to men. So really 'SSA' should be 'SSSA'. The issue here is *attraction*, which says nothing about whether someone is engaging in sexual activity or not. I see the 1978 ruling as trying to say that 
   
   
3. ‘gay Christian’ - this generally means men who identify as gay and who live a gay lifestyle, which is engaging in sex with men and not being repentant about it. 'Gay Christian' does not mean a person who's identity is in Christ, who experiences same sex sexual attraction to men, yet who isn't or hasn't acted upon them.

Based on the definition of 'homosexual' above, homosexual men not are excluded from ordination, unless they’re not celibate or they're engaging in homosexual practice. I see the issue in the 1978 ruling is not the attraction, but sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman. So 'homosexual' and SSSA men are the same as they only refer to attraction, but neither refers to sexual activity. A married heterosexual man can be attracted sexually to women other than his wife, but his attraction is not an issue unless he engages in sexual activity outside of his marriage to his wife.

Assuming the definition of 'gay' as someone who is engaging in same sex sexual activity, or as someone who approves of such activity, and who doesn't see such activity as something that Jesus would call them to repent of.

So this leaves a gap between 'homosexual'/SSSA and 'gay' - essentially men who experience same sex sexual attraction to men and who do *not* act upon their attractions. The 1978 ruling accepts these men into ordination, assuming they do not engage in sexual activity outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. 

The writer of the above article thinks it is wrong to 'welcome candidates for office who are same-sex attracted in an ongoing, persistent way or who claim their same-sex attraction as a discrete identity provided they do not act on these attractions.', but I disagree. Attractions are not the issue, because a heterosexual man who are attracted to women other than their wives are not disqualified from ordination unless they act upon those attractions, so why would men who have same sex sexual attraction to men who don't act on them be excluded!

The writer suggests some wording like:

'Sanctification includes great hope for the removal of unnatural lusts and disordered affections'

I don’t want to deny that God can heal and do anything, but adding this wording could effectively be saying that our hope for homosexual clergy candidates is in conversion therapy to convert them to heterosexuality! Having a heterosexual attraction is not a Biblical hope nor listed as a requirement for eldership in 1 Timothy.  Conversion used the be the stance of the former Exodus International organisation that closed saying that they could not deliver on that promise. 

The writer asks the question, "should we, or should we not, ordain those who persist in SSA, or those who identify with their SSA?" The question is ambiguous, but I would say No, assuming that ‘persist’ means non-repentance of sexual activity (outside of a marriage between a man and a woman), and together with ‘identify’ means defining themselves and living a gay lifestyle where they approve of an engage in sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman.