Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made.  And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3: 1)

In response to Eve’s reply that they were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or they will die, the serpent replied, “You surely will not die” followed by twisted reasoning as to why not. The serpent slyly questioned God’s explicitly emphasized and stressed commandment.

Now that cunning one asks the EPC, “Has God really, explicitly emphasized the serious evil of same-sex attracted sexual relations, desires, and passions?”  Some respond with ignorance or confusion regarding how serious the sins are if candidates for ordination or pastors claim to maintain celibacy but ignore how the desires and passions of same-sex attraction are as equally sinful.

Others wanting to be loving wish to avoid stigmatizing those identifying as homosexual or same-sex attracted Christians.  In essence, there is a gullible acceptance akin to Adam and Eve’s gullibility that resulted in the life-changing Fall from grace affecting them and all their descendants.

Basically, the EPC denomination, both leaders and members, is being confronted and tempted by the very same modem operandi that is millennia years old.  That modem operandi questions God’s holy and divine revelation. One would think we would recognize who is behind it by now.

The first issue, undecided as to the seriousness of the sins, demands consistent hermeneutical understanding of Scripture.  Both Testaments clearly stress that God defines both homosexual acts and desires/passions as sin.  In the Old Testament “abominable” or “detestable” are applied in Leviticus 20:13.  In Paul’s epistle to the Romans, God elaborates further by using “degrading passions” “shameful lusts,” “contrary to nature—unnatural,” “burned in their desire-inflamed with lust,” “committing shameful acts,” “depraved mind” (Romans 1: 26-28).

These and other passages indicate God’s strong emphasis on the seriousness of these sins.  Nowhere in Scripture is homosexuality approved or softened.  This should alert all denomination leaders and pastors that hermeneutically no authority has been given to the Church to de-emphasize or de-stress God’s emphases and stresses. It has been reported that some are seeking to diminish the definitions of homosexual sin by renaming “same-sex attracted” to “latent propensity,” and by so doing claiming it is as “not sinning.”  We do not have the right to define what is or is not sin; that is God’s prerogative alone. To do so is to skew God’s intent in his divine revelation. This kind of action is a serious sin in itself for any professing believer, but especially for teaching or ruling elders.

As to those who claim to be loving by not stigmatizing Christians identifying as homosexual or same-sex attracted; they do not understand the true nature of biblical love.  The truth is that God defined the sinfulness of the thoughts and practice of homosexual sin, even of those claiming to remain celibate.

Those identifying with such sins desperately need to hear biblical truth given in love. The desire is that they be delivered from the judgment awaiting them. Attempts to soften or diminish the seriousness of these sins arise from a paganized culture, not from God. Genuine love is practiced in the light of biblical truth. True love always aims to deliver from the serious consequences of walking in darkness.

Questioning both 1) the seriousness of the sins and 2) avoiding telling and practicing the truth by wishing not to stigmatize what God stigmatizes leads to denying God’s holy and divine revelation.

The EPC has declared a strong fidelity to sola scriptura, to an inerrant and infallible Word of God. As such it cannot be clearer: God’s emphases and stresses are not to be de-emphasized or de-stressed. “

Fidelity to God’s revelation is not only the necessary, it’s also the priority for revealing genuine love to and for God.  May the Evangelical Presbyterian Church so love God!

Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.