Official church press continue to describe the Church's sexual standards for ordination as still undecided. A Pres-byterian News Service journalist, writing recently on a case in church courts in Florida, referred to G-6.0106b as "a disputed amendment." G-6.0106b is no longer an "amendment;" it is a paragraph of the Book of Order. Further, no part of the constitution has been so repeatedly and thoroughly affirmed by votes of our presbyteries: three times in the past five years.

This paragraph of the constitution is often put in the context of barring the ordination of those in homosexual practice. That is because those who wish to see the Church approve such behavior are the most outspoken and most persevering in their opposition to this part of the constitution.

G-6.0106b affirms marriage
But G-6.0106b doesn't mention homosexual behavior. Instead, it upholds the Bible's (and our Confessions') teaching on marriage.

Now that the governing bodies of the PC(USA) once again have reaffirmed the Christian view of marriage, it may very well be time to regard the debates over homosexuality resolved. It is certainly time to see the affirmation of marriage find its place in the teaching ministry of the Church.

Too many places in the church have lost their belief in marriage
If the position of official bodies of our denomination can be judged by their publications, they have been lukewarm at best on the subject of marriage. The sexuality curriculum--which two General Assemblies have directed G.A. offices to rewrite--assumes youth will be sexually active outside marriage, and advocates the use of contraception. It fails to help youth understand the Bible's teaching on marriage.

A resource recommended for youth group study by Presbyterian Women and funded by their Birthday Offering, called Love--All That and More, assumes that it is normal for teenagers to be in serial sexual relationships, both hetero- and homosexual. It regards marriage as irrelevant to healthy sexual relationships. (read more)

The culture has lost its belief in marriage
Michael J. McManus, the president of an organization called Marriage Savers, writes about the devastation caused by our culture's cavalier attitude toward sex detached from marriage. He notes that marriage rates are plunging and cohabitation is the dominant way in which male-female relationships are being formed. More than twice the number of couples cohabit each year as marry. Those who marry after cohabiting are 50 percent more likely to divorce. Nearly half of cohabiting couples bear children. A million births a year are to unmarried mothers over age 20.

Opportunity for a believing church
The situation cries for the Church to see its opportunity for moral teaching and for pastoral ministry.

McManus approaches the situation practically. He notes that four out of five women are romantically involved with the father at the time of the child's birth. Why not encourage them to marry?, he asks, instead of leaving them to be single parents for the rest of their lives, as most of them now are.

McManus recites the research findings that have come to light recently: that married people are healthier and happier, live longer, are much wealthier and have better sex than single people. Their kids are less likely to drop out of school and become pregnant or delinquent. He concludes that marriage is a panacea for a surprising number of our most serious social problems.

What the Bible teaches as a good turns out not to be an oppressive demand of God, but a path to blessing for every human being. We in the Church need to recover our belief in marriage and teach it to our children.

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