Currently, member churches and leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) are quickly evolving on the topic of Same Sex Attraction (SSA). The chiefest change of ideology is that being “gay,” or suffering from SSA, is an identity that one can keep without shame or repentance. These purported intellectuals and academic theologians contend that a line can be drawn between SSA and sin, and therefore, one can identify as a “gay Christian” without any impropriety. Both SBC leaders and PCA leaders have commended the upcoming Revoice Conference, which seeks to normalize and “de-sin” SSA (although not without exception). At least one denomination, however, has chosen to issue a statement condemning the supposition behind the upcoming Revoice Conference.
The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) is comprised of six presbyteries and more than a hundred churches spread out across several continents. A unique construction so far as denominations go, CREC allows member churches to choose their confession, so long as it’s a historic Reformed and Protestant Confession of Faith. Notably, Douglas Wilson’s Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, is a member of CREC. And according to Wilson, CREC allows its presiding minister to make statements on behalf of the denomination in between general sessions of the denomination.
The statement, without explicitly referring to Revoice, certainly seems to be timed to coincide with the discussion that has taken up so much time and energy on behalf of certain evangelicals, Wilson included. There has even been a certain amount of energy expended on those who have been quiet about Revoice, as it must certainly be tiring to be so evasive and to act as though they’re unaware of the controversy with any plausible deniability. The statement from CREC pulls no punches on the subject of whether it is proper for a Christian to identify as “gay,” even if celibate:
The CREC affirms the Bible’s teaching on the creation of man and woman and the establishment of the marriage relationship as only between one man and one woman. There are two sexes, male and female. We stand against all attempts to confuse the Bible’s clear teaching in this area.
The CREC believes that Christians who struggle with various sexual temptations should receive ongoing pastoral care, including those who are tempted to engage in sexual perversions. At the same time, we believe that any teaching that combines LGBTQ identity with identity in Christ is completely unbiblical.
We believe that encouraging Christians who face certain sexual temptations to identify as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders, whether in sexually active relationships or not, is unbiblical, and further, that this teaching will have destructive effects in the long term, both for individuals who follow it and for any Christian bodies that accommodate it.
We exhort all ecclesiastical bodies to declare the Bible’s full and clear teaching on sexual behavior, whether in desires or actions and to encourage individuals to repent of sinful desires and sexual behavior as they turn to Christ to resist temptation.
We encourage patient pastoral care for struggling individuals who repent of their sins and seek to be obedient to Jesus.
We exhort the broader Christian Church, and particularly Reformed Churches, to hold their churches and pastors accountable to faithful biblical doctrine and practice in all areas of sexuality.
[emphasis ours]
You can download a pdf of the CREC statement here. This is the clearest ecclesiastical statement made on Same Sex Attraction (far clearer than last year’s Nashville Statement) that has been produced thus far.
