Posted on 03/05/2011 1:55:57 PM PST by americanophile
MINNEAPOLIS -- An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA was acquitted Monday by a church panel of charges that he violated the church constitution when he legally married his gay partner in California in 2008. The case of the Rev. Erwin Barron, who was associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis in the 1990s, is likely to be appealed. It is the first time the divided church, which sidestepped the issue of gay marriage at its national convention last summer in Minneapolis, has dealt with the possible discipline of a gay pastor who legally married a same-sex partner.
Barron, a college professor in San Francisco whose church credentials remain with the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, faced a 21âÑ2-hour trial before a presbytery panel of six at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Minn. After almost three hours of closed deliberations, the panel split 3-3. A two-thirds vote was required for conviction, which lawyers said could have led to defrockment.
"I'm relieved," Barron said. "I wish it was more definitive. ... The decision is not clear for the church."
The Rev. Neil Craigan, a White Bear Lake, Minn., pastor who was on the prosecuting committee, said his group will consider an appeal. The case could rise to the synod level and possibly to the national church for final disposition.
"I think there is a high probability that we will appeal to get more clarity on the issues that we face as a denomination," Craigan said. "We've never had a trial of this kind before."
The unusual hearing, held in a church community room, featured defense and prosecution lawyers who were Presbyterians who volunteered their services. About 25 people attended, most of them Barron supporters from Westminster. The six-person judicial commission was made up of three pastors and...
(Excerpt) Read more at standard.net ...
And THIS is the bottom line
“This is the reason why there’s such an immense number of different denominations “
Actually, No. Religious freedom did that. When the West was united under Roman Catholicism it was united by force. Heretics were burned.
Is that what you want again?
The saddest thing is to see a once-great, historical denomination literally be destroyed as it is infiltrated and overrun by homosexuals who demand the liberal bias.
First women become deacans. Then women become elders. Then women elders choose gay deacans. Then women elders choose gay elders. And then women and gay elders choose the next pastor.
As the elders go, so goes the church.
When I was still a member of the PCUSA, I got into it with my pastor about abortion.
Because of the internet, I learned that pastors and their families were getting abortion coverage, even partial birth abortion coverage.
That was it for me. It is beyond me how a pastor can support that.
All men are fallen. Even pastors.
But I sure agree with you. How any pastor could defend getting abortion coverage is mind-boggling. They must have daughters and figure that an early pregnancy is worse than an early abortion.
As I type that, I realize just how far that church has sunk.
I told my PCUSA ex-pastor that we became members of the Wesleyan denomination, and he commented that it is a very conservative denomination.
I agreed with him.
My mother was a life-long member of his PCUSA church. In her hour of illness and need, he came to see her a few times, and that was it. He abandoned her.
People from my church are now visiting her and bringing her communion.
I genuinely think that's why the New Testament teaches male leadership in the Church--as women are more likely to confuse kindness for love. Female-led churches really do tend to verge into more odd doctrines and leaders (Pentacostals and liberal-main lines) than more stodgy fellowships who rely on men. Men just tend to be more diligent and aware in defending the flock from wolves....
Men just tend to be more diligent and aware in defending the flock from wolves....
Women think they can tame the wolves. Men know that the wisest course of action is to stay far away from wolves.
Or to use them for a rug. 8~)
Well, it is high time Christians left the PCUSA. This branch of presbyterian churches has been turning away from the Bible since the 1930s. That is why the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was formed in 1936.
These passages are specifically aimed at the people of Israel because these other practices were carried out by those who worshipped another god and who lived in that land.
These chapters govern many behaviors including seeing blood relatives naked, various sexual affairs and even bestiality.
So... what about the "put to death" part? Is that happening? Other than under Sharia law, I mean.
As for the church, it depends on what their bylaws were. Do they accept married clergy? Seems so. Do they marry homosexuals in the Presbyterian church? Do they distinguish between a sacramental marriage rite in the church and the civil government's "marriage" program? I'm not well acquainted with Presbyterianism but I'm also not fond of "married" clergy.
Depends on what you mean. If you mean to exclude those pursuing homosexual relationships, I can certainly agree they have no place leading the church but I am not one to support married clergy of any stripe.
Should those living chaste and celibate lives be excluded? I don't think it's necessary or prudent.
I've never known a caste or celibate gay man. I believe it is a negative psychological compulsion resulting from an early childhood sexual trauma that if not resolved will always find a way to be expressed.
AMEN!
My husband worked for a few months in Texas and said there were several wonderful OPC churches. He couldn't get enough of them.
I find no passage-nor verse in the Holy Bible that can be construed as supporting/advancing/ or allowing same sex “marriage” from Genesis to the Revelation of Jesus Christ it seems clear to me “marriage” is when a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife.And there is nothing equal to “marriage” given and what the reprobate do is fornication, and prostitution,and unnatural, and impure, and sinning before the Lord, and Abomination and...
The PCUSA is long past finished. It is a rotting corpse. That this is even on the table for discussion proves this overwhelmingly.
"Gay" ordination isn't something that just popped up in an otherwise biblical Church body; it is only the logical conclusion to a continuing apostate culture of acceptance of unbiblical beliefs and practices.
By the time a Church denomination gets to the acceptance of homosexuality, a thousand other apostasies have already been swallowed and ingested.
Your individual congregation may be the rare exception, but when you are yoked to a denomination that toys with such abominations, it's time to step back and re-evaluate.
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