Original article posted here.

You do not have to go back very long when there was the theological fight for Princeton Seminary. At issue was the rise of liberalism that was taking away this once great bastion of great theologians. In the wake of this controversy, J. Gresham Machen wrote in his classic book, Christianity and Liberalism,

“it may appear that what the liberal theologian has retained after abandoning to the enemy one Christian doctrine after another is not Christianity at all, but a religion which is so entirely different from Christianity as to belong to a distinct category.”

This is long before any denomination recognized homosexual marriage as valid; long before the discussion was thought to be an option. Machen noted that liberalism embraces a naturalism that is swayed by the whims of the era and not by the trustworthiness of the Word of God.  He noted that morality  is the casualty but doctrine is where the first battles began.

One such denomination at the heart of liberalism is the PC-USA, a liberal denomination of Presbyterian Churches.

They are important for us today as they just voted to recognize and allow their clergy to perform gay marriages. After years of progress to this ends, the predominantly liberal denomination was able to approve homosexuality.  Their liberalism, though, has taken a toll on her, losing 5% of their members and 3% of their churches in just one year, they are getting smaller and more liberal.

The most recent issue is over homosexuality.  Since her inception, the official statement of the PC-USA has been that marriage is between one man and one woman, but the denomination has ignored this law throughout the years. In what can only be considered a radically inconsistent and irrational compromise, the 2006 General Assembly of the PC-USA fired the major shots at accepting homosexuality and other alternative sexually deviant behavior.  That year the PC-USA passed a resolution that required clergy to remain celibate outside of marriage and faithful to their spouse in marriage; however, they also voted to leave it up to the local governing authorities to decide whether or not to implement this policy. For the most part, local governing authorities ignored the homosexual issues in favor, as they said, of “peace and unity.”  In reality, the 2006 vote was a halfway house to today’s vote of affirming homosexuality.  The so-called compromise was no compromise; it was designed to be a small win for an eventual major win that came  in this year’s General Assembly.

This teaches us an important lesson; there is no compromise on these issues. You cannot take a third way on this issue. In fact, every third way will eventually lead one direction, towards the further erosion and compromise.

However, the bigger lesson we should learn comes from J. Gresham Machen. Long before the PC-USA embraced homosexuality they embraced liberalism. Long before they abandoned God’s moral code, they jettisoned Christianity. For that reason, short of God converting the entire denomination, we should not feel bad as they continue their decline in membership and churches. For these members are not leaving a Christian denomination, they are leaving a sect that has long ago left Christianity.

Instead, we should view the PC-USA as neither friends in the Gospel nor fellow laborers, but antagonistic to the Gospel.

This vote did not separate them from Christianity, it merely confirmed their separation.

Derick Dickens has an MBA in Leadership, MDiv, and MA in Religion.  He speaks regularly on topics ranging from Christian Worldview issues to business leadership, and he is an Adjunct Professor of Business and Human Resources.  Derick is also an award winning public speaker, speech evaluator, and leader.  Married for 16 years to his wife Lacie, they have three children and live in Lynchburg Virginia.  You can follow Derick on Twitter at twitter.com/derickdickens.