Free Presbyterian Church Statement on Traditional Marriage

A STATEMENT BY THE PRESBYTERY OFFICERS ON OUR CHURCH’S POSITION ON MARRIAGE 

The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster unreservedly subscribes to the fundamental principle that God’s infallible Word is the final authority on all matters of faith and practice. Accordingly, the Free Presbyterian Church publicly re-emphasises its purpose to uphold the clear revelation of Scripture that marriage is a covenant and conjugal union between a man and a woman, (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-5). 

As Christ’s teaching in this Matthew 19 passage reveals, this divine injunction of marriage between male and female is binding upon all of mankind throughout all time. The injunction is designed to provide the only framework within which stable family life can exist. Consequently, the pathway to the improvement of society is found in adherence to the Biblical principle of marriage. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people,” (Proverbs 14:34).

In keeping with this clear Biblical teaching and authority, the Free Presbyterian Church underlines its opposition to all marital and sexual relationships outside the covenant of Biblical marriage. Scripture clearly reveals that such marital and sexual relationships are sinful and will prohibit entrance into the Kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators…nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind…shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Therefore, as a Church we are saddened by the attempts of political parties to normalise and promote marital and sexual relationships that are in contravention of the clear teaching of Scripture. We would remind political leaders that they are subject to God’s moral law and should endeavour to honour it, keeping in mind that one day all men will give an account of themselves to God (Romans 14:12). 

We would also put on record the Biblical reminder that only through repentance from such sin and by faith in Christ alone will forgiveness and acceptance with God be obtained (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Free Presbyterian Statement regarding Presbyterian moderator's intention to meet the Pope

Love for Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and concern for the eternal souls of men will prevent any Bible believer from union or communion with a Roman Catholic Church that remains as contrary to Holy Scripture today as it ever has been.

As long as it proclaims its leader as the supreme head of the church on earth, denigrates the work that Christ completed on Calvary by the pretentious teachings central to its mass, refuses the scriptural way of salvation that justification is by faith alone in Christ alone, fleeces its adherents by means of an imaginary purgatory, and offers indulgences with as much aplomb as Tetzel managed in Martin Luther’s day, no true Christian should engage in fellowship with this system, never mind travel to welcome its Pope.

Presbytery Statement on Abortion Referendum in the Republic of Ireland

Much of Ireland imagines they have joined the ranks of the liberated as a result of the demolition of its constitutional protection for the unborn. It does not seem to care that by the same action it has effectively delivered a death sentence on a significant percentage of its potential population. 

Actions of this nature are the inevitable consequence of secularisation. As belief in God and awareness of His Word declines, so does resistance to abortion laws. It’s a matter of anthropology: when man believes himself to be a random event instead of a purposeful creation, he will inevitably draw the same conclusion about those both within him and around him. This will then enable him to weigh lives on utilitarian scales and so make distinctions about their respective value.

The Bible makes it plain that God considers even the deliberate abandonment of one’s child as an extreme example of heartlessness (Isaiah 49:15); and does not distinguish between the value of the child in the womb and the child who has made it into the world, using exactly the same word to describe both (Luke 1:41&44; Luke 18:15).