You're excoriating Joel for asking a very valid question. There is a clear and explicit disconnect between the way you are practicing Christianity and the way that it has been understood for some two odd millennia. If you're willing to say that you're Gnostics, Arians or Cathars, or that you're a new branch of Christianity based on a different revelation then I can accept that as your choice. However, you claim to be Pauline Christians following the text of the Bible. There is explicit language against all of these acts in the Bible. I haven't seen a satisfactory explanation from the Presbyterian Church (which has admittedly never been strong on theology) as to how these ideas are reconciled.

If you want to pillory Joel and be thankful he's not a Presbyterian, that's fine. Everyone around here has pilloried him at one time or another. However, don't think for an instant that this somehow means that the points he's raising aren't valid, or that you don't have to address them just because it makes you uncomfortable.