More Than 100 United Methodist Clergy Come Out As LGBT

Huffington Post ^ | 05/09/2016 | Antonia Blumberg

[Salman]

Dozens of Methodist clergy members took a stand for equality on Monday in the hope that their church will re-evaluate discriminatory policies toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals during its 2016 General Conference, which begins on Tuesday.

More than 100 pastors, deacons, elders and candidates for ministry in the United Methodist Church released a letter publicly coming out as LGBT just one day before the church’s top policy-making body convenes in Portand to consider roughly 1,000 legislative petitions.

[Trumpinator]

I think these days Churches here in America are more the local poor man's or middle class' country club or community association and not so much a religious institution.

In many cases I find churches selling membership like gyms do via TV commercials. The churches have just become the social club for people. So since it is now like a business expect to see more things like this.

[VeniVidiVici]

LOL!! Go figure!

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

The 100 need to be booted or their so-called church will fail. Members should leave.

Modern Christian churches are attracting women and effeminate men to the clergy. If you leave, where do you do you go to escape this trend? A mosque? The options are not looking good.

[Secret Agent Man]

Surprised only 100 came out.

[SubMareener]

This is what I believe:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic and apostolic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Maranatha deals with the "he will come to judge the living and the dead" part.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranatha

Maranatha (either מרנא תא: maranâ thâ' or מרן אתא: maran 'athâ' ) is a two-word Aramaic formula occurring only once in the New Testament (see Aramaic of Jesus) and also in the Didache, which is part of the Apostolic Fathers' collection. It is transliterated into Greek letters rather than translated and, given the nature of early manuscripts, the lexical difficulty lies in determining just which two Aramaic words constitute the single Greek expression, found at the end of Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (1Cor 16:22 ).

If one chooses to split the two words as מרנא תא (maranâ thâ), a vocative concept with an imperative verb, then it can be translated as a command to the Lord to come. On the other hand, if one decides that the two words מרן אתא (maran 'athâ), a possessive "Our Lord" and a perfect/preterite verb "has come," are actually more warranted, then it would be seen as a credal expression. This interpretation, "Our Lord has come," is supported by what appears to be an equivalent of this in the early credal acclamation found in the biblical books of Romans 10:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:3, "Jesus is Lord."

In general, the recent interpretation has been to select the command option ("Come, Lord!"), changing older decisions to follow the preterite option ("Our Lord has come") as found in the ancient Aramaic Peshitta, in the Latin Clementine Vulgate, in the Greek Byzantine texts, Textus Receptus, critical Greek texts like Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf, Cambridge, etc., and in the English translations like the King James Version, the Finnish Raamattu, etc.

The NRSV of 1 Cor 16:22 translates the expression as: "Our Lord, come!" but notes that it could also be translated as: "Our Lord has come"; the NIV translates: "Come, O Lord"; the Message version puts it differently as: "Make room for the Master!" [1]; the NAB notes:

As understood here ("O Lord, come!"), it is a prayer for the early return of Christ. If the Aramaic words are divided differently (Maran atha, "Our Lord has come"), it becomes a credal declaration. The former interpretation is supported by what appears to be a Greek equivalent of this acclamation in Book of Revelation 22:20 "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"

The 1985 New Jerusalem Bible translates 1 Cor 16:22, "If there is anyone who does not love the Lord, a curse on such a one. Maran atha." In the context of 1 Corinthians, understanding the Greek "maranatha" as Aramaic "Maran atha" in the preterite sense would provide substantiation for the preceding anathema. That is, one who does not love the Lord is accursed because our Lord has ascended and come unto his throne (e.g., Dan 7:13) and wields power to implement such a curse. It would also substantiate the following prayer for grace from the ascended Lord Jesus, who has come to his throne and then sends the Holy Spirit.

[JennysCool]

No one is weeping in heaven. If they pay any attention to us at all, they’re just shaking their heads. It’s a whole ‘nother world.

[laplata]

“I believe that was John Wesley Hardin”.

You are correct, sir.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Welcome to the United Methodist Church of Deliverance. Now squeal like a pig.

[50sDad]

"...whose fate is destruction, whose god is their belly [their worldly appetite, their sensuality, their vanity], and whose glory is in their shame—who focus their mind on earthly and temporal things." Philippians 3:19

They are proud of that which they ought to be ashamed.

[50sDad]

That way they could have orgies and stuff instead of pretending to worship God.

Because their real goal has nothing to do with worshiping God...it is all about corrupting His house.

[nopardons]

But you believe in THE RAPTURE; I don't; Methodists don't.

I ONLY like the KJV Bible and all of the other stuff you posted ( big waste of your time! ), on a news thread, bored me to tears. Keep that stuff on the Religion Section of FR, please.

I'm a High Church, Wesleyan Methodist ( which hardly can be found now-[a-days ) and neither YOU nor anyone else is going to impress me nor change my views.

This is a thread about the UMC; it's NOT about "THE LEFT BEHIND", New Age folderol.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Thought the UMC was a democrat-owned-minority-dowminated political group - sort of masquerading as a religious group for tax purposes...

The traditional black churches used to be relatively conservative.

[Samwell Tarly]

There is nothing sinful about temptation. Any temptation. We are ALL tempted, with one thing or another, to one degree or another.

The sin is giving in to the temptation. And thankfully God's grace covers over the multitude of our sins, provided we repent and ask for that grace.

But what these "clergy" and FAR TOO MANY other "Christians" are doing is something much much worse:

They are celebrating sin. They are revering those who have given in to their temptations. They have made giving in to temptation into something exempt from conviction or needing the grace of God.

I know that it is never too late, while there is breath in our lungs.

But even so: how can such people as these "clergy" have salvation? Are their souls so seared that they will never again have guilt inflicting on their conscience?

If this is not apostasy that we were long ago warned about, I pray that God let me die before the real apostasy does come on the scene.

[Mark17]

You are correct, sir.

Do I win a cookie? 🍪

😀😀😂😊😎😆

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

"The UMC, ELCA, PECUSA/TEC, Presbyterians, Unitarians, etc. are at stage 4 now. Those “churches” are lost causes; Satan is in complete control."

It really hurts me when I see people like you make generalized statements that just are not true. While it is true that the The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)does fit in your lost causes list, the fact is that they have experienced a significant decline in members in recent years. Some estimates have placed that loss at nearly half in the last forty years. The reason being that conservative evangelical Presbyterian Churches are replacing the old "mainstream" lost cause.

Other Presbyterian bodies in the United States include Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (CPC), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO), the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP), the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States (RPCUS), the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly, the Reformed Presbyterian Church – Hanover Presbytery, the Covenant Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Reformed Church, the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States, the Korean American Presbyterian Church, and the Free Presbyterian Church of North America.

Of the above list, I can only speak for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)and can assure you that the PCA adheres rigorously to the Scriptures. I suspect that many of the others (if not all) in the above list do as well.

I do understand how this can be confusing to you, and so am not demeaning you...... but rather just asking that when you make statements about a church being "lost cause and Satan is in complete control", please clarify exactly who you are talking about. Thank you for listening.

[SkyPilot]

Keep that stuff on the Religion Section of FR, please.

nopardons, I respectfully submit to you that you are not understanding fully that we are no long past the merge point of "religion", finance, culture, and politics. They are all one subject.

If you had your way, the "religion" forum would have people discussing what hymn they like best a funeral.

In our day, we have the global persecution of Christians, the entire world against Israel, Romans 1 coming to life, 2 Timothy 3 being fulfilled, homosexuals and Muslims running our government, global finance ready to implode, and that is just for starters.

Prophecy speaks to ALL of these things. The Bible is more than 25% prophecy, most of which has yet to be fulfilled.

The only conclusion I can gather for you to make the outlandish statements you made about wanting to put those who are pointing out the obvious signs of the Last Days into a box is because you hate the concept of the pre-tribulation rapture.

[Pollster1]

More than 100 pastors, deacons, elders and candidates for ministry in the United Methodist Church released a letter publicly coming out as LGBT . . .

Moses, Paul, and Mark also released letters that addressed sexuality. I'll trust scripture over any other source, especially over perverts.

[SubMareener]

But you believe in THE RAPTURE; I don’t; Methodists don’t.
- - - - - - -
OK, so that is your problem. Well, No Pardons, you are exactly correct. If you don’t believe in the RAPTURE, God is not going to take you in the RAPTURE, you are going to have to get to Heaven the old fashion way: You have to die, first. You may die in your sleep, or you may die when they cut your head off for being a Christian and not taking the Mark of the Beast. Please, don’t take that mark, so we can meet again on the Glassy Sea.

[Theodore R.]

John Wesley Hardin was the son of a Methodist pastor.

[Theodore R.]

We can foresee “mark of the beast” legislation on tap really soon. I don’t think too many will oppose it.