Posted on 04/29/2005 9:06:16 AM PDT by RobertP
Well, no.
Some are, yes; some are running from the frying pan into the fire (i.e. another sect no truer to the Word than the Methodists).
But for anyone who bails on the UMC and heads off for a genuinely Bible believing, Bible-teaching church, I rejoice.
Dan
Amen! Obviously you are a member of the church of Christ...a refreshing movement back to the New Testament
way of doing things. I have always believed that the "autonomy
of the local congregation" is a necessity.
I personally know a Methodist pastor who was defrocked for being gay. The idea that the UMC approves of gays is silly.
"Are there straight lesbians(?)"
Pardon, but I did not wish to reproduce the bigot's comments entirely. The statement reflected religous bigotry, that is to say an anti-Catholic animus, not intolerance toward homosexuals.
Regards,
Irish_Links
That's how we ended up like this. People don't want to stay and fight.
"I was raised a Methodist. Today I am a Catholic. This is just one more example of why I made the correct choice."
I have been considering the same thing. What did you have to do to join the Catholic Church?
I was also raised a Methodist.
Yes, but at the same time, because of the American Revolution, he authorized the appointment of American Methodist Bishops.
YOU'RE a UMC? I never would have guessed that one.
Look, there's a point where "fighting" is pointless, and your continuing presence merely legitimatizes the apostasy. I think the UMC's well past that point. You don't?
Should Reagan not have left the Donks for the GOP?
And lest someone say "the GOP is 'apostate' today, we should leave it," there's no comparison. There are only two viable parties in America.
But there are LOTS of Bible-believing/teaching churches.
Dan
Yes, but this applies to the Episcopal Methodists.
the United Methodists are an amalgam of different denominations, all of which are out of communion with the Anglican church.
The UMC left the Anglican Communion long ago, and not with Wesley's blessing.
Just go and speak with your local parish priest. They will explain it all to you. I took some classes, that were not too difficult, and nothing like what my nieces go through with CCD.
Nope. The UMC is more conservative than the PCUSA I left to get here. The fact that my church is a member of a denomination is pretty nebulous to me. We have our lefties but they keep their mouth shut. The local Episcopal church is about in the tank because they have a liberal pastorette who is very close to the gay bishop. We are growing strong while they dwindle. Our only problem is the damnyankees who keep pushing this mess into the papers.
As a conservative, I consider myself a missionary to the UMC.
The UMC didn't exist until the 60s (right xzins?) when it merged with the Church of the Brethren. In Wesley's day there were Church of England Methodists and then American Methodists.
There are multiple "flavors" of Methodist now. Some more conservative.
It doesn't sound like she "shopped for a panel that would be sympathetic to her". She appealed to the panel which is authorized to handle appeals from the panel that defrocked her, and is authorized to overturn that panel's decisions. Doesn't sound any different than when somebody gets convicted in a trial court, believes the conviction was wrong, and appeals to the appellate court which has authority over that trial court.
It's weird though, that this higher panel voted almost unanimously to "re-frock" her, when that appears to be in explicit conflict with the official published law of the church. If the higher authorities in this church are mostly in agreement with allowing the ordination of practicing gays/lesbians, shouldn't they change the law? And if they don't think the law should be changed, shouldn't they uphold and enforce it?
She wasn't going to appeal but I think some lobbying was done to convince the panel to refrock her based on the technicality that she did not adequately prove that she was a lesbian which put her in violation of the law against homosexuals in the pulpit.
She's claiming a victory but it's like beating the worst team in the league via forfeit because their bus was 10 minutes late.
But you're part of why they can say they're "mainstream," because they have ______ kazillion members or attenders. You're one of them.
If PCUSA was what you left, why not go to PCA? I'm basically a baptist, but I attend a PCA because it's about the most Christ-centered, alive church I've been a part of. To dangle a preposition.
Dan
I have toyed with a jump to Catholicism. I just have a problem with the whole swearing allegiance to the Pope thing. The Cardinals should be swearing to God.
Maybe I am mis-informed, enlighten me.
I didn't like the local PCA church. It was too withdrawn. OTOH the Methodist Church was very active in the community. We have a very close group of conservative evangelicals in the church. We pretty much run the church.
Well, so, here's the thing.
For all its flaws, when you say you're GOP, people will assume you're probably pro-life, pro-rule-of-law, against high taxes, against huge government, pro-God, pro-family, pro-death-penalty, anti-homosexual-"marriage"....
...and when you say you're UMC, people will assume the opposite, in every regard. Because that's what the denomination is.
Dan
Ok, I'll bite.
Didn't Christ also say repent and turn away from sin? Isn't that important?
It seems as though many folks want to put forth Christ's message of justice and inclusiveness and forget the sin and obeying the law part. There's a bit more to the message and mission and Christ than justive and inclusiveness.
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