Posted on 07/16/2012 6:29:36 PM PDT by scottjewell
There is no way, short of a miraculous and full-scale changing of hearts and minds, for North American denominations to survive the homosexuality crisis. Denominations like the PCUSA, ELCA, RCA, UMC, and Episcopal Church will continue.
They won't fold their tents and join the Southern Baptists (though wouldn't that be interesting!). I'm not suggesting most of our old, mainline denominations will disappear. But I do not see how any of these once flourishing denominations will make it through the present crisis intact.
And the sooner denominations admit this sobering reality the better.
Every denomination is different. The percentages on both sides of the issue and the official positions are not identical. But the basic contours of the problem are quite similar.
On one side you have liberals who want to see the church open its doors to the GLBT agenda. They want homosexual behavior welcomed and affirmed. They want to perform gay marriages. They want gays and lesbians to be ordained to church office. Liberals (or "progressives" or whatever-I'm trying to use neutral labels) see this as a justice issue.
They believe conservatives are simply on the wrong side of history and that one day we will look at our traditional attitudes toward gays and lesbians like we look at old attitudes toward African Americans or our old attitudes toward women's ordination. We will be embarrassed to see that we could have been so blind and bigoted for so long.
On the other side you have conservatives who want to see the church maintain purity and biblical fidelity. They want homosexuals to be loved and treated with respect.
But they believe the behavior cannot be tolerated as Christian behavior. They see this as a gospel issue. They believe liberals are simply on the wrong side of the Bible and one day will be embarrassed to see how much we dishonored God by capitulating to our culture. To cave on this issue is not only to reject the plain teaching of Scripture, affirmed for two millennia of church history, but it says to people "peace, peace" where there is no peace.
n the middle are those who want both sides to get along. Maybe these third way folks are liberals willing to let conservatives keep doing their thing for awhile because they believe today's conservatives will slowly evolve or die off. Maybe they are institutional loyalists who want to preserve the denomination at all costs. Maybe they consider homosexuality a relatively minor issue, one not worth fighting over and dividing the church over. Or maybe, as is often the case, those advocating for a third way are conservatives who don't want to be the meanies who put up a fight.
These are the three main parties in this controversy-left, right, and center-and there is no way to make each of them happy. There is no way for mainline denominations to broker a compromise that everyone can live with.
Read more @:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/why-no-denomination-will-survive-the-homosexuality-crisis-78296/
The Catholic Church is not experiencing these wrenching changes. Orthodox are doing pretty well, too. It helps when you have 2000 years of continuous traditionn and your beliefs are not subject to a congregational vote.
God will have to pour his New Wine into New Wineskins. The old ones are worthless to hold anything of value.
My side wasn’t mentioned. The side that thinks homosexuals are mentally ill individuals who should go back in the closet and stay there.
Stop trying to recruit others to their sickness which is becoming epidemic.
And especially leave the kids alone.
The third way is the liberal way, just at a slower speed.
The “third way” has been standard progressive jargon for a century (and not just in religion, but politics in general), because they understand it is a way to achieve their goal. They may achieve it more slowly, but in the end, they win.
I agree with you that the third way is stealthy and all the more dangerous. Sort of how we got to this point in the general culture....in many areas.
The conservatives in the Methodist Church made a change in governance that makes it increasingly impossible for the left to prevail. The new Methodist growth is occurring overseas in Africa and Asia and as it grows it adds new votes and representation to the orthodox.
“our old attitudes toward women’s ordination.”
I’ve still got that “old” attitude concerning women’s ordination a/k/a ordain men only.
It’s an attitude shared by many Christian men and women alike of all races. And more importantly, it’s THE Biblical position:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20timothy%202:11-15%20&version=ESVUK
“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”
Why will she be saved through child bearing?
Bottom line is many parents bring their children to church to assist them in developing as Christians in a safe environment. Once the homosexual recruiters infiltrate a parish, the safe environment is gone and the parents leave, taking their children with them. This is how the Episcopal church is being destroyed from within.
The real churches will survive even if smaller. The others will fail because of one thing .... they are missing the glue .... real faith in God.
The “third way” is just a cheap euphemism for the Marxian Dialectic.
No sale.
As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
>> They believe conservatives are simply on the wrong side of history
I don’t mind being on the “wrong side of history”.
I seriously don’t want to be on the wrong side of God Almighty though. That’s infinitely more important.
On the other side you have conservatives who want to see the church maintain purity and biblical fidelity.
This should not be liberal vs conservative, but simple right from wrong.
Father Donald B. Cozzens' book "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" conservatively places the percentage of Catholic priests who are homosexual from a minimum low of 23 to a high of 58% - and even that upper number may be low.
This isn't just one priest making the claim either. I have spoken to at least two priests who agreed the percentage was at least half, and approaching two thirds as well.
Surveys of priests claim the number approaching 50% to include the existence of a "homosexual subculture" within the ranks.
What change in governance did they make? Just curious as we noticed (several years ago) that the Methodist's had, unfortunately, become very tolerant on many social issues. Thanks for any info.
In what way , which of the other choices is yours?
Fulfilling the commandment to be fruitful and multiply.
Given that the Roman church is still wrenching—world wide—from the so-called “pedophilia priest” crises (which was really a homosexual-priest crises, though no one wants to say so...), I think it’s quite dim to crow that your church is not experiencing these issues.
Probably a higher percentage of Roman Catholic laity support the homosexual agenda than among Protestants—seeing as how the overwhelming majority of RC’s vote for Democrats.
Most Protestants though who are faithful to the bible however, leave the “progressive” churches and join conservative denominations or independent churches. Evangelical churches are still growing—and all stand against the homosexual agenda.
Agreed. No one who has died before us is the slightest bit concerned with what we the living think of them. They’re very concerned however with what God thinks of them.
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