Posted on 07/29/2024 8:02:27 AM PDT by madison10
RNS) — A Church of the Nazarene court has found one of its most prominent theologians guilty of affirming and advocating for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ members, contrary to the church’s teachings.
After delivering the verdict on Saturday evening (July 28) against the Rev. Thomas Jay Oord of Nampa, Idaho, the court stripped Oord of his preaching credentials and expelled him from membership in the 2.5 million-member global denomination.
“We, the members of the Regional Board of Discipline, unanimously find to a moral certainty and beyond a reasonable doubt … that Thomas Jay Oord is guilty of conduct unbecoming a minister and of teaching doctrines out of harmony with the doctrinal statement of the Church of the Nazarene,” the court found.
The Church of the Nazarene holds that “the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is contrary to God’s will.”
Oord’s trial, which took place in Boise on Thursday (July 25), follows last year’s guilty verdict against Selden Kelley, then a San Diego Nazarene minister, who was also defrocked as a result. Kelley, who pastored San Diego’s First Church of the Nazarene, advocated for dialogue on LGBTQ+ issues.
The church court — four clergy and two lay people — emailed Oord their five-page verdict on Saturday (July 27) night. Oord’s district superintendent, the Rev. Scott Shaw, who also testified for the church at his trial, declined to comment.
In its decision, the church court cited a book Oord wrote with his daughter Alexa Oord, who is bisexual, titled, “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming,” in which they affirm gay sex, which the court found particularly egregious.
“Some LGBTQ behavior — including same-sex marriage — can promote well-being,” the Oords wrote. “It’s good and healthy; it represents the values of the Kingdom of God. The transformation God desires rarely if ever requires LGBTQ people to change their sexual orientation, identity, or loving behavior.”
The court also objected to Oord’s behavior in defying church rules, including multiple requests that he either quit advocating for queer people or give up his preaching credentials. (It’s not clear that he was obliged to do so.)
“Oord has shown absolutely no repentance or willingness to submit to the authority of the church,” the verdict reads, adding that “his behavior exhibits a pattern of disregard and disrespect for authority.”
Reached Saturday, Oord said he was not surprised but disappointed. “I had hoped the church of the Nazarene could be a place for me and those like me who fully affirm queer people and support their allies.”
RELATED: Prominent ‘queer affirming’ theologian facing trial by Church of the Nazarene
Samuel Powell, a retired theology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University and onetime dean of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry, said Oord’s sentence was unprecedented.
“Defrocking was not unexpected, but expelling him from membership is harsh and vindictive,” Powell said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep people. There never has been an attempt to weed out members who don’t believe everything.”
Powell testified on Oord’s behalf at the trial, arguing that the second charge “conduct unbecoming” is ill-defined and vague in the church’s rulebook or manual.
The denomination is declining in the U.S., where it has about 500,000 members in 4,600 churches.
The United Methodist Church, to which the Church of the Nazarene is theologically akin (both trace their origin to John Wesley), underwent a major split over LGBTQ+ inclusion in the past two years, losing 25% of its U.S. churches and more recently all its churches in the Ivory Coast of Africa. At its most recent conference, the UMC voted to repeal the denomination’s condemnation of homosexuality from its rulebook and allow LGBTQ+ people to be ordained and ministers in the denomination to marry same-sex couples.
Oord, who has written or edited 30 books, believes love is central to the Christian message, and that, to love like Jesus, followers should seek the flourishing of all, especially the poor, the marginalized and, by extension, LGBTQ+ people.
He said he became “queer affirming” in the early 1990s and spent the next few decades helping queer students at Eastern Nazarene College and later at Northwest Nazarene University feel embraced and loved. In 2015 he was pushed out of his job at Northwest Nazarene University for his progressive views more generally.
He now directs doctor of ministry students at Northwind Theological Seminary, an online-only school that is not affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. He will be able to keep his job, but he will no longer be allowed to publish with the Nazarene-owned publishing house, the Foundry, or preach or hold membership in any of its churches.
At Oord’s trial, two queer people testified to the damage that the church’s teachings have on queer people. His defense included four theologians as well. Weeks before his trial, he published a book called “My Defense: Responding to Charges that I Fully Affirm LGBTQ+ People.”
“I feel good about how I presented myself at the trial,” Oord said. “I aimed to make arguments based on love, while expressing an attitude of love. And I believe I succeeded. But apparently the discipline board was not convinced that love calls us all to fully affirm queer people.“
RELATED: United Methodists elect a third openly gay, married bishop
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I apologize, I forgot to clean up the nonsense.
“I had hoped the church of the Nazarene could be a place for me to virtue signal”
I’m glad this heretic was kicked out. Now if only other denominations would follow suit.
Now he can find a left leaning false church to spread his filth and evil.
Wonder if the Olympic ceremony had anything to do with their decision?
Hmm, might have to give the local Nazarene church another try.
Thank God SOMEBODY can read the Bible.
“the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy
....................................
NO! Sodomy is not intimate, it’s a violation that in reality is a crime. The perpetrators abuse each other and themselves, even today when society is in denial. Do we call rape or pedophilia “sexual intimacy”?
I do not think the Olympic opening had any bearing in the decision, but anything is possible. This situation has been coming to a head for a while. The poison has certainly leaked into the church affiliated universities.
Does God love the homosexual? Yes He does, but he does not condone, approve, or overlook homosexual behavior, according to His Word. When He walked the earth, he hung out with tax collectors, an especially crooked and avaricious group. But they turned from their wicked ways and followed Him. He desires that all come to a saving knowledge of Jesus as LORD and Savior. Repentance requires a turning away from sin. ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but even the redeemed, sin. I’m sure there are homosexuals who love God, but struggle with their sin. God forgives, but to continue in sin and not seek deliverance from it is a sure path to condemnation. It goes without saying that that includes all sin, but obviously there are some sins that are worse than others, according to what Jesus said, e.c. Matthew 18:6. Let us all examine ourselves continually, and repent of anything that separates us from God and His will.
e.g. (been a while since I last used that shortcut).
1 Timothy 1:9-10
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
Leviticus 18:22
22 Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 20:13
13 If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Matthew 24:5–8
“Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” An increase in false messiahs, an increase in warfare, and increases in famines, plagues, and natural disasters—these are signs of the end times. In this passage, though, we are given a warning: we are not to be deceived, because these events are only the beginning of birth pains; the end is still to come.
These people are unwilling to repent. Instead they want everyone to accept their gross behavior.
Now the never ending complaining from the LGBTQ+ will never stop , can’t they do their own thing and stop shoving it in our faces
The unrepentant ones are lost, like any unrepentant person, unless they eventually repent. They require our prayers that the blinders are removed from their eyes and they turn away from their sin. I believe their sin a result of demon obsession/possession, and requires especial deliverance. I don’t doubt that many of them are tortured by their sin, and though wanting to break away, are weak. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Then there are the unrepentant reprobates who openly defy God and are proud of it. They have been given over to their sin, according to the Book of Romans.
Agree. It baffles me that the LGBTQ+ affirming preachers, teachers, and members/attendees of churches want the church to change for THEIR particular sin. Why not move to a church that agrees with them? Why insist on poisoning others? That just compounds their sin, especially if children are involved.
I wonder if Oords progressiveness encouraged his daughter to be bi.
Good for the Church of the Nazarene.
This man deserved to be thrown out. He put his personal views about that of the denomination. It’s not to be his personal platform because he’s got a bi daughter.
He was wanting to bend the rules to suit his agenda. Shame on him.
I am not Church a of the Nazarene member but I know some and have great respect for them. Good to see their church leaders holding firm.
Oppression, not obsession.
Nope, he will try at another church that doesn’t ordain gays
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