Posted on 05/18/2016 4:08:54 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The top policy body for the United Methodist Church is struggling to avert a split over gay rights.
The Methodist General Conference voted 428-405 to delay all discussion of church policy related to LGBT people during a meeting in Portland, Oregon. Delegates created a commission Wednesday to review all relevant church law on the subject over a period of at least two years, then hold a special meeting to discuss the way forward. …
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
Mo. But LG t was fixing to lose. I think the foreign delegates were confused. Every other instance they wanted to move on and get it over with.
No
The vote to “take a vote” was close - only a few dozen votes. I guess the progressives, knowing they were going to lose, united with the middle of the roaders to table the issue.
Nothing was resolved. 100+ LGBT came out at the conference - some were clergy, some were laypeople. What’s going to be done about that? Many clergy have said they will conduct same sex marriages. What’s going to be done about that?
The progressives, may undertake civil disobedience as a last resort with the goal of driving out the conservatives and keeping all the spoils for themselves. And the spoils are considerable. The local UMC does not own its own property, the global UMC does.
The conservatives were on the verge of winning this. They were ‘this’ close, and then that parliamentary thing struck. They had an amendment, then a competing one, and they went through all the parliamentary maze that was very confusing. They rejected both of those amendments and came to vote on the bishop’s plan. The major arguments for it were “we asked for a plan and they gave us one, so we should support them.’ The argument against it was “let’s get this over with finally.”
The ‘give the bishops a chance’ won out. I really cannot understand that. If anyone has sided against conservatives all along it has been the bishops. I’d never trust them to come up with a fair plan.
So far as division is concerned, with the Africa churches in ascendancy, the global UMC will end up belonging to the conservatives. Therefore, expect the bishops to come up with another ‘split the denomination by geography’ plan as their compromise. That, of course, spells the end for conservative Methodists in this country.
I watched a lot of this on the live feed yesterday. I was amazed at the confusion. I honestly think the foreign delegrates were confused about the various proposals.
Sadly, the bishop’s ‘proposal’ seems to have included a moratorium on accountability. Therefore, the disobedience will be even worse.
We are effectively in a time of “do what you want” with that vote yesterday.
“This is why I can’t join a church.”
Church isn’t about you.
AMEN!
EXTREMELY well put.
Considering that homo/bisexuals make up only .5 - 1.5% of the population, I would say that this entire issue is a tempest in a teapot.
However, WHAT a shame for you and others like you.
The church of your forefathers, abandoned because they chose sin. We have always been taught to LOVE the sinner and hate the sin.
At least some of the Protestant denominations and, of course, the Catholic Church, DON'T go along with the acceptance of sin, that is, bi/homosexuality being acceptable.
WHAT a shame, S_C_R.
>>This is why I can’t join a church
Churches are full of people so they suck when compared to heaven.
But you are a person too and you (and I) are as flawed as the person in the next pew. Even the pastor can get it wrong some times. Did you think of talking to him privately to see what he was thinking when he said that?
We support missionaries to spread the Word to the heathen in foreign countries but we won’t go to a church in our own hometown unless it conforms exactly to our beliefs?
Say what?
That they even have to “discuss” this (what a farce) means that they are already fatally compromised.
And I love you, too!
And the membership loss for the once mighty PCUSA:
http://www.layman.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/pcusa-membership-1960-2014.pdf
Church isn’t about you.
It’s not individual people who I disagree with that is the problem. It is blasphemous “pastors.”
They are people too, even if they are people held to a higher standard in heaven. But the comment about miracles does not harm the gospel even if taken exactly as he said it. I would still talk to him before I’d label him as blasphemous.
Yeah.... I’ve been thinking about this for some time.
My current Church is very traditional, and I and my family are quite happy there.
BUT (and it’s a big but), I have been dismayed for many years at the direction the UMC, as an institution, has been going.
The “praise and worship” services; the New-Age, unitarian-type Methodist congregations that eschew traditional Methodist doxology; the slow and subtle trend towards socialistic activities under the guise of “service” to others....
The UMC today is definitely NOT the Church I grew up in.
If John Wesley had walked into General Conference this week he wouldn’t have stayed more than ten minutes. But it would have been ten minutes I guarantee you they would not soon forget.
Yes, pastors are people, too. But when they stop believing in the gospel, they need to have the honor to get out of the church and spare the flock traveling to hell with them. Unbelieving Pastors should not exist. They need to be tossed.
On other sins, I can forgive because they are just like us. But being an anti-Christ standing in the pulpit, no.
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