Methodists make history, vote against allowing homosexual ‘marriage,’ LGBT clergy
MISSOURI, March 1, 2019 (LifeSiteNews)
– The United Methodist Church made history this week when it voted
against a plan that would have paved the way for gay “marriage” and
clergy.
At their General Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, Methodist
delegates from around the world defeated the “One Church Plan” – which
had been favored by the majority of Methodist bishops and theological
liberals – 438 to 384.
By voting to uphold the definition of marriage as the union of a man
and a woman, the Methodist Church, which has over 12 million members,
has distinguished itself as the only mainline Protestant church to not
go down the path of normalizing homosexuality.
Choosing instead the “Traditional Plan,” delegates also signalled
their support for sanctioning clergy who disobey the same-sex “marriage”
and LGBT clergy prohibitions.
While half of the Methodists’ members are Americans, most of the rest
live in Africa, where the denomination enjoys impressive growth,
adding about 100,000 members annually. It was the African delegates who
brought overwhelming support for the Traditional Plan.
Homosexual and other progressive delegates, many of whom stood out
because of their rainbow scarves, expressed disappointment with the
Traditional Plan. A hundred or so “Open Plan” advocates staged an impromptu protest in the lobby of the hall after the measure was defeated.
Observers on both sides of the contentious vote noted the immense significance of the move.
“History...was made yesterday because the United Methodist Church,
the only one of those mainline churches not to normalize homosexuality,
voted to uphold biblical standards of sexual morality, the historic
teachings of the United Methodist Church consistent with 2,000 years of
church history defining marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a
woman,” declared Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and one of the most influential voices in Evangelicalism, on Wednesday.
“In St. Louis, Missouri, a major mainline Protestant denomination in
the United States said ‘No’ to the sexual revolution,” said Mohler,
adding, “It has never happened before...We had better pay close
attention.”
“All the forces of institutional USA United Methodism were arrayed behind the One Church Plan,” observed Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion & Democracy.
“But USA evangelical and overseas delegates together were an
insurmountable majority. As the USA church declines and continues to
lose delegates in favor of Africa, overturning the church’s marriage
teaching becomes increasingly unlikely.”
“Many mainline denominations stateside have exerted tremendous
pressure on churches overseas to give up the 2,000-year-old
understanding of the Bible and morality for the new sexual heresy,” noted Breakpoint’s John Stonestreet.
“In doing so, they’ve been guilty co-conspirators with progressive
governmental activists of a kind of ideological colonialism.”
The move to block the normalization of homosexuality is seen as the
climax of a tense standoff between liberal and conservative forces
within the United Methodist Church (UMC).
Many are predicting a schism will result from the vote, with the
coming divorce between orthodox and left-wing factions seen as
inevitable.
“Baked into the UMC from its inception was a theological divide
between liberals who controlled the denomination’s institutions and
conservatives who filled most pews and many pulpits,” observed Jacob Lupfer,
reporting for Religion News Service. “This mismatch showed up in
disagreements over the UMC’s social witness on issues including the war
in Vietnam, military ethics and intervention more broadly, abortion,
environmentalism, feminism and, finally, questions related to
homosexuality.”
The United Methodists have nonetheless gone forward together, even as
the unifying trend collapsed and Presbyterians, Lutherans, and
Anglicans divided and sorted into different denominations according to
their theology.
“The new, LGBT-affirming Methodist group will be small yet mighty,
and it will overnight become the most progressive denomination in the
United States,” predicts Lupfer, who foresees a realignment of
Protestant denominations.
Lupfer believes the likely schismatic pro-LGBT Methodists will “forge
new coalitions and pursue [their] version of social holiness without
hindrance by American conservatives or by the African United Methodists
whose beliefs it has so long abhorred,” resulting in “fascinating merger
possibilities with Lutherans, Episcopalians or others.”
While the expected split may see the dividing line drawn between the
wealthy American and the poorer African Methodist churches, the Africans
are stalwart in their support of traditional Biblical morality, despite
the threat of a loss of financial support.
“Africans are not children in need of western enlightenment when it comes to the church’s sexual ethics,” declared Dr. Jerry Kulah,
Dean of Theology at the United Methodist University in Liberia, during a
presentation at the UMC convention. “We do not need to hear a
progressive U.S. bishop lecture us about our need to ‘grow up.’”
“The vast majority of African United Methodists will never, ever
trade Jesus and the truth of the Bible for money,” affirmed Kulah, who
also noted that in contrast with the UMC in the U.S., “the Church in
Africa is growing in leaps and bounds because we are committed to
biblical Christianity.”https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/methodists-make-history-vote-against-allowing-homosexual-marriage-lgbt-clergy
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