United Methodist LGBTQ Re-Education

John Lomperis on December 8, 2022

As our denomination splits, propagandists for the increasingly liberal post-separation UMC (psUMC) have lately been claiming that the psUMC will still have “a place” for non-liberals. But what sort of place will that be? We received a preview at last month’s session of the North Central Jurisdiction (NCJ), at which I was a voting delegate. Affirming LGBTQ liberationist ideology was now treated as an essential issue for the United Methodist Church.

At the request of the “Covenant to Build BeLoved Community” adopted by last year’s NCJ special session, the NCJ leadership subjected all delegates present “to engage in conversation to understand the impact of homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism within United Methodist Churches.”

This United Methodist “LGBTQ Exercise” was surprisingly lengthy—lasting over two hours—and featured a mix of liturgy, one-sided presentations, and small-group discussions (it can be viewed beginning at the 1:41:34 mark of the official Friday video.)

Throughout the re-education session, there were several consistent themes: the United Methodist Church’s bans on gay weddings and non-celibate gay clergy are indisputably wrong and harmful, people are obviously not truly loving or compassionate if they support these moral standards, the presence of more conservative perspectives in the UMC is a big problem, and this cause is a top priority for the new United Methodism.

This LGBTQ exercise, organized by the area’s United Methodist bishops and Mission Council, treated no other perspective as worthy of respect.

Imagine being put in a large room where you are expected to follow those sitting around you in reciting prescribed words with which theological traditionalists may be theologically uncomfortable, applauding statements unfairly attacking values of biblical Christian faith, and accepting LGBTQ “pride” pins everyone is given to wear. 

This NCJ “LGBTQ+ Exercise” is very unlikely to be the last time when those remaining United Methodist are subjected to such experiences.  

This lengthy time of heavy-handedly pushing queer liberationist ideology on delegates was scheduled to come immediately before the vote on the “Queer Delegates” resolution affirming such ideology. This led to several microphone speeches from gay activist delegates. A clergywoman who shared that she lived with her female partner and had performed a gay wedding. A younger clergyman took using “they” instead of “he” or “she” pronouns to a new level by declaring, “I use all pronouns.”

One stage presentation featured the Rev. Mary Ann Moman of Indiana sharing about performing a gay wedding 30 years ago.

Another featured partnered lesbian licensed local pastor Angie Cox. Cox complained about the West Ohio board of ordained ministry refusing to violate church rules by approving her ordination candidacy. Stop to consider the lack of integrity when a denomination’s leaders continue appointing Cox as a pastor, in open violation of these leaders’ promises to uphold the UMC Discipline’s ban on appointing openly partnered gay clergy, and then invite her to speak at an apportionment-funded venue to publicly decry the alleged evil of lower-level United Methodist leaders who dare to still follow the rules. 

Perhaps the most radical speaker was Kiri Anne Ryan Bereznai. Bereznai is apparently genetically and biologically male but now dresses and presents as a self-described “non-binary trans woman.”

When I use the pronouns of “he” and “him” for any biological male, regardless of whether or not this person suffers from what psychiatrists had long recognized as “gender identity disorder,” I do not want to be insulting or disrespectful. I simply want to accurately describe the reality of how God created them. But from the beginning of Bereznai’s speech, it was clear that in the new UMC, it is unacceptable and “transphobic” to use anything other than Bereznai’s preferred pronouns of “they/them” or “she/her.” Such policing of language amounts to using shaming tactics to try to control what people are allowed to believe and say about reality, before even beginning a conversation about transgenderism. 

Bereznai declared, “If you want us to feel safe in church, it is up to you all as allies to stand up to our abusers and push for the changes that will rid faith communities of the social, legal, and political stigmas that withhold liberation from queer people.”

The implications of this statement are rather remarkable. Without clear limits, this official NCJ speaker broadly characterized church folk who are not affirming of homosexual practice or transgender ideology as “our abusers,” who you must fight against if you want to be a true “ally.” You must fight to rid local congregations of (social) cultures or (legal) policies disapproving of same-sex weddings or not fully affirming secular transgenderist ideology. Otherwise, you are guilty of making people feel unsafe, and may therefore be somehow endangering them, and taking the side of abuse. Such irresponsible rhetoric serves to intimidate against asking questions.

So there was no room for critical thinking about the assumptions behind Bereznai asking why the church should have higher standards than secular society or claiming that churches who don’t embrace secular LGBTQ+ liberationist ideology don’t love people “as Christ loves them.”

Bereznai even declared, “I support and applaud” LGBTQ people who choose to leave the church as the best path for themselves. But for his part, Bereznai called for the UMC to “repent” and seek forgiveness from LGBTQ+ activists for the denomination having not embraced secular LGBTQ+ liberationist ideology earlier. 

If the new United Methodism church really believes that being theologically traditionalist is a sin that requires repentance, how does it make any sense for it to indefinitely offer a “not of one mind” big tent of tolerantly welcoming traditional faith among its pastors and congregations?

As an answer, Bereznai drew applause by declaring that fully affirming secular LGBTQ+ liberationist ideology is an urgent matter of justice, and “It is not possible for the church to not be of one mind on a matter of justice.”

As Bereznai urged LGBTQ activists to “keep fighting” to change the church, pointedly denying that this was “a distraction” from the church’s main mission, I observed no clear limits or restraints to what was essentially a call to holy war. Indeed, Bereznai declared that “to merely press on, never committing to revolution is not enough.” To encourage others to “keep fighting” for this revolution in the UMC, he baptized “the rage inspired by justice delayed” as “holy.”

Such rhetoric naturally encourages all sorts of rage-filled, any-means-necessary, anti-Golden-Rule behavior in pursuing liberal goals of “justice.” And it redirects attention that should be given to screening whether or not bitter, angry LGBTQ activists should really be elevated to United Methodist leadership, with all the power and potential for hurting the vulnerable that this brings.

Delegates enthusiastically responded with a standing ovation to Bereznai’s concluding plea: “Let’s queer up this kingdom!”

The several small-group discussion times were not much better. The prompts on the display screen that were supposed to guide these times included such leading questions as “How does doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God factor into your LGBTQ+ allyship?” and “How have the privileges of heterosexism affected your life?”

To be fair, I was not literally run out of town in my small group, in which I was ideologically outnumbered by about nine to one, after I respectfully spoke up for a traditionalist theological perspective. I suppose the event met the Harvey Standard of tolerance, in that it did not invalidate Louisiana Bishop Cynthia Harvey’s assuring a reporter, among other things, that “the United Methodist Church does not require ministers to preach in drag.”

Throughout the over two hours of the LGBTQ Exercise, I observed little to no evidence that the assembled United Methodist speakers and leaders had ever really carefully examined a clear, positive vision of a biblical sexual ethic that went much deeper than simply listing specific prohibitions on behavior. It can by no means be assumed that anyone in American culture today, even churchgoers, will necessarily have even once directly heard such teaching. Permissive sexual ethics are the default values in our society, as they will be in the psUMC. For at least many United Methodist leaders, this appears to be less a matter of biblical values being tried and found wanting than of biblical values never being seriously understood in the first place. 

There is no denying that there is real pain that merits compassion for those who, through no conscious choice of their own, find themselves attracted to the same sex or feel alienated from their own bodies. Yes, a training manual of the “Love Your Neighbor Coalition” of liberal United Methodist caucuses once instructed activists lobbying General Conference delegates, “Tap into emotion: Stories should pull at the heartstrings of the listener.” Yes, this selectively designed LGBTQ Exercise followed the common United Methodist pattern of talking sanctimoniously about the need to listen to the stories of “sexual minorities” while systematically excluding the stories of formerly transgendered individuals who have “de-transitioned,” same-sex-attracted Christians who are committed to theological orthodoxy and personal celibacy, or even (gasp!) those who have indeed experienced dramatic declines of unwanted previous same-sex attractions. Yes, this background invites healthy skepticism about how much such exercises tell the full story. 

But beneath it all, there is still real pain. Could United Methodists of diverse perspectives at least come together to agree on the inherent dignity of all people created in God’s image, respectfully explore about how to be more compassionate in theologically traditionalist as well as other ministry settings, or even work together to challenge repressive policies in some parts of the world that really do mistreat self-identified members of the LGBTQ community?

At this United Methodist LGBTQ exercise, there appeared to be no room for any of that. The boundaries were limited from the beginning with the insistence from the stage on using debatable definitions of “heterosexism,” “homophobia,” and “transphobia” which all good United Methodists must forcefully oppose, without qualification or hesitation.

As another delegate observed, “Although the time was worthwhile, and I applaud the courage of those sharing their stories, I arrived at this simple conclusion: The given definitions of homophobia and heterosexism leave absolutely no room for those holding a traditionalist interpretation of Scripture. You can be the most loving, welcoming, non-judgmental, caring congregation to all people, but if you hold a traditionalist interpretation of Scripture resulting in the current stance on marriage and human sexuality of our denomination, then you are deemed to be homophobic and heterosexist.”

Throughout the LGBTQ Exercise, presenters showed no hint of having the humility to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, they are the ones with a wrong position on sexual morality, rather than Scripture and the overwhelming majority of all Christians who have ever lived.

In the United Methodist Church today, we now see how top denominational officials can and do openly doubt or spread doubts about the resurrection or sinlessness of Jesus Christ, or even the fundamental question of who Jesus is. But in denominational leadership, there is rapidly becoming no room for expressing any opinion contrary to undoubting, unquestioning, blind faith in the dogmas of secular LGBTQ liberationist ideology.

On a personal note, my family and I were first drawn into United Methodism out of a more rigidly conservative congregation whose demands for “blind faith” grated on our intellectually curious sensibilities. Now it is the UMC that I see demanding unquestioning “blind faith”—in certain secular liberal ideologies. Those running the denomination are increasingly, openly resorting to tactics of shaming, emotional blackmail, and at least implicitly threatened exclusion of the insufficiently “woke” to shut down critical thinking and silence dissent. 

This is no longer the welcoming, open-minded United Methodist Church I joined as a teenager. 

  1. Comment by Pat on December 8, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    Makes no difference how the liberal bishops, district officers, leaders now promote and will require, at some point, all in the remaining Methodist Church to comply with their false doctrine. This false doctrine has been championed by satan and he has used to destroy the USA Methodist church in addition to many other USA denominations. Holy Scripture is clear and resolute. The first four gospels of the Holy Bible in addition to the Old Testament, clearly state the eternal consequences for those folks. Not any person’s judgement, but God’s judgement which is eternal.

  2. Comment by Tom on December 8, 2022 at 5:49 pm

    It will be sad to watch the numerical implosion of the psUMC in the next few years. If this stuff gets rammed down people’s throats, why should they stay?

    In good news, the Presbyterian Church in America now does NOT have a homosexual-affirming pastor. He and his church voted to leave the PCA last month and were in fact dismissed by the Missouri Presbytery (local governing body) this month. Everyone agrees that this will further the purity and peace of the PCA, and we are grateful.

    So it can be done. But you conservative Methodists have to be stedfast, even in the face of determination from the homosexual activists to hijack your denomination. Even if they misuse and abuse all sorts of rhetoric about “love.”

  3. Comment by Dave S. on December 8, 2022 at 9:16 pm

    “But in denominational leadership, there is rapidly becoming no room for expressing any opinion contrary to undoubting, unquestioning, blind faith in the dogmas of secular LGBTQ liberationist ideology.”

    Not surprised. This is happening in the PC(USA), which has an official polity of diversity of thought, but yet, it is abundantly clear that the leadership doesn’t subscribe to it. Just this week, re-education materials were released regarding these matters. The great irony is one of the items used all of I Timothy 4 to support it, which begins with:

    Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

  4. Comment by Terri Tobias Mathis on December 8, 2022 at 11:08 pm

    Throughout the LGBTQ Exercise, presenters showed no hint of having the humility to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, they are the ones with a wrong position on sexual morality, rather than Scripture and the overwhelming majority of all Christians who have ever lived.
    ~~
    This statement means everything. I have no problem with any of God’s children. What I have problems with is how the lines seem to be drawn towards acceptance of me based upon my sexual “whatever ~~ fill in the blank” RATHER than all of the serious evils in the world. Ok do whatever in your bedroom but let’s focus our energy and love upon fighting evil in the world. There are so many who are really hurting and need to know Christ. Please have healthy loving relationships but let’s get to the work of sharing Christ.

  5. Comment by Sad on December 9, 2022 at 1:48 am

    This is heartbreaking but in this culture the norm. I served my local church in many ways and had enough exposure to district and conference politics to see how the wind was blowing. After much prayer I left the UMC this year, along with my time, talents, witness and tithe. The UMC will only care about losing my money. But I truly grieve for the local church. They are dear people but are loyal to the institution and resistant to change. I fear they will ultimately stick with the UMC because it is familiar and the finances won’t allow them to leave. May God forgive me for leaving my church family, but life circumstances don’t give me the energy to stay and fight.

  6. Comment by Star Tripper on December 9, 2022 at 8:39 am

    Let us be clear, the psUMC will be (is?) Satanism with a Methodist skin suit.

  7. Comment by Anthony on December 9, 2022 at 9:17 am

    As a traditional Methodist, if I elect to remain in this psUMC — I deserve all the abuse coming my way, and while being abused, I can go ahead and sign my bank account, savings, and house deed over to them to pay for this abuse in my attempt to match their insanity.

  8. Comment by Audrey Boler on December 9, 2022 at 9:26 am

    So sad.

  9. Comment by David on December 9, 2022 at 9:31 am

    “Holy Scripture is clear and resolute.”

    Leviticus 18 is only about sexual violence and humiliation. To be sexually penetrated was potentially a form of degradation. Leviticus 18 demands that we must never visit this degradation upon another. We understand this idea from the use of the Hebrew word et and the term mishkevei ishah. “Lying with a man as one would with a woman” refers to doing something humiliating to a man. If the prohibition meant something other than degradation, it would have said im adam – “with” a man, rather than et adam, which means, roughly, “to” or “at” a man. Only male-male sex acts characterized as being done et adam, “at a man,” are forbidden. Where “penetration” happens through a loving relationship and not from violence or humiliation, the prohibition does not apply.

    https://um-insight.net/perspectives/reading-the-bible

  10. Comment by MJ on December 9, 2022 at 10:34 am

    I’m a more conservative Christian from another mainline church, so this is all very familiar to me. It really doesn’t matter what the revisionists promise, the “space” for those who hold differing views is a fiction.

  11. Comment by John Smith on December 9, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    Progressive ideologies have always demanded blind faith and obedience.

    While it is easy to say and difficult to do, once the window for withdrawing congregations from the UMC has passed there should be a general call by and action by traditional/orthodox UMC leaders-ordained and laity-to resign all positions, credentials, etc and formally leave the UMC on an individual basis. It will be time for all orthodox believers to walk away from the UMC on a individual basis.

  12. Comment by David S. on December 9, 2022 at 4:54 pm

    Just within the past week, the PC(USA) released its recent reeducation materials on these matters. For a denomination, which has an official polity of “diversity of thought”, perusing through them certainly smacked of hurry up and change bigot.

    The funniest thing though is that one item simply referenced I Timothy 4, which begins by addressing The Great Apostasy (as titled in the NKJV) with the following verses:

    “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

    The lengths to which these people will go to twist Scripture to support their apostate teachings is unbelievable, and would be laughable, if, as one well-known critic of fully affirming, even partially affirming theology has said, the consequences of not being right didn’t have eternal ramifications. These people demonstrate that they are wolves, hirelings, false preachers and teachers, and blind guides by the fact that they totally do not grasp that this passage is directly describing them.

  13. Comment by Different Steve on December 9, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    Thought I’d share this interesting/informative discussion about Leviticus 18:
    Leviticus 18:22 means what?
    A Bible verse supposedly about gay sex isn’t so clear
    https://medium.com/belover/leviticus-18-22-means-what-37ed659afc97
    This article reads unbiased and objective and I must admit the Leviticus it describes seems pretty incomprehensible. That is different from the crystal clarity traditional translations suggest.
    As for the article linked by David, I can’t say that I found its mostly prepositionally based analysis persuasive. Nor, having looked at the author’s background, does he appear to be a noted authority, peer reviewed, or otherwise give me the sense that he doesn’t have bias. I’ve got a JD too, but I don’t put it after my name like this author does, and I mean never under any circumstances, much less when rendering opinions on subjects where the JD is irrelevant.

  14. Comment by Mike on December 9, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    If you go back to the original Hebrew on Lev. 18:22, it reads “You shall not lie with a man in the bed of a woman”. The most natural interpretation of this would be “You shall not lie with a man in the place of a woman”. Forget all the nonsense about violence, rape, etc. God did not intend for a man to copulate with another man, period. Any other interpretation does violence to the plain sense of Scripture.

    Paul was perfectly clear that, to leave “the natural use of the woman” invites men to unnatural passions, in other words, exchanging natural sex for that which is against nature. Our forefathers were correct in terming homosexuality a “crime against nature”. The fact that so-called “Biblical scholars” have to work so hard to excuse it says something.

  15. Comment by Doug on December 9, 2022 at 10:55 pm

    The book Health Hazards of Homosexuality by MassResistance details the many diseases that sodomy. can cause.The rectum is not a sex organ for anyone.

  16. Comment by Different Steve on December 10, 2022 at 8:44 am

    Checking out the source material for the article I linked, it appears Leviticus actually says ‘And with a male you shall not lie down the beds of a woman’. Notice what isn’t in there: the word “in”. You appear to be inferring the word “in”. Maybe that’s correct, maybe it isn’t, but at a minimum it isn’t crystal clear.

    I’m not totally adverse to the crime against nature argument, but let’s face it, there are bigger crimes against nature we all participate in every day; I am skeptical of the global warming craze but we all generate lots of toxic waste in our daily activities, and lots of people refuse to cut back said activities, lots of them being people who virtue signal otherwise. The public health consequences of homosexual behavior have been greatly if not entirely mitigated by modern medicine and sanitation. Lots of people engage in lots of activities that are also not good for one’s health, overeating and lack of exercise being prime examples. These days the current regimes seem determined to emphasize medical interventions to the near exclusion of healthy living (there’s a lot of money to be made in that). Unhealthy behaviors tend to be near addictive and its pretty unhelpful that the captured institutions encourage people to wallow in them. As they say, we increasingly have sickcare, not wellcare.

  17. Comment by Mike on December 10, 2022 at 11:38 am

    Different Steve,

    You may argue that other things are more important than dealing with homosexuality, but to me (and to countless other Christians) the only thing that rivals the scourge of homosexuality would be that of abortion. No society in history has survived very long after embracing homosexuality, and ours will not either.

    As far as the translation of Lev. 18:22, quite often in translating the ancient manuscripts into modern language some words must be supplied, or the literal translation simply does not make sense. But the basic meaning is clear in this instance, that sex outside of the norm, which is a man with a woman, is forbidden, so much so that the punishment for it was death.

  18. Comment by Different Steve on December 11, 2022 at 8:13 am

    Thanks for the clarification. As for society surviving, depends on how one defines society maybe. My and/or your society may be going away, but lots of other societies are flooding into America. It’ll be a long time before there won’t be enough people to go around. It seems the USA has become the place where societies go to succeed, then die. But, the overarching societies of government and corporations survive.

  19. Comment by Anna on December 11, 2022 at 12:17 pm

    Your personal anxiety and discomfort with the exercise makes me think you missed the whole point. But your last sentence is the most puzzling. Because many of us follow the commandment to love our brothers and sisters as much as we love ourselves, the UMC is becoming even MORE welcoming than it was. The Kingdom is advancing, just as it is meant to. Of course it’s not the same as when you were a teenager! It shouldn’t be. When we get comfortable with our ministry, it’s a sign that we are stagnating and need to cast new vision. You are welcomed too, if you can break down your attitude a bit and actually allow yourself to be part of the group. I promise you – LGBTQIA+ characteristics are NOT contagious! Please join in and help mitigate the anguish of the marginalized – of all categories. The UMC is going on to perfection, ministering to and with ALL God’s people in the real world. We’ll be better with you than without you!

  20. Comment by JoeR on December 12, 2022 at 5:57 am

    The gates of hell are having to be rebuilt so as to welcome the growing number who will be admitted.

  21. Comment by George on December 12, 2022 at 1:32 pm

    Paul warns of how “the carnal mind is enmity against God” and so much of “churchianity” and its seminaries train and promote God’s enemies. This is an example. The worst enemy is the “5th column” ones within what masquerades as “the church.” The average person doesn’t know the difference. But, the “average person” among the unredeemed don’t listen to these messengers of Satan anymore than the gospel.

  22. Comment by Eric Pone on December 12, 2022 at 5:02 pm

    I keep reading comments sure about what scripture says. And if the Hebrew or context conflicts chalk it up to adding word for clarity. Sometimes clarity or words adds what we want to read rather than what was written, who it was written to, why, and the cultural and historical context. If someone wants to have a hetero congregation go ahead and knock yourself out. But don’t justify it in scripture. The Hebrew betrays this.
    All biblical translations outside of the original language are subject to bias. Just because the bias fits your theology doesn’t make it right. When we stopped teaching biblical language is when the tower of babel that is our current state of theology took hold.

  23. Comment by Different Steve on December 12, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    Me again. I seem to have stumbled across something else that ties in well with the article cited by David:
    Sex & The Final Christian Generation
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/sex-the-final-christian-generation/
    In particular, it describes Roman sexual norms prior to Christianity that correspond to what David’s linked article describes: in particular the idea that Roman elites would penetrate non-elites of any sex or age at will, and that it was degrading to be penetrated. Is that the only part of Roman sexuality that Christianity rejected? I’m not sure the article I’ve linked has the answer, and I sure don’t.

  24. Comment by The Rev Robert Bagwell on December 12, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    I grieve at what is happening in the UMC. I am a conservative gay man and am appalled at the behavior of these activists who are so militant they do not even conceive that they “may” be wrong. This is a difficult subject to deal with. I do not believe there is an answer as to why some people are gay, let alone any of these mysterious “genderisms” that afflict us. Seeing what these lunatics have done with sexuality, almost makes me wish everyone was back in the closet! I saw no mention of Jesus Christ in any of the militants’ positions. Everything begins and ends with Jesus and the church is to bring people to know him in saving faith without it, no matter what is affirmed here, it may only bring them to hell. It is not only LGBT community who are conservative who are pushed out of the church, like yours truly, but anyone who does not agree with them. I would suggest that their judgment will be severe.

  25. Comment by Slalom5 on December 13, 2022 at 12:27 am

    Just curious as to why only one biblcal reference to homosexuality is examined when there are multiple example stated:
    Roman 1:27
    Timothy 1:10
    Genesis 19:5
    Leviticus 20:13
    Deuteronomy 23:18
    Judges 19:20
    The Bible consistently upholds and repeats it clear meaning multiple times, at multiple events, in multiple points of history, and uses mutiple examples of hedonist behavior that is to be rejected.
    We have no example of Jews marrying their sons off to their neighbors son, no same sex wedding performed, no ritual washing before entering the temple , and not a single example of the promotion thereof.
    Be fruitful and multiply, the multiple description of the family unit, honor your father and mother, husband’s love your wives, children are a heritage from the Lord, all attest to the what God intented.

  26. Comment by Don W. on December 13, 2022 at 5:17 am

    A faithful, thriving ministry rooted in God’s eternal truths for those struggling with same-sex attraction and/or gender identity https://couragerc.org/
    Although Catholic, they welcome any Christians or non-Christians.

  27. Comment by Different Steve on December 13, 2022 at 8:21 am

    It appears that Slalom5 is correct and my prior posts were largely wrong. I appreciate Slalom5 providing the necessary additional context so I could get less confused.

  28. Comment by Charles Walkup Jr on December 13, 2022 at 8:28 pm

    The article reference to “not feeling safe in church”. As the Proverb says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Fearing God rather than man is essential. Since we are all sinners, perhaps none of us should “feel safe” in church. Today’s culture-wide focus on feelings is Satan’s doing. Feelings may be indicators of reality, but they are not generators of reality. When Cain was angry with both God and his brother Abel, God warned Cain: “Sin is crouching at your door. It wants to have you. You must master it.” God says clearly that He expects us to control our emotions rather than letting them enslave us. Jesus reinforced this in the Sermon on the Mount by addressing probably our 2 most powerful emotions – anger and lust – and the need to control them. He focused on the internal emotion/desire and it’s external expression. Saying that being angry at a brother was like murder – words kill. He pointed out that the commandment against adultery, didn’t mean just staying out of bed with your neighbor’s wife. “Those lustful leers you think nobody notices. They also corrupt” (This would include lust for either opposite or same sex.) Then going on to say that such control was not easy, but that the key was to take strong action the moment we are aware of these emotions. Better to cut off your right hand when you see it raised in anger. Better to blind one eye when caught in lustful leers. Better than the eternal future that awaited those who failed to control such emotions. More than one New Testament writer warned against false shepherds misleading God’s precious sheep.

  29. Comment by Debra Baty on December 14, 2022 at 5:34 pm

    The irony of growing up in a small UMC where I did not feel confident in asking for help with my own growing awareness of experiencing attractions to the same sex, to today where my experience of what a difference trusting in Jesus has made in this area of my life is indeed being “systematically excluded” from presentations such as this, is poignant. It means a lot to see the acknowledgement that something is missing. Stories like mine and those of others I know who have found hope and help in our Lord need to be heard, and it is tragic the UMC has turned a deaf ear and blind eye to what Jesus, and supportive brothers and sisters in Christ, can do.

  30. Comment by td on December 18, 2022 at 11:34 pm

    Terri Tobias Mathis- sexual sin IS serious sin. Part of the work of spreading the gospel is to promote a culture of sexual purity. To not do so is to ignore how God wishes us to live out the life that he has given us.

  31. Comment by Michael Gerardi on January 27, 2023 at 1:22 am

    In construing Leviticus 18:22, it may be of some benefit to consider the rendering of the verse in the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome: “cum masculo non commisceberis coitu femineo quia abominatio est.” While this has been rendered in English as “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: because it is an abomination”, a more literal translation might be, “Thou shalt not join together with a male in feminine sexual union because it is an abomination.” The use of “coitu femineo” seems clearly to indicate sexual intercourse, rather than mere lying in the bed(s) of a woman.

    St. Jerome was much closer to the time of Leviticus than 21st century commentators are, and would reasonably be expected to have a superior grasp of Biblical Hebrew and of how the verse was understood.

  32. Comment by Rick on April 25, 2023 at 12:12 pm

    “Affirming LGBTQ liberationist ideology was now treated as an essential issue for the United Methodist Church”

    Ah. My mentor in the United Methodist Church – switched from Baptist to Methodist in 2017 – who identifies as “centrist” occasionally said this was not an essential issue. That yes we should have unity on essential issues but the presenting issue of sexuality and marriage is not one of them. He was an excellent mentor for whom I am grateful.

    It is clear however many United Methodists are convinced this is an issue on which we cannot agree to disagree. For more than forty years they have relentlessly pushed to changed Church doctrine and practice on this issue and have pushed her to the breaking point. More significantly they sometimes violate the Discipline and with few exceptions do so with impunity. A community in which people violate agreed-upon doctrine and practice cannot hold together for long.

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