Progressive Christians often make much of love and grace, yet they too often neglect the truth and repentance that a biblical understanding of redemption necessarily entails.
LGBTQ+ activist group Reconciling Ministries Network’s Reconciling Clergy program recently hosted Karen Oliveto, the first openly gay United Methodist bishop for a Zoom event titled “The Future of LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the UMC.”
Oliveto began with an overview of the history of LGBTQ+ inclusion and exclusion in the UMC, highlighting what she saw as both positive and negative developments. She praised United Methodist efforts to support members of the LGBTQ+ community and criticized Book of Discipline amendments and other policy changes which excluded or spoke negatively of people who experience same-sex attraction. The bishop portrayed the overall arc of the UMC’s trajectory on this issue as positive, however, as more and more LGBTQ+ clergy were ordained.
After her historical outline, Oliveto called for United Methodists to “maintain the centrality of grace in our actions, the wisdom of the ways of Jesus as we build beloved community together. There is a pathway forward… it is a church where LGBTQIA people already are and will be.”
What Oliveto neglects to note in this call to grace-filled living is that the grace Christians receive through faith in Jesus Christ does not merely excuse our sins. Christ is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), offering us grace while telling us the truth about our sin. A few chapters after clearly condemning homosexuality, the Apostle Paul notes in Romans 6 that those united with Christ have died to sin, and commands us to be slaves to righteousness, not sin. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1b-2).
The rest of the digital discussion consisted of a question and answer session, with other event participants questioning Oliveto on the future of the UMC. The bishop’s responses were unfortunately riddled with problematic theology.
For example, the bishop claimed that “people are seeing that there’s joy [in gay marriage] and where joy and love is, we know God is.” While Scripture indicates that joy is where God is (1 Chron. 16:27, Psalm 16:11), Scripture does not indicate that the presence of joy necessarily indicates the presence of God. Instead, we find in the book of Proverbs that even folly – which is stoutly condemned throughout the same book – can be a joy.
Oliveto’s claims about love are no more sound. God is love and the source of love, that is true (1 John 4:7-8). Yet we show our love for God and neighbor by keeping God’s commandments (1 John 5:2-3). The homosexual “love” of which Oliveto speaks is not truly love, as it is a violation of God’s commandments, and her claim that God is found in it holds no water.
The bishop goes on to argue that “homosexuality shouldn’t be the bind that unites us as United Methodists. There are other things that should bind us, like who Jesus Christ is, [and] how we understand the Trinity. Those are the essentials.” There is truth to this statement, but it is odd given Oliveto’s history of denying Christ’s sinlessness, seemingly also questioning the extent of his divinity.
Furthermore, Oliveto’s de-emphasis on homosexuality in her above claim obfuscates the problems with her theology. She is right that homosexuality is not in and of itself an issue of primary doctrine on par with God’s Triunity or the hypostatic union of Christ’s divinity and humanity. Disagreements about the sinfulness of homosexuality are, however, rooted in disagreements about the authority of Scripture, which is a matter of primary doctrine. Scripture declares unambiguously that homosexuality is a sinful product of the Fall, portraying homosexual activity negatively everywhere it is referenced. If we reject this truth, we reject the truth and authority of God’s Word.
Bishop Oliveto’s problematic theological claims are unfortunately unsurprising, but they are nonetheless saddening. Though she pays lip service to Christian theology, it is difficult to see many signs of the true hope of the Gospel in her discussion. The Gospel is not that we are reconciled to God and to one another while excusing our sin. Instead, the Gospel is that we are reconciled to God and one another on account of Christ’s righteousness, which is credited to us by grace through faith. This removes the condemnation of our sin, and our sinful tendencies are progressively removed through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. One day, when we are glorified with Christ, this sinful nature will be wholly removed. How great is this hope of redemption, both for those who experience same-sex attraction and those who do not!
Progressive Christians sometimes make much of passages like John 8:1-11, calling us not to condemn others like Jesus does not condemn a woman caught in adultery. Yet he still instructs her to “go, and from now on, sin no more” (John 8:11). The emphasis is not on mere lack of condemnation, but a lack of condemnation which calls the individual to abandon their sin. The grace is coupled with truth.
Yet the Epistle to the Hebrews states that “if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:26-27). May this chilling verse not apply to Bishop Oliveto. We must not merely condemn false teaching, but pray for the repentance of those who propagate it.
While the author of Hebrews and the Apostle John present truthful yet pointed warnings against continuing in sin, Christ’s offer of grace is also clearly presented: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). Christ is full of both grace and truth; so, too, must we be, not neglecting either.
Comment by John67 on February 12, 2024 at 12:04 pm
Let’s start at the beginning.
God made man in his image.
God identified himself as our Father.
Hence our identity as men includes being a father.
Why would a man say, “God is my Father. But I intentionally reject being a father myself.”
Comment by David S. on February 12, 2024 at 9:16 pm
Sadly, there are many a bishop, presbyter, pastor, priest, minister, elder, and deacon who think that way.
If all they preach is love, love, love, and will not speak truth, even when doing so may hit close to home…
Comment by Tim on February 13, 2024 at 7:03 am
United Methodist Pastors today talk about love, love, love and connection, connection, connection. They don’t talk about the sinfulness of man and woman. And the only way to remove that sin is the atonement of Jesus on the cross.
Comment by Td on February 13, 2024 at 9:42 am
Well…she uses tarot cards. That tells you all you need to know about her credibility and her commitment to Jesus.
Comment by Mark on February 13, 2024 at 9:46 am
Bishop Oliveto embodies the contemporary cultural emphasis on sexuality as the primary definer of personhood. One has to do all sorts of mental gymnastics to square that with Christian theology…and she and her fellow travelers are more than willing to do it. It is, among other things, an intensely self-serving endeavor.
Comment by David F Miller on February 13, 2024 at 11:08 am
Good column. The UMC is still in trouble and we need to pray for the clergy and laityto return to Scripture.
Comment by Tom on February 13, 2024 at 5:27 pm
Yes, God is love (1 John 4:8.) However, He knew that we would twist, distort, and derogate His love for our own sordid purposes. So just two verses later He defines love: “This is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Any other definition of “love” is not true love. It is a cheap and tawdry counterfeit.
Comment by Eric Rathburn on February 16, 2024 at 6:22 pm
Of what good is Grace when that which we need Grace for is discounted or outright rejected?
Comment by JoeR on February 16, 2024 at 6:51 pm
I thank God The Almighty the church I attend voted to leave by 80+%.
Buy Bye UMC; we are in a strong biblical based, prayer fueled ministry.
Comment by senecagriggs on February 16, 2024 at 7:04 pm
Interestingly, lesbian couples have the highest divorce rate [70% plus]] and up to 50% of lesbians have experienced domestic violence. Perhaps God didn’t create females to be joyful within lesbian relationships?
Comment by Palamas on February 16, 2024 at 8:04 pm
Someone–no one knows who for sure–once wrote, “The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.” As for “Bishop” Oliveto–no comment.
Comment by Cheryl Corney on February 16, 2024 at 8:44 pm
Rev. 21:8 (NASB) states “but for the cowardly & unbelieving & abominable & murderers & immoral persons & sorcerers & idolaters & all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire & brimstone, which is the second death.”
Rev 22:15 says, “Outside are the dogs & the sorcerers & the immoral persons & the murderers & the idolaters, & everyone who loves & practices lying.”
Not only those who commit immoral & other acts are condemned but those who lie face the same punishment. Those in the church who continue to lie to their parishioners about God’s “approval” of their immoral activities in the name of “love” face the same judgment as those who commit all manner of sexual & other sins.
Comment by Richard Stewart Bell on February 16, 2024 at 11:08 pm
“Scripture declares unambiguously that homosexuality is a sinful product of the Fall, portraying homosexual activity negatively everywhere it is referenced.”
Yes, and no. Scripture everywhere portrays homosexual activity negatively, but that is because it is deemed to violate the Purity Code or to violate the Seventh Commandment. Nowhere does Scripture declare, unambiguously or ambiguously, that homosexuality is sinful or that homosexual activity is per se sinful. In Romans, Paul says that homosexual activity is contrary to nature, but Paul does not judge sinful whatever is contrary to nature.
It seems the bishop supports her activism by the usual fatuous reasons. You and I are sick of that. But, if you have an open mind and a tolerance for rather scholarly argument from Scripture in accordance with traditional methods of interpretation, you would enjoy and find edifying my proof that God wills the church celebrate marriage of homosexuals just as it celebrates marriages of homosexuals. Ask for a copy of my essay by email to [email protected].
Comment by John E. Reuter, Esq. (Ret.) on February 17, 2024 at 7:20 pm
We traditionalists owe you a huge debt of gratitude for crafting this excellent accurate and annotated rebuttal to this excruciatingly evil woman’s crafty, even devilish effort to twist and erase the plain and clear Biblical scripture that damns her to perdition. If no one speaks out , we the faithful are lost to the beast. Forgive me my hyperbole, if such it appears, but the faithful today are doctrinally and spiritually under invideous attack, so pernicious as perhaps never before experienced since the Great Commission. Matthew 28:16-20
Comment by Diane on February 24, 2024 at 12:23 am
Jesus is the way…and last I checked, he made it abundantly clear that the pearly gates are open to those who give drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothing to the naked, visit the sick and those imprisoned..not a word about being a Global Methodist, United Methodist, gay or straight Christians Atheist Oh, how I love Jesus!
Comment by AnaLiza on March 16, 2024 at 12:54 am
I appreciate that you addressed that grace does not excuse sin. I think it would also be helpful to clearly define what the Bible says grace is and does do:
GRACE is God’s strength (2 Cor 12:9), that works in and through us to bring about obedience among the Gentiles (Romans 1:5), by which we stand (Romans 5:2), to reign in life (Romans 5:17), to reign through righteousness to eternal life (Romans 5:21), to overflow in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8), to reign through righteousness to eternal life (Ephesians 2:5), by which we are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8), bringing salvation to all people (Titus 2:11), whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28), has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).
The correct definition of grace makes it difficult to speak about extending grace to marriage outside of God’s original design of one man and one woman. See Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, and Mark 10:8, which is also my response to commenters who question that gay marriage is “sin.” Any activity outside of God’s design is sin and disobedience.