Any other United Methodists here?

Heh. A church by me spent quite a bit of money to free itself from the UMC. They should have waited just a bit longer.

 

I find the idea that people would abide by some moving target of the understanding of the principles of their religion to be hilarious.

 

Left UMC for Episcopalian.

I would be fine with not allowing gay marriages if they did not allow people to be married again after a divorce. Bible is much more clear on that. If you going Old Testament, you shouldn't pick and choose.

 

The matter of homosexuality is addressed in the New Testament, though I half wonder who actually reads past the gospels.

Now, interpret those verses however you will. People obviously do. But they do exist.

 

Where are the bacon verses?

 

The Anglicans, a.k.a the Church of England, was established by Henry the VIII because the Pope would not grant him an annulment of his marriage. The Episcopalians split their governance from the the Anglicans post revolutionary war. The Methodists split from the Anglicans in part for socioeconomic reasons (The Methodists were basically blue collar and the Anglicans white collar). So the Anglican/Episcopalians/Methodists would be flexible about divorce.

 

Episcopalians accept same gender weddings. They have since the 70s.

It’s almost hypocritical Biblically to look the other way on divorce and infidelity, but shun same sex relationships.

 

I've got a good friend who is as stone cold Catholic as the Pope.
His Catholic wife blindsided him one day with divorce papers. It's been 8-10 years now. She's remarried and living her life.
He goes to work, comes home, sits alone and watches TV because he still refuses to acknowledge the divorce and won't consider dating/getting married because "the CHURCH" doesn't think he should. From time to time he'll slip and refer to "his wife." I point out that she and her actual husband disagree.

I've told him repeatedly that's the dumbest dang thing I've ever heard. It was not of his doing, nothing he asked for. He was totally Pearl Harbored in the deal. Why should he spend the rest of his life unhappy because some geezers in Rome say so? I'm certain of two things: there is something beyond this plane of existence, and you don't get extra credit for being miserable when you get there.

 

The way I've been able to reconcile my feelings about being Catholic is that I separate the Church from the Faith. The faith we practice now is far different from the original - shaped by various campaigns, societal and political changes made by the Church for their purposes. The worst thing the Church has done is push the idea of the nobility of suffering and misery.

 

There's considerable evidence that, because a person is a Christian, and Christianity runs counter sinful human nature, some suffering and misery will commence.

The Catholic Church - at least on that front - is pushing what's in the Bible.

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

 

I agree - the problem is when the suffering becomes "the thing" and not a pathway to something more.

PS - I guess the UMC church is going to have to change its name.

 

Agreed. It’s meant to become the pathway to endurance, character and hope.

Generally, people are encouraged to wallow today, though, in misery. Trauma, wounds, pain are badges of honor and survival and embrace of these things is promoted by a counseling industry that needs clients who can’t help themselves, or lack friends who are willing to be, well, friends.