Opus 2020-008: Headlines: Split

I first saw the reference at The Bongino Report.  It seems that the United Methodist Church is considering a split over the issue of homosexuality.  The homosexual community has long been trying to make inroads into getting the Methodists to accept homosexuality as compatible with Christianity.  There have been ordinations and marriages even though the agreed statement in the book of Discipline says that homosexuality is incompatible with the Christian faith. 

I thought the battle was over long ago but in the last official vote the governing body of the church voted to maintain the traditional position and reject homosexual marriage and ordination.  If a split is to come it will be decided at the General Conference which begins on May 5.  There are at least four plans for resolving the conflict.  You can find those at the Methodist web site.

With the typical arrogance of the left everything seems to point that the Methodists holding to the traditional understanding of sex would be the ones to leave and start a new denomination.  This is the way they look at it even though the Bible rejecting group is in the minority.  If the split takes place it will bear watching for those looking for a church home.  For me it will depend on their stand on abortion.  We shall see.

I have always maintained that church splits are not necessarily a bad thing.  They happen all the time on the local level.  Sometimes they are based on simple arrogance and pride but often they come down to legitimate concerns.  Sometimes when a church splits both offshoots die.  Sometimes they both thrive.  It remains to be seen what happens with the Methodists.

The Babylon Bee has a piece out on this entitled, “Untied Methodist Church to Split over Whether or Not to Be Christians.”  It is amazing how much of the controversy they put into the satire.

homo unius libri