A Church That Tolerates Both Views of Gay Marriage



It is possible for a congregation to hang together even if members disagree on gay marriage. The White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC is thriving with about 4,000 members.

In 2015 the national Presbyterians voted to let every member church decide for itself whether to hold gay marriages or not. The majority of White Memorial voted to hold gay marriages but none have yet been held.

After the vote, pastors and members at large made a concerted effort to stress "love thy neighbor." They focused on this part of the faith instead of the so called "sanctity of marriage." In the article I read, pastors in the church mostly avoid bringing up the topic of gay marriage because they do not want to annoy conservative members. A goodly share of the people who voted against allowing gay marriage remained members.

The Barna polling groups says 44% of pastors polled are reluctant to discuss LGBT topics. They simply avoid this topic. White Memorial Pastor Christopher Edmonston says he would like to preach advocacy of gay marriage but mostly never does.

The Bible treats homosexuality as an unimportant topic. Jesus never mentioned it. It takes some mental gymnastics to take what the Bible says about "not lying together" to make the case it condemns same sex relationships. There certainly is no discussion in the Bible of long term faithful married life between same sex couples.

If one church can get along without much animosity over this topic, surely most any church could do so. And, if one church can do so why can't the entire county get over this issue and treat it as something most people want but all may not agree with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more