At this meeting, my once highly respected Bishop, the Rev. Judith Craig, signed a letter along with 14 other clergy stating their views on homosexuality. This letter stated that it was their belief that a homosexual should be able to become members in my church and that they should be able to become clergy themselves. This was not taken very well by the my conference, and esp. my district.

Our Bishop was scheduled to preach at my church the following year for our bicenntenial. There was talk of people boycotting that service and a few of the *rougher* men talked about killing her. (i did not approve of that, btw) My church a month later sent a letter to our bishop asking her to resign! We stated she no longer represented us, and that we can no longer follow her leadership.

Ever since then, we in my church have gotten very sensitive about the subject. I live on the Eastern edge of the Bible belt and the concept is sacreligious to us. I really feel sadness in my heart for my church because it is about to split again. Henry Clay said on the floor of Congress (something like), "Where ever the Methodist church has gone throughout history, the United States has done the same." This was right after the church split on the slavery issue, not long after the Civil War started.

My heart is heavy for my church and the world at large, that everyday we divide over something new, and draw a new battle line. I planned to be a pastor in my church, but theses days I'm not sure my church will be in the same form it is now. We are struggling to maintain our control over what our ancestors worked so long to build. We don't want to disappoint God for letting it go by either.

I might add more to this later, but it's 2:30 a.m. here.

"And we pray that all unity may one day be restored!"

But I don't get it. The Catholics are tolerant of homosexuals.

*pays particular attention to the lines:*

>"There was talk of people boycotting that service and a few of the *rougher* men talked about killing her. (i did not approve of that, btw) My church a month later sent a letter to our bishop asking her to resign! We stated she no longer represented us, and that we can no longer follow her leadership."

Think about that really hard.

If a deeply-held opinion can cause such feelings of violence in the holders, particularly among supposed followers of the "Prince of Peace," that opinion is almost certainly wrong.

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"When we turn our back on our principles, we stop being human." -- Janeway, "Equinox"

Everytime there is a pastor/bishop Bible study the pastors try to bring this up, cause we really don't know where she's comin' from. She ignores those questions. The reason they ask the questions is because she always preachers to them about homosexuality.

BTW, my idea was for the board of trustees to drive up to her house in Columbus and knock on the door. Have a little talk!

See, that was a problem I had at my ex-church. A lot of the folks believed "such and such was so and so, and that's it, end of discussion, no room for argument, and even if you have something logical or intelligent to say we won't listen to it anyway, or you're a stinkin' heretic and yer gonna burn in Hell." That attitude extended far beyond scripture to cover just about every facet of life.

And their main reason for holding this opinion was that that's what they were told to do. Eons ago.

Accepting things are such a way simply because people I don't know SAY so, or because that's the way it's "Always" been, or out of "tradition," I've generally found to be an unacceptable reason, for me, anyway.

Just because something is "traditional," or even "doctrinal" does not automatically make it a GOOD thing. A good examle would be that famous short story "The Lottery." Another would be things like female circumcision/mutilation as a "rite of passage."

If you have a board of trustees who actually talk and listen, though, there's some hope for your church yet. Good luck.

BTW: is there anybody else who finds it as amusing that I do that the "Nicest of the Damned" and the "Board Chaplain" have so many contrary discussions?
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"When we turn our back on our principles, we stop being human." -- Janeway, "Equinox"

And yes, I think it's weird, and is becoming more and more of a dead end for both of us.

btw... I agree with your sig. file too

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I love Zilla's lips !

My local church has been trying to open a homosexual ministry since '96. The like 2 gay guys our pastor has had contact with couldn't even grasp that what they were doing was the least bit wrong. That made it impossible to go any farther with them.

*The above paragraph is not intended to offend, but to tell a story*

My belief on the matter (and this will bother a bunch of you)is (and it's an old cliche) God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.

And to answer what I think is your next comment Charles: Jubilee is not currently sinning this sin, because she is with you. Or at least that's my opinion.