Over One Million United Methodists Quit Church Overnight Over Sex Rule Change

originally posted by: Astyanax
The recent accession to UMC membership by Ivory Coast Methodists is obviously relevant, as is the disunity and casual bigotry of the third world society you are holding up as a model for Americans.

You really are a peach, aren't ya'?

No, I"m not holding anyone up as a 'model for Americans'. I"m reporting the news. And the news is that, overnight, one million people left the United Methodist Church because they now accept gay marriage and active gay clergy which goes against scripture. That's the news. That's a big number. That shows division in the church.

Them leaving because the Church isn't following scripture isn't 'casual bigotry' and the fact that they live in Africa and may not be as well off financially as Americans isn't a reason to sneer that they are 'third world' and therefore their feelings on the issue don't matter. Shame on you.

Thousands of United Methodist churches in the US quit the denomination
Posted Dec 17, 2023 12:55 PM

panhandlepost.com...

This year alone, 5,641 congregations received permission from their regional conferences to leave the denomination as of Thursday, according to an unofficial tally by United Methodist News. In total, 7,658 have received permission since 2019. Thursday marked the last scheduled regional vote, according to the news service, when the Texas Annual Conference authorized four congregations’ departures.

Exiting United Methodism Now

Mark Tooley on August 5, 2022

juicyecumenism.com...


USA United Methodism is dying. It’s lost 5 million members and as of 2020 was losing 200,000 members annually. The pandemic, during which thousands of churches closed for much of if not more than a year, and the unfolding schism will dramatically accelerate this loss. The average age for United Methodists is near 60 and climbing. USA United Methodism is over 90% white and incapable of reaching non-whites and immigrants. United Methodism has almost no capacity to plant successful new churches. Instead, it closes hundreds of churches annually.

originally posted by: Topcraft
a reply to: burritocat

Where have you seen that Christian morals are to be predatory, please explain this, as it doesn’t exist in any teachings that I’ve seen.

Are you serious? Have you ever read the Bible? On top of information of how to buy and sell slaves and rape virgin war captives, it has tons of verses and stories involving rape, incest, murder, child abuse, all of which god seems to be pretty cool with, except in the some cases he is not.

a reply to: DBCowboy

That is true. I hope I haven't given the impression that I'm advocating for anything like MAPS or NAMBLA. I keep my woodchipper well greased in the event that I should ever run into one.

originally posted by: Lazy88

originally posted by: inflaymes69
Let people love who they want to love.

Sex and its desire is to ensure that a species continues to reproduce. What does it say about humans that confuse that as love, and confuse that desire to have same sex relationships?

That doesn't explain though why sex is so very pleasurable though does it? Humans are one of only three species that expects sexual intercourse to be pleasurable. For those two other species sexual expression and contact are not restricted to reproductive purposes, much like it isn't with us. There are good, evolutionary, reasons for that. As there are for having members of your group who do not engage in sex reproductively.

originally posted by: FlyersFan
But they can't call themselves a biblical church anymore.

But at least now, they can call themselves Christians.

originally posted by: chr0naut

originally posted by: FlyersFan
12% of the United Methodists quit overnight over a change in the rules of the United Methodist Church that now allows for gay marriage and gay pastors. There are probably lots more who will quit, but this 12% all at once in one lump comes from the African part of the United Methodists who did it all together officially.

The United Methodists are (were?) a bible based church. The bible strictly forbids homosexual sex and homosexual unions. The United Methodist Church had it's annual conference and at that conference it made the decision to change the rules for everyone. They are now no longer a bible based church.

Other United Methodists will probably leave as well. On the flip side, changing may bring people in. However, it is no longer a bible based church. So it's not really the same church at all.

I guess you could say that the one million who 'left' actually are the ones who stayed with the real United Methodist Church, and the rest of the United Methodists who stayed and embraced the LGBTQ agenda are the ones who actually left the traditional bible based United Methodist church.

Over One Million United Methodists Quit Church Overnight Over Sex Rule Change

More than one million United Methodists have quit the church overnight over new rules about homosexuality.
During a North Carolina conference in early May, the United Methodist Church - a global denomination of Protestantism based in the US - changed some regulations to allow gay pastors and same-sex marriage.

The Ivory Coast division - which has an estimated 1.2 million followers - responded by accusing the international leaders of 'deviating from the Holy Scriptures' and 'sacrificing its honor and integrity to honor the LGBTQ community'.

Bishop Benjamin Boni, who is president of the division, said it voted to separate from the umbrella church during a May 28 gathering in the Jubilee Temple of Cocody, Abidjan, on the southern coast of the West African country.

He said in a statement that the decision to separate after more than 20 years was made 'for reasons of conscience'.

The Bible has very little to say about homosexuality, but much to say about sexual immorality in general.

To focus on a particular sin is unhealthy and an unbalanced view of what the Bible teaches.

This particular sin is being heavily pushed all around us. Schools are glorifying it to our children. This particular sin is also the point of the OP.

Plus, scripture touches on this particular sin multiple times. It's called an abomination. We are warned against churches who glorify sin. It's unhealthy to follow a church into spiritual death.

originally posted by: BrucellaOrchitis

originally posted by: Lazy88

originally posted by: inflaymes69
Let people love who they want to love.

Sex and its desire is to ensure that a species continues to reproduce. What does it say about humans that confuse that as love, and confuse that desire to have same sex relationships?

That doesn't explain though why sex is so very pleasurable though does it?

Same can be said about murder? War? Over eating? Alcohol? Drugs? Social media? Building a life of ease?

Is it pleasure or the drive to reproduce? I wouldn’t imagine a species that didn’t find “pleasure and satisfaction” in the act of reproduction would be very successful.

originally posted by: BrucellaOrchitis

Humans are one of only three species that expects sexual intercourse to be pleasurable..

“Cat masturbation is relatively common, even in altered cats,” certified animal behaviorist Mikel Delgado tells me over email. “The most common form of this behavior is humping things like blankets or stuffed animals, but we do see males grooming their penises, too.” Different strokes for different folks.

slate.com...#

PROBLEM BEHAVIOURS: HUMPING, MASTURBATION AND MOUNTING

www.woofliketomeet.com...

A fixed action pattern is a hard-wired, instinctive behaviour. In other words, your dog doesn’t need to learn to learn to fap, hump, masturbate or spank the old monkey: it’s one of those behaviours they just ‘know’. And once it’s reinforced, it’s a behaviour you’re likely to see again and again.

That’s to say, if it feels nice, they’re going to do it again and again. And the more they do it, the harder it is to stop.

Sure enough, hairy palms abound in the animal kingdom. (Wikipedia offers a good summary of the evidence.) Dogs, cats, lions, bears, and a number of other mammals self-stimulate with their front paws; randy walruses use their flippers. Horses and donkeys, whose masturbatory habits have been particularly well-studied, engage in “rhythmic bouncing, pressing, or sliding of the erect penis against the abdomen” (PDF); male deer do the same.


slate.com...

Sorry. People confuse the lust and drive to reproduce for love. Much like a dog that has their “humping” pillow they love….

originally posted by: Lazy88
Same can be said about murder? War? Over eating? Alcohol? Drugs? Social media? Building a life of ease?

You find murder pleasurable? And war?

originally posted by: Lazy88
Is it pleasure or the drive to reproduce?

I'm not sure at this point what you're talking about, so I am going to stick with sex, and yes, it is pleasurable whether you reproduce or not - or at least can be, I can't speak for everyone. Doesn't even have to be penetrative to be pleasurable - and that goes for the other two species like us too.

originally posted by: Lazy88
I wouldn’t imagine a species that didn’t find “pleasure and satisfaction” in the act of reproduction would be very successful.

Well, as I pointed out, no pleasure, barring three species. Throwing in, what I can only imagine is highly anthropomorphic conception of, satisfaction doesn't change that fact. And that has worked out just fine for them. There are hundreds of thousands of species like that. Highly successful species who are biologically and chemically driven to have sex in order to reproduce and who derive absolutely no pleasure from that union. Not only that, it can be painful and may even lead to their death.

originally posted by: BrucellaOrchitis

You find murder pleasurable? And war?

You, “why sex is so very pleasurable though does it? Humans are one of only three species that expects sexual intercourse to be pleasurable.”

In the above context. So behaviors only engaged in by humans like wide spread murder and war are justified?

I stand why my sentiment nothing like a human can corrupt a behavior.

You think our current food production and manufacturing is not a corruption from what creation (let’s ignore god for now) intended to satisfy our hunger for food which is a natural desire to ensure we nourish ourselves?

a reply to: Lazy88

But sexual pleasure is not only engaged in by humans, that was my point - we are one of three species who engage in sex pleasurably. Those other two species, may kill for survival and food, as we do, and many other species do - but the murder and war is pretty much all ours. The sexual pleasure though occurs in three species. Does that explain my question better for you?

a reply to: BrucellaOrchitis

And my point is as humanity we corrupted many natural things. The desire to protect ourselves into the military industrial complex. The desire to satisfy our hunger with highly processed foods loaded with chemicals and sugars.

Is it false humans in general corrupt natural healthy behaviors into something destructive.

originally posted by: Lazy88
Is it false humans in general corrupt natural healthy behaviors into something destructive.

In general, absolutely not. Are we as human susceptible to being led by misguided ideas and ideals, yes, totally - the Bible being an excellent example of that. Can those ideas and ideals corrupt us, collectively and as individuals - well doh? We have committed so much murder and destruction in the name of God/gods - that one's just a total no brainer. But what is the "natural behaviour" we are talking about? Or indeed the corruption? What is natural and what is the corruption?

a reply to: BrucellaOrchitis

Anyway…

In the context of there being only natural selection..

Is something like the desire to self protect being corrupted into the industrial military complex really a corruption? It’s a result of natural selection.

Or is there a spiritual moral authority / a spirit of creation that people fall away from when their behavior becomes corrupted?

originally posted by: BrucellaOrchitis


In general, absolutely not.

Then war and the creation of the nuclear bomb are not corruptions.


To own slaves isn’t a corruption of stewardship.


Our current supply chain of food and the epidemic of obesity isn’t a corruption of the desire to satisfy our hunger.

Manipulating marijuana to become whole magnitudes stronger than that originally found in nature is a corruption of wanting to experience joy.

originally posted by: BrucellaOrchitis


Are we as human susceptible to being led by misguided ideas and ideals, yes, totally

There is only natural selection, lead from what?

originally posted by: Lazy88
Anyway…

In the context of there being only natural selection..

That context does not exist in our reality. Natural selection is not the sole determining factor in evolution.

a reply to: BrucellaOrchitis

If there is only natural selection. Maybe the logical existence of animals that must consume other animals like vampires to live and consume until there is nothing left to consume. It’s really not different than a star that self destructs by burning through its fuel. The fuel of earth is life, and it will burn itself out like a star that’s burns through its fuel.

originally posted by: BrucellaOrchitis

That context does not exist in our reality. Natural selection is not the sole determining factor in evolution.

Then what is there? Your own moral code?