Methodists Uphold Marriage Stance,”One Woman One Man,” GOD Plan!

On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling legalizing gay marriage. Across the Atlantic, in mid-July 2013, the Queen of England signed into law “The Marriage Bill,” which allows same-sex couples to marry legally. Around the world, at least fifteen other nations have legalized marriage between same-sex partners. Obviously, the societal definition of marriage is changing. But is it the right of a government to redefine marriage, or has the definition of marriage already been set by a higher authority?

In Genesis chapter 2, God declares it is not good for Adam (the first man) to live alone. All the animals are there, but none of them are a suitable partner for Adam. God, therefore, in a special act of creation, makes a woman. Just a few verses later, the woman is called “his wife” (Genesis 2:25). Eden was the scene of the first marriage, ordained by God Himself. The author of Genesis then records the standard by which all future marriages are defined: “A man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

This passage of Scripture gives several points for understanding God’s design for marriage. First, marriage involves a man and a woman. The Hebrew word for “wife” is gender-specific; it cannot mean anything other than “a woman.” There is no passage in Scripture that mentions a marriage involving anything other than a man and a woman. It is impossible for a family to form or human reproduction to take place asexually. Since God ordained sex to only take place between a married couple, it follows that God’s design is for the family unit to be formed when a man and woman come together in a sexual relationship and have children.

The second principle from Genesis 2 about God’s design for marriage is that marriage is intended to last for a lifetime. Verse 24 says the two become “one flesh.” Eve was taken from Adam’s side, and so she was literally one flesh with Adam. Her very substance was formed from Adam instead of from the ground. Every marriage thereafter is intended to reflect the unity shared by Adam and Eve. Because their bond was “in the flesh,” they were together forever. There was no escape clause written into the first marriage that allowed for the two to separate. That is to say that God designed marriage for life. When a man and a woman make a commitment to marry, they “become one flesh,” and that is why they say, “Till death do us part.”

A ruling by the United Methodist Church’s highest court has upheld the denomination’s support of traditional marriage and its opposition to LGBT ordination. The ruling, some evangelical commentators say, could portend a split in the UMC.

“The United Methodist Church is not going to be able to hold together” as its liberal and conservative elements espouse conflicting views of human sexuality among other matters, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said today (April 29) in his podcast “The Briefing.” “It is not going to be a united Methodist Church. The polarities within the denomination are simply too great.”

In an April 26 ruling, the UMC’s Judicial Council upheld 10 of 17 petitions in the Traditional Plan narrowly adopted by delegates to the UMC General Conference in February. The Traditional Plan affirmed the UMC’s longstanding declarations that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” and that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” cannot be ordained to the ministry or married in the UMC.

The Traditional Plan also defined the terms in its policies more precisely amid longstanding defiance by Methodists who favor full inclusion of individuals identifying as LGBT in church leadership. The Traditional Plan established a one-year suspension from ministry for clergy who perform a same-sex wedding for the first time and loss of ministerial credentials for a second offense.

The 10 petitions upheld by the Judicial Council during a meeting in Evanston, Ill., include all key provisions of the Traditional Plan dealing with same-sex marriage and homosexual ordination, according to media reports.

The seven petitions not upheld dealt with “a few rules of enforcement in compliance,” WORLD reported. Among petitions struck down, according to Christianity Today, one called for a committee “examination to ascertain whether an individual is a practicing homosexual.” Another required Methodist leaders to certify they would abide by the rules of the Traditional Plan.

In a separate April 26 ruling, the Judicial Council upheld a UMC policy — known as “gracious exit” — allowing congregations that disagree with the UMC stance on sexuality to leave the denomination with their property and buildings, which legally belong to the UMC and not the congregations.

Liberal Methodist groups, including the Reconciling Ministries Network, said they will continue to advocate for LGBT inclusion among United Methodists.

“The outcome [of the Judicial Council deliberations] is not surprising and does not change our plan to continue to resist the decisions of [General Conference] 2019,” Reconciling Ministries Networks said according to Religion News Service.

Mark Tooley, president of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy, acknowledged “some disappointed church liberals still hope for revocation [of the Traditional Plan] at the next General Conference in 2020. But the wiser among them realize that membership trends, with growth in Africa and decline in the American church’s most liberal regions, preclude such hope.”

As theological liberals leave the UMC, Tooley wrote in an April 29 blog post, “there are traumatic and exciting years ahead for Methodism.”

“Shorn of these clergy, including most U.S. bishops, nearly all the official seminaries, church agencies and other institutional forces for cultural conformity, global United Methodism will have to develop new resources as a countercultural force in America,” Tooley wrote. “There will be new seminaries and other forms of theological training, new publishing and media outlets, new less inert agencies, new concepts of episcopal leadership, new focus on soul-winning and church planting, new understandings of Christian community that is joyfully countercultural.”

The Traditional Plan is scheduled to take effect in January 2020.

A third principle from this passage about God’s design for marriage is monogamy. The Hebrew words for “man” and “wife” are singular and do not allow for multiple wives. Even though some people in Scripture did have multiple wives, it is clear from the creation account that God’s design for marriage was one man and one woman. Jesus emphasized this principle when He appealed to the Genesis account to counter the idea of easy divorce (Matthew 19:4—6).

It should come as no surprise that the world desires to change what God has instituted. “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:7). Though the world is attempting to provide their own definitions for what they call “marriage,” the Bible still stands. The clear definition of marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life.

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StevieRay Hansen
Editor, HNewsWire.com

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