Rev. Hamilton is an author/pastor of one of the biggest churches in United Methodism. He has a blog post where he talks about the whole homosexuality discussion at General Conference. I think it’s a good, well thought-out post. You can read the whole post HERE.
Rev. Hamilton touches on the pain of this issue and how, for some, perspectives from both the right an the left seem problematic. I particularly want to highlight the following paragraph:
Ultimately the underlying issue for the church is not homosexuality but how we understand the nature and authority of the Bible. The questions we need to be asking, as a denomination, are: What is the Bible? How was it formed? When and why do we view certain clear teachings of scripture as no longer binding (the early church did this with much of the Old Testament, and every church today views some scriptures as not binding, even the fundamentalists do this – I think of Paul’s admonition regarding women praying with their heads covered and remaining silent in the church as but two examples of many – yet many “bible believing” churches allow women to speak in worship and do not insist that women wear head coverings when they pray)? And, when is it not okay to set aside the clear teaching of scripture? The United Methodist Church needs to wrestle with these questions before it comes back to the issue of homosexuality.
And, I would argue, that the place to wrestle with this is not on the conference floor at General Conference. I just don’t think it can be done. And, I would argue, that it can’t be done with all of those on the “right” shoring up their camp and those on the “left” shoring up theirs and then arguing. I think we’ll end up with another vote of 45% to 55% like we had this past year and there will be winners and losers and demonstrations outside and times of “witness” inside.
What I am not saying, and I want to be clear about this…I am not saying that I think we should ordain homosexuals or perform gay weddings. Adam Hamilton claims this would be a train wreck for the church. I agree. And, more, I am not at a point, theologically, that I think I could handle that. I don’t have a third option to throw out there yet.
