Wednesday, January 08, 2020







United Methodist Church is expected to split over homosexual marriage

It really is amazing that a church should insist on following Leftist values rather than Biblical values.  According to what used to be their own teachings, they are going to fry in hell for it.  But they probably don't believe in hell either. 

How do they know what is right and wrong if the  Bible is wrong?  They are effective atheists -- a mere shell of a Christian church but eminently qualified as disciples of the Devil



The United Methodist Church is expected to split into more than one denomination in an attempt to bring to a close a years-long and contentious fight over gay marriage.

The historic schism would divide the third-largest religious denomination in the United States.

Leaders of the church announced Friday they had agreed to spin off a ‘‘traditionalist Methodist’’ denomination, which would continue to oppose gay marriage and to refuse ordination to LGBT clergy, while allowing the remaining portion of the United Methodist Church to permit same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy for the first time in its history.

The plan would need to be approved in May at the denomination’s worldwide conference.

The writers of the plan called the division ‘‘the best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part of the Church to remain true to its theological understanding, while recognizing the dignity, equality, integrity, and respect of every person.’’

The United Methodist Church is the United States’ largest mainline Protestant denomination and among the only remaining such churches that still does not perform gay marriages. The church has fought bitterly about LGBT inclusion for years, and leaders often feared the fight would lead to a schism.

Friday’s announcement came as new sanctions were set to go into effect in the church, which would have made punishments for United Methodist Church pastors who perform same-sex weddings much more severe: one year’s suspension without pay for the first wedding and removal from the clergy for any wedding after that.

Instead, leaders from both liberal and conservative wings of the church signed an agreement saying they will postpone those sanctions, and instead, vote to split at the worldwide church’s May 2020 general conference.

They said the agreement was brokered by Kenneth Feinberg, the mediation expert who handled the compensation fund for Sept. 11 victims, among other major negotiations.

The agreement pledges $25 million to the new ‘‘traditionalist’’ denomination, which will break away from the United Methodist Church, a group that would likely include most of the church’s congregations in Africa as well as some in the United States. In exchange, Friday’s announcement said, the new denomination would drop any claim to United Methodist assets, such as church buildings.

Any local church that wants to join the new conservative denomination would have to conduct a vote within a specified time frame, the announcement said. A church would not need to vote in order to remain United Methodist.

Churches that vote to leave could take certain assets with them.

An additional $2 million would go to any other new denomination that wishes to split from the church.

The plan also calls for $39 million ‘‘to ensure there is no disruption in supporting ministries for communities historically marginalized by racism.’’

After the separation, the agreement said, the remaining United Methodist Church would hold another conference with the purpose of removing the church’s bans on gay marriage and LGBT clergy.

The 16 members of the negotiating team that reached the plan included bishops from New York, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, the Philippines, and Sierra Leone. The team also included leaders from the most pro-LGBT Methodist factions, including Reconciling Ministries Network, and the most conservative, including the Wesleyan Covenant Association and Good News.

American Protestants are generally divided into three theological and cultural camps — evangelical churches, which almost unanimously oppose gay marriage and view homosexual conduct as sinful based on their reading of the Bible; historically African-American denominations, which are more divided on the issue; and mainline Protestant churches, which tend to be both theologically and politically more liberal.

Although mainline churches have deep history in America — most of the Founding Fathers and most presidents since have been mainline Protestants — Pew Research Center’s 2014 count found that just under 15 percent of Americans now identify with mainline churches, while 25 percent are evangelical and 20 percent are Catholic.

Many mainline denominations, including the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, and others, already perform gay marriages and appoint gay clergy. But the United Methodist Church, the nation’s largest mainline denomination and the third-largest denomination of any faith in America, has fought bitterly over the issue.

In part, that reflects political division in the United States: American Methodists are more conservative than other mainline Protestants. Pew Research Center found in 2014 that 54 percent lean Republican and 35 percent lean Democrat, a significantly more Republican tilt than other mainline denominations. Fifteen percent of Methodists describe themselves as ‘‘liberal,’’ compared with 22 percent of mainline Presbyterians, 24 percent of mainline Lutherans, and 29 percent of Episcopalians.

But the larger divide is between American Methodists and foreign members of the United Methodist Church, especially churches in Africa. In a church that conducts all of its major decisions in church-wide votes, the much more conservative-leaning voters from Africa competed with American delegates who often fervently pushed for a change on gay marriage.

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Faithless America?

Churches reflecting and echoing cultural norms more than Biblical reality are losing members.

When the younger generation is looking for hope, where do they turn? Why are some younger adults rejecting hope and community that comes from the assembling of hearts seeking strength in faith?

According to a December 2019 analysis by the American Enterprise Institute’s Daniel Cox, four in 10 Millennials (individuals 23 to 38 years of age) cite that they are religiously unaffiliated.

Writing around Pew Research data that point to the fact that this age group is a product of parents who raised their children without the influence or connection to religion or faith, Cox declares, “Millennials are leaving religion and not coming back.”

AEI’s own data show that 17% of Millennials surveyed acknowledged the absence of a faith-based belief system in their upbringing. Contrast that to only 5% of Baby Boomers — aged 55 to 75 years old — who reported a lack of a religious influence in their nurtured years. Further, just one in three Millennials noted attendance in a weekly religious service during their childhood compared to half of Baby Boomers.

Over the last 10 years, according to Pew, there has been a 12% decline in adults who identify as Christians with individuals who label themselves as having no particular beliefs at 26% and the aggregate of Christians down to 65%.

That Law of the Harvest is more than theory — seeds sown do bring forth a crop. Parents erroneously believing their hands-off manner permitted their offspring to find their own way and even pursue some “enlightened” value system honoring the Secular Trinity of Me, Myself, and I were instead sewing seeds that today demand an intellectual approach to faith rather than, well, simple faith to a simple Gospel of grace and the forgiveness of sin.

Inarguably, every single person has a belief system based on exposure to information or through experience. We all believe in something and adhere to some set of mores. It’s just a matter of the object of that belief system whether it’s the monotheistic God of the Judeo-Christian faith, or some other framework that drives a personal definition of morality.

And, that personal definition of morality is growing more relevant in not only the generational divide of faith but is literally dividing the flocks of the faithful and churches.

Look no further than the separation just announced in the Methodist denomination. The split is based on whether Holy Scripture is to be honored in sanctioning marriage as holy matrimony between one man and one woman — treated as a covenant modeled after Christ and His Bride the Church — or whether same-sex marriage is permitted. It’s a manifestation of cultural approvals transcending Biblical Truth. Some personally view same-sex marriage as without consequence and others say what God says, which is that sexual sin — of all sorts — is still sin, but still covered by grace when confessed.

The current split in the religion that was originally founded to reform the Church of England from within by John Wesley is, ironically, taking the similar path faced during the original days of Reformers in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Wesley’s teachings based on the “methodical” devotion and study applied to one’s life that all should have access to God’s salvation through love fell within the Protestant Reformation that declared that the Bible be the standard of teaching and worship.

Today, many Methodists have sacrificed the standard of Truth on the altar of personal whim.

So, in addition to parents without a commitment to faith raising children of the same philosophy, the cultural influences on the definition of right versus wrong have eclipsed the Gospel. But churches themselves have some responsibility in the loss of membership.

If teachings in the church say, “You’re ok, I’m ok, we’re all ok” and “We’ve got grace, so let’s just live as we so desire,” it is no different than the opinions shared at the neighborhood bar, nonprofit, or secular organization. Why would young adults need a community of faith when they’ll hear the same advice and opinions and get the same acceptance at their favorite watering hole among friends who will commiserate and honor the time-tested truth that misery loves company?

In a series on the decline of religion in America, The Washington Times wrote of doctoral candidate Rev. Stephen Koeth at Columbia University teaching one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s sermons, which included references to the road to Jericho and the Good Samaritan. Not only did the class have no knowledge of the dangerous setting of the famous parable of ministry, but they didn’t have any understanding of the basis of the parable itself — the Good Samaritan — whose actions transcended cultural and economic constructs.

Do you think this same group could articulate details about climate change or the need for “safe spaces” from harmful speech?

Again, those churches reflecting and echoing cultural norms and teaching a social-justice agenda rather than Truth from the Bible are not remarkable, inspirational, or courageous. But churches that do boldly teach the hope of Christ in each of us through the forgiveness of sin are indeed the beacons of light daring to say the same thing that God Himself says about our past, our present, and our future.

So where will Americans of all ages find their hope? The brilliant and fearless Paul sums it all up in Galatians 6:8, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

SOURCE 







UK: Nurse launches legal test case with claim children cannot consent to transgender treatment

Children cannot consent to transgender treatment, a nurse bringing a landmark legal case has said, claiming that many are autistic, homosexual or just confused.

Susan Evans, 62, a former psychiatric nurse at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust, said that “experimental” and “invasive medical treatment” should be prevented in order to protect children.

She is working with a woman known as ‘Mrs A’ the mother of an autistic 15-year-old girl who is on the Gids waiting list

Later this week, the pair will lodge legal papers at the High Court in order to commence proceedings in a judicial review against the trust and NHS England. Their legal team will argue that the provision of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones at the Tavistock for those under 18 is illegal because children cannot give valid consent to the treatment.

However transgender children’s charities have criticised the case, saying that children should not be denied the right to make decisions about their own bodies, simply because they are trans.

Ms Evans told The Telegraph that “some children are referred despite having autism, being homosexual or suffering some form of trauma or sexual abuse”.

She added that sometimes such children are referred for treatment “after only an hour or two”, and that most do not have access to therapy unless they are “very lucky”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today show, the psychiatric nurse also said that children as young as nine or ten are being asked to give informed consent “to a completely experimental treatment for which the long term consequences are not known”.

“No matter how clever or mature they seem, I don't think a child can possibly comprehend what their future adult life will be like and what they’re consenting to potentially give up or risk to their medical health.”

“These children are not coming forward with a straightforward symptom like a skin rash or something of that nature, they’re coming as people, as individuals, who are confused or distressed and very often have other comorbid aspects.

“For example, 30 per cent plus are autistic, many of them have suffered some form of trauma in their earlier lives. Some of them are just very confused, anxious, or socially anxious children, but I think this sort of rapid affirmation and fast tracking after maybe three, four or five appointments I think is just terrible.

“I really feel it's got to be questioned in the courts now because we've tried to talk to the tavistock as have other staff at the tavistock and it doesn't work.”

Lawyers acting for Susan Evans, a former, which runs the UK’s only NHS gender identity development service (Gids), and “Mrs A”, will file papers to commence proceedings in a judicial review brought against the trust and NHS England. The papers are expected to be lodged on Wednesday.

According to her crowdfunding page on the CrowdJustice website, Evans raised concerns about the treatment approach of the Tavistock with its clinical management team.

On the CrowdJustice website, Mrs A, the mother of the autistic teenager, said she worried that “no one (let alone my daughter) understands the risks and therefore cannot ensure informed consent is obtained”.

However Lui Asquith, Legal and Policy Manager for the transgender children's charity, Mermaids said: "The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which this country has ratified, states that every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.

"Our 25 years of experience shows that ignoring gender diverse children causes serious irreparable harm.

“We see some truly heartbreaking outcomes when parents refuse to accept that their child is transgender and it's deeply concerning that anyone should seek to empower those who want to deny young people the right to make decisions about their own bodies, simply because they're trans.

“If we lose the voices of children in this conversation around gender identity then we risk losing the children altogether."

Cara English, Public Engagement Lead at Gendered Intelligence, a charity which aims to increase the understandings of gender diversity, added: "Either a young person can consent to their medical treatment when presented with all known information about that treatment, or they cannot.

"These are highly individualised conversations which cannot be reduced to simple talking points or a reductive rolling back of enshrined rights through the courts. If we were, as a society, to allow for children to be stripped of their agency when choosing what’s right for them, we set off a dangerous domino effects of others deciding what is and isn’t right for all of us.

"If this case is successful in removing Mrs A’s child’s right to consent to medical treatment, the line in the sand is removed: A loss to trans youth is a loss to all."

A spokesperson for the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said: “It is not appropriate for us to comment in detail in advance of any proposed legal proceedings.

“The GIDS is one of the longest-established services of its type in the world with an international reputation for being cautious and considered. Our clinical interventions are laid out in nationally-set service specifications. NHS England, monitor our service very closely.

“The service has a high level of reported satisfaction and was rated good by the Care Quality Commission.”

SOURCE 





The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community celebrates Australia Day across all its Mosques in Australia

Ahmadis are the good guys.  They express APPRECIATION of the nations that host them.  They differ from other Muslims in believing that their founder was the Messiah

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia invites you to their annual Australia Day celebrations where people can come together, united in allegiance to Australia.

In all its Mosques across Australia, a formal ceremonial event will also take place where the Community will come together to pay respect to and hoist the Australian flag followed by national anthem. Short thanksgiving speeches by community members and invited dignitaries will take please as they share their thoughts on what it means to be an Australian.

The National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia, Imam. I.H. Kauser said:

“We, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, always pray for the progress and development of our homeland, Australia. As per our traditions we will celebrate Australia Day in all Mosques across Australia. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our nation, government and people because our religion teaches us that love of country of residence is part of faith.”

This day holds special significance for the Community; the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques across the country will begin the day offering prayers for the prosperity of Australia and for those who lost their lives in recent bushfires. Members of the community will also participate in community celebrations and parades throughout the day.

The Worldwide Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Fifth Caliph, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad guides Community members in this regard:

“True loyalty requires a relationship built on sincerity and integrity… it is essential for a citizen of any country to establish a relationship of genuine loyalty and faithfulness to his nation. It does not matter whether he is a born citizen, or whether he gains citizenship later in life..."

About the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community:

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a very peaceful, law abiding, nonviolent and loving community. Founded in 1889, the Community spans more than 200 countries with membership exceeding tens of millions. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the leading Islamic organisation to categorically reject terrorism in any form. Similarly, the Ahmadiyya Community is the only Islamic organisation to endorse a separation of mosque and state. Today, it continues to be an advocate for universal human rights and protection for religious and other minorities. It champions the empowerment and education of women. Its members are among the most law-abiding, educated, and engaged Muslims in the world. For the official website of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Australia, please visit: www.Ahmadiyya.org.au

Email from Media@Ahmadiyya.org.au

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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