There's no telling whether the following Slaughter/Hamilton amendment will actually make it into the Book of Discipline or not today. But they are meaningful and honest words that might give a drink of water to those who are in the desert and feeling parched. Praying for our delegates this day.
Proposed Amendment by Substitution for
Calendar Item 513 (DCA page number 2367),
Petition Number 21032 (ADCA page number 270)
(May 3, 2012)
The following
amendment would replace the proposed
amendment contained in
the original petition:
Homosexuality continues to divide
our society and
the church. All in the United Methodist
Church
that homosexual persons are people of sacred worth and
are welcome in our churches, but we disagree as a people
regarding whether homosexual practice is contrary
to the will of God.
The Bible is our primary text for
discerning God's
will. We read and interpret it by the light of the Spirit's
witness, with the help of the thoughtful reflections of
Christians through the centuries, and assisted by our
understanding of history, culture and science.
The majority view through the history of the
church is that the scriptures teach that same-sex sexual
intimacy is contrary to the will of God. This view is
rooted in several passages from both the Old and New
Testament.
A significant minority of our
church views the
scriptures that speak to same-sex intimacy as reflecting
the understanding, values, historical circumstances and
sexual ethics of the period in which the scriptures were
written, and therefore believe these passages do not reflect
the timeless will of God. They read the scriptures
related to same-sex intimacy in the same way that they
read the Bible's passages on polygamy, concubinage,
slavery and the role of women in the church.
United Methodists will continue to
struggle with
this issue in the years ahead as a growing number of
young adults identify with what is today the minority
view. The majority view of the General Conference,
and thus the official position of the church, continues
to hold that same-sex intimacy is not God's will. We
recognize, however, that many faithful United
Methodists disagree with this view.
It is likely that this issue will
continue to be a
source of conflict within the church. We have a choice:
We can divide, or we can commit to disagree with compassion,
grace, and love, while continuing to seek to understand
the concerns of the other. Given these
options, schism or respectful co-existence, we choose
the latter.
We commit to disagree with respect
and love, we
commit to love all persons and, above all, we pledge to
seek God’s will. With regard to homosexuality, as with
so many other issues, United Methodists adopt the attitude
of JohnWesley who once said, "Though we cannot
think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one
heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all
doubt,
we may."
Submitted by Adam
Hamilton and Mike Slaughter
