Pride Month is being ushered in with a truly seismic event. Thousands of local congregations of the United Methodist Church (UMC) have left that church and are contemplating separation from it because of LGBTQ issues. This is not like boycotting Bud Light or refusing to shop at Target. It is the largest, loudest, most well considered repudiation of transgender ideology in recent memory - maybe ever.
In May alone, some 900 UMC congregations from Alaska to Florida, Pennsylvania to Oregon, decided to disaffiliate from the church. The numbers are imprecise because they are in flux but it’s estimated that more than 3,500 local congregations have so far decided to split from America's second largest Protestant denomination, and others will follow.
This wave of departures started some years ago and has recently started to crest, with most local news coverage couched in terms of liberal theology versus conservative church doctrine. But the reasons for this repudiation of the UMC’s stance on sexuality is largely neglected in the media. Simply stated, congregations are leaving the United Methodist Church in droves because they believe the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God.
The primary issues involve whether the UMC should sanction and conduct same sex marriages, and whether people embracing and affirming transgender ideology should be ordained as ministers. Those voting to leave the UMC largely believe what the Bible says about these issues: that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that the underpinnings of transgender ideology are evil.
The Bible does not single-out transgender ideology as sinful but the behaviors that define it are, and scripture makes this point early and often. The matter is comprehensively addressed in Mark’s Gospel which records Jesus Christ saying, “Out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Transgender ideology by definition involves envying the characteristics of the opposite sex. This envy can increase to the point where people overtly covet these characteristics and adopt the appearance of the opposite sex in a deceitful manner, lying to people about what they are. Transgender militants seek to compel others to affirm this deceit and those who don’t are slandered as bigots.
Jesus called the behaviors defining transgender ideology evil. But the issue of transgender ideology is not so much whether sinners should be allowed into the church. Every single member of every single church is a sinner, and biblical Christians know this.
The issue is whether churches should promote, affirm and celebrate sin, including the sins of transgender ideology as enumerated by Christ. Theft and adultery are sins. Murder is a sin. Extortion, fraud, insider trading - you name it - are sins. No sane person would want to join a church that promotes, affirms or celebrates these or other sins.
Supporters of the LGBTQ agenda are quick to remind us that Jesus was all about love, how he associated with the poor and the sick and the prostitutes and the tax collectors, so we should be like Jesus and accept transgender ideology. Yes, Jesus is indeed full of grace, which Bible believing Christians know and extend to others.
But Christ is more than grace. The first chapter of John’s Gospel reminds us, “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” LGBTQ allies seem less interested in the truth that comes from the son of God because God’s truth works against their ideology.
This truth includes God’s creation of mankind in his image, male and female. It includes marriage between a man and a woman who become one flesh. It includes being honest and shunning deceit. It includes acknowledging and seeking forgiveness of our sins. These and other truths are inseparable from the grace of Christ; when it comes to His grace and truth, it’s not an either/or proposition.
It is such truths to which the growing chasm within the United Methodist Church can be attributed today. Some Methodists believe these truths. Others do not and we’re seeing the results now. But less recognized in this debate is that biblical Christians can and do forgive the sins of others, regardless of what those sins may be.
Granted, some sins take a bit more work to forgive than others but ultimately, we’re commanded to forgive those who trespass against us. That includes people who have been deceived into believing transgender ideology. Unfortunately, too many people fail to grasp the fact that we can forgive sin without affirming it.
I’m not a Methodist but I get the feeling this movement to disaffiliate from the UMC is not over. As it continues, more people will come to better understand the evil that is transgender ideology. When many thousands of Christians take a stand, people tend to notice.