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Wednesday, July 06, 2005

United Church of Christ Officially Endorses Same-Sex Marriage

According to this article from the Seattle Times, the UCC (sometimes thought to stand for "Unitarians Considering Christ") is now, at 1.3 million members, the largest American denomination to officially support gay marriage. But they might not bear that distinction for long. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), 4 or 5 times the size of the UCC, is set to take a similar vote this summer as well.

The Rev. John Thomas, President of the UCC, thought that it was appropriate the controversial vote took place on July 4th saying that they had "acted courageously to declare freedom." The UCC may consider their "Declaration of Independence" from the immutable law of the Creator to be an act of courage, but it seems foolhardy to me. What kind of church boasts of trashing Scripture as well as disregarding natural law? The reports suggest that some of the more biblically conservative members of the UCC may be taking a hike.

When the British surrendered to the Revolutionary Army in Yorktown, their band played The World Upside Down as they filed past the Americans. Sometimes I think I'm hearing those chords myself.

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5 comments:

cwv warrior said...

Hi Pastor,
I have only recently discovered your site. I saw it in Blogdom of God (the 'h' gave me a clue!) and then on PGH Bloggers! I'm so excited! I've been talking to MD, CA, UK, Ontario, Australia, New Zealand...no pittsburgh. I am a conservative Christian who firmly believes in Christians being "in the world". cwv stands for Christian Worldview.
Nancy Pearcey recently published her book, Total Truth, which pushed me into the blog world. Your post here is the evidence that Christians are abandoning the ship. I also had the Rick Warren revelation (previous post) shown to me while reading it to my son. We quit midway.
I can identify with the concern over our teaching. I am not even a pastor of any sort, yet the responsibility of teaching TRUTH is huge. We cannot do this without the Spirit and prayer. You are welcome to hold me accountable anytime.
I am so happy to have met you. Will probably become a regular.

Pastor Scott Stiegemeyer said...

cwv,
Hey thanks for reading. I'm glad to know that people do find me through those directories. And I do hope you visit regularly. I checked out your site too. Good blogging!

The Nancy Pearcey book you mention is on my shelf, waiting in line for me to get to it. I have heard so many good things about it. I may have to move it up the line a bit.

Darrell said...

It's hard not to just throw up your hands in disgust. Look up marriage in any dictionary. These people who support gay "marriage" are simply asking us to pretend that something is NOT what it is! What's next? Will we be expected to declare that the sky is green and that grass is blue? I'm just dumbfounded.

I enjoyed your post and agree with it.

Anonymous said...

The Big UCC Church in suburban Hartford, CT, one of the oldest in the country, did just that, and took a walk a few months ago, not only over this, but over the UCC's board setting "standards", which kind of goes against the idea of congregationalism.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13101196&%3BBRD=1662&%3BPAG=461&%3Bdept_id=11233&%3Brfi=6

Pastor Scott Stiegemeyer said...

Devi,
Homosexual "marriage" is never spoken of in the Bible. But homosexuality is. And it is unambiguously condemned as contrary to nature and nature's God. By implication, any condoning of homosexual practice is forbidden.

Marriage is defined by Scripture as between a man and a woman. Here are some citations.

I Corinthians 6:9,10 state that those who practice homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:10 calls homosexual practice sinful, ungodly, profane and contrary to sound doctrine.

Romans 1:26,27 calls homosexuality among both men and women contrary to nature, a perversion, indecent and shameful.

Genesis 2:24 defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Jesus quotes this passage in Matthew 19.

And all this, in addition to natural law.

New Curriculum at Concordia Theological Seminary