Is like talking about the ninth inning of a football game.
Here is the latest from that post-Christian branch of Protestantism known as United Methodism. One of its openly gay preachers, who also preaches under the drag queen alias of Ms. Penny Cost, has come out and denounced the Bible. Yep. It reminds me of when the Episcopal Church voted to declare the New Testament an anti-Semitic, racist propaganda rag.
I was going to write a long blabbering post about how so many liberal Protestant denominations have gotten to this point. How I could sit next to colleagues in my ministry days and hear a United Church of Christ pastor say she just can't understand the arrogance behind believing in a personal God. But why bother?
Suffice to say, when you look back at the history of these denominations and how they began to turn in the 19th and 20th centuries, it's not hard to see parallels to the Catholic Church over the last few generations. Remember, they didn't start this way. This dumpster fire result started by letting the World dictate priorities and deciding it was time to change their teachings to accommodate. Only after generations of doing that did we end up with Ms. Penny Cost. And it won't stop there. A word of warning to the Catholic Church today.
The "Penny Cost" name keeps making me think it's some kind of Babylon Bee article...
ReplyDeleteI actually checked a couple places to make sure it wasn't a put on, or someone duped by a satire page. It's real. Believe it or not, it's real. That's why BB is pretty lame in my opinion. It seeks out to lampoon that which is beyond all satire and unbelievability.
DeleteTo be fair to many members of the UMC, a sizable percentage is parting with the denominational structure and a lot of institutional money over things like this, which is admirable in putting their money where their mouth is. And honestly probably a net gain, as they won't have the many forms of institutional baggage going forward.
ReplyDeleteBefore my conversion when I was working at a UMC megachurch, they would bend over backwards for racial diversity. The irony, of course, is that a substantial amount of the resistance to the sexual wokeness comes from the African and Asian contingent of the UMC, which would seem to indicate that affluent, largely white sexual liberation trumps racial and ethnic diversity. The amount of machinations that would happen at General Conference was something to behold.
Of course, at present there can unfortunately be no Catholic triumphalism. I remember back in 2019 the UMC was going to have a special General Conference in 2020 to either once and for all settle the sex question (as the non-United States contingent was about to be in ascendance demographically) or (more realistically) split the denomination. I had converted a couple years earlier and was quasi-jokingly looking forward to an entertaining livestream, as some of the previous ones had been popcorn-worthy.
And then there were Pachamamas in the Vatican. It's like the Vatican said: UMC Conference is going to be crazy? Here, hold my beer.
I've seen that, and that is promising. I know each denomination that has an apostasy sect also has a faithful remnant.
DeleteThe racial diversity irony is also seen in politics. In terms of actual social and moral beliefs, most blacks and Hispanics tend to swing conservative, but they will still overwhelming support the Democrats even if they disagree with many of the Dems moral stances.
But you're right. I see many in the Catholic Church apparently wanting to follow the lead of the craziest and most disastrous Protestant traditions. I can only think that they just don't believe the religion anymore. Nothing else makes sense.
"Only after generations of doing that did we end up with Ms. Penny Cost."
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about one third of the Church already stands with Ms. Penny Cost but without the costume. What makes it difficult for the other two thirds of us is that the powers that be in the Church are emulating Ms. Cost to a certain degree and we feel powerless. It will get worse before it gets better but it will get better. Never forget the remnant. God will protect the remnant by shortening the days. It does suck having to live through this crap but a faith untested is a weak faith.
Sadly, I think it may be one third that stands that way, but another third that doesn't care. Those clinging to the historical Faith appear to be the minority. Or as you say, the remnant. That's what I think is happening. Christianity might be the biggest religion in the world, but I don't think the numbers match the number of actual believers. What we're seeing is the beginning of an age of pruning.
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