Same-sex wedding lands St. Petersburg Methodist pastor in hot water
Tampa Bay Times,
by
Waveney Ann Moore
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
5/4/2019 9:12:44 AM
ST. PETERSBURG — The Rev. Andy Oliver of Allendale United Methodist Church has made no secret of the fact that he is willing to perform same-sex marriages. In February, when his denomination voted against a proposal to let regional church bodies decide whether to ordain gay and lesbian people in relationships, allow clergy to officiate at same-sex marriages and hold such ceremonies in a church, his congregation took out a full-page newspaper ad to apologize for the decision. His church website announces that it provides "an altar for all" and is committed "to support and celebrate same-sex marriages." Now Oliver may be
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 5/4/2019 9:20:11 AM (No. 76982)
IMO, hot water is the least of Oliver´s trouble. Other places will be a lot hotter, sooner than he realizes.
36 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/4/2019 9:45:18 AM (No. 76984)
Force him to kiss every "bride". That should straighten him out (pun intended).
20 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Troutgreen 5/4/2019 9:59:03 AM (No. 76975)
I left the Methodist Church a few years ago when the gay issue fractured my local church of more than half a century.
The pastor was a fine man of a more liberal, but consistently scripturally-justified and Wesleyan grace-based theology that I didn´t always see eye to eye with. But hey... God´s house has many mansions, and a lot of them don´t look like mine.
Trouble really started when his high-school age son came out as gay. And then mom, a high school counselor, had the gall to support the kid´s involvement in a gay group of some stripe.
So a schism of epic proportions ripped a large, established, old church community apart. The pastor ended up going elsewhere. Unhappy members stopped contributing. Many left for other congregations. Some, like me, left the Church completely. I left because of the vitriol and hate leveled at a good man of God over one of those issues that really have no solution.
My call is to love others and be of service where I can.
The older I get, judging people and trying to influence how they think and act gets much easier to turn over to God.
One of the biggest regrets I have is that I was not brave enough to to defend this minister more vigorously as he and his family were assailed and hounded out of town. I went along to get along, and it will bother me till my dying day.
23 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Yuban 5/4/2019 10:22:54 AM (No. 76980)
There is a solution. It is obeying God´s word. Read Leviticus or Romans or Corinthians or Judges or Timothy or others. Love the sinner but hate the sin. Some good folks do the opposite and end up hating themselves.
30 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 5/4/2019 11:25:28 AM (No. 76974)
If it was my church, I would be gone until he was no longer the pastor. This is wrong.
13 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
tennisbum 5/4/2019 11:42:15 AM (No. 76978)
Refer to Matthew 22: 36-40. Nothing there suggests anything but love for God and for your neighbor. The gay community including some clergy want to revise the Bible to fit their agenda. Either you believe the Word of God or you wish to turn it and twist it to fit with the current times. This is not about "hate" as the gay agenda would have one believe. God will ultimately have the final word so I´d suggest you be a follower of Jesus Christ and honor God the Father´s Word.
14 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
columba 5/4/2019 12:27:35 PM (No. 76985)
The minister is no longer a Christian.
9 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
BarryNo 5/4/2019 12:38:44 PM (No. 76983)
Sin is going against God´s will. His first command to all life was, "be fruitful, and multiply..." Gays arent fruitful, though they do seem to multiply...
But how can anyone who defies his will, no matter that they claim it is out of ´Love´, feel they can lead a congregation is beyond me. It sounds like a classic case of ´Judas Priest´, where it´s all about ´Them´, and their belief of what God SHOULD BE LIKE.
One belief is that Judas thought Jesus should be King of the World, and that if he pushed him to react, (test his God) Jesus would suddenly spring out in wrathful glory and destroy the Roman´s and other Jewish enemies as he restored an earthly kingdom.
But Jesus came as a sacrifice, not to rule. Whether he ever understood that, is not recorded - but he did regret his betrayal.
After the shamed accusers had left Jesus and the adulterous woman, he said, "where are your accusers?" And then, "go, and sin no more."
Tell me, do any of the LGBTQ crowd even try to understand that?
8 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
spacer 5/4/2019 1:33:11 PM (No. 76977)
# 3. At what point do we stand for Christian values. The homosexual does not want to admit their sin and go and sin no more. They insist WE change Christian mores to except their life of debauchery.
11 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Northcross 5/4/2019 1:38:54 PM (No. 76976)
The Christian is called to demonstrate God´s love in every circumstance. The Christian is never called to excuse or celebrate sin.
13 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Bluefindad 5/4/2019 5:10:48 PM (No. 76979)
God wants us to avoid sinful behavior because it is bad for us. It leads to damage to our health and happiness and impedes our path to fulfillment. Above all, God loves us and wishes the best for us.
God also wants us to love one another. That means we wish for happiness and fulfillment for others. Consequently, we should understand that approving sinful behavior is the opposite of love.
7 people like this.
#3 "You never know when the last time will be the last time" Act accordingly.
The pastor knew the rules when he signed up. People need to stop changing the system.
4 people like this.
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