Online Archives

Church held to higher calling

I would like to respond to Wesley Paulson's Jan. 5 letter to the editor, which read: 'If my employer were to fire an otherwise highly qualified, well-performing employee on the basis of his/her sexual orientation, the organization would be in court defending a lawsuit. How can the church get away with this?'

The answer is quite clear. The church is not the U.S. government. God holds us to a higher calling and standard.

Our U.S. government looks after our physical and mental bodies. The United Methodist Church, and most religions, are bound by our God to minister to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies.

It is my opinion that the people of God must rise to a higher standard than the U.S. government. Therefore, the church has the right to uphold its own standards.

Mr. Paulson is mixing oranges with corn and trying to make ambrosia.

Barbara Cook
Glenelg UMC, Glenelg

Word of God supercedes doctrine

'The doctrine will one day be changed,' said Beth Stroud who was recently defrocked as a pastor in The United Methodist Church. And recently, in a letter to the editor, Wesley E. Paulson stated that the church is a long way from 'Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.'

Someday the doctrine of The United Methodist Church may be changed, but that will never change the Word of God. The Bible takes precedent over doctrine.

We all have a tendency to sin. We are born that way. But that does not mean that someone living openly in sin should be in the ministry.

Beth Stroud was not dismissed from the ministry because she was a homosexual, but because she did not resist the temptation to act upon her sinful desire.

The thing that hurts is that six of the 13 who voted concerning her case, voted to let her continue to minister. If they had prayed for God's gbwc_superuserance, the vote would surely have been 13-0 against her.

We must have 'Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors' to the Word of God before we can do so toward people seeking the truth.

If we do not believe the whole of God's Word then we are in the wrong profession. If Beth had sought God's leading and been willing to follow, she would still be in the ministry. We are not dismissed because of temptation, but because of yielding.

The Rev. George M. Harpold
Pastor, Eckhart UMC, Eckhart