Culture Wars : Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members
Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members
By J. Grank Swank Jr.
http://www.magic-city-news.com/J_Grant_Swank_61/Pro-Homosexual_Denominations_Lose_Members10251.shtml
June 29, 2008
The Episcopal Church has been at the forefront of baptizing active homosexual lifestyle as God-blessed.
Since 1960, that denomination has decreased in membership by 48%.
The United Methodist Church has been roiled by those adamant on establishing homosexual lifestyles as Christian legitimate. In the fight for one side or another that denomination has decreased in membership by 25%.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has likewise been embroiled in the tussle. That denomination has decreased in membership by 44%.
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has also been riddled with in-house fighting over homosexual lifestyles as anti-God or pro-God. That denomination's membership has decreased 74%.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has permitted the fight to be more open, some in administration arguing homosexual lifestyles as okay with God. That denomination's membership has decreased by 31%.
The United Church of Christ (Congregational) has defended aggressively homosexual activity as totally legitimate in the definition of "Christian." In the last 40 years, that denomination has lost 40% of its original membership.
By contrast, denominations preaching the Bible as divine revelation, openly stating their love for homosexuals but their disdain for homosexual activity, have grown in membership and church attendance.
For instance, the Southern Baptist Convention has increased in membership by 76% all according to the National Council of Churches statistics for 2007.
Read "The Church Homosexual Problem"
J. Grant Swank Jr. -- Read: http://jgrantswankjr.blogspot.com/
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| Poster | Thread |
|---|---|
| cuervoria | Posted: 2008/7/10 10:30 Updated: 2008/7/10 10:30 |
Home away from home   Joined: 2006/6/15 From: College Station, Texas Posts: 537 |
 Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose MembersTEC doesn't give a flying leap about declining memberships.
This has always been about a huge property grab, first in Manhattan, then in all major urban areas. The more valuable the property, the harder they fight. A very rich (childless) sector of our society is amassing huge wealth. de la Cuervoria |
| daveball | Posted: 2008/7/10 11:01 Updated: 2008/7/10 11:01 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2004/12/18 From: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 2281 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members Duh!!!!! Ya think? And Queen Schori told everyone that accepting homosexual practice would lead to a vibrant and growing church. Wow. If she was wrong about that, then might she be wrong about virtually everything else, also?
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| jfmckenna | Posted: 2008/7/10 11:58 Updated: 2008/7/10 11:58 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2006/2/4 From: Posts: 495 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members And the most successful publicity-grabber of them all, John Spong, kept repeating the idiotic idea that the church was going to grow if it acccepted things like homosexuality -- while presiding over a catastrophic decline in church membership in his own diocese throughout his term as bishop. Now take one guess: Did that stop him from repeating the same mantra after he left?
Same in NYC. I was in one of its prestigious churches just the other day (St. Bart's), where they have a bookstore in the narthex. The book displayed the most prominently was written by former bishop Paul Moore, the one who ordained two lesbians in 1977, presided over a similarly catastrophic decline in membership, while living a life of homosexual adultery throughout his marriage. I felt like imitating Jesus chasing the money changers out of the temple by creating a scene right there at St. Bart's. |
| Cennydd | Posted: 2008/7/10 13:57 Updated: 2008/7/10 14:00 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2005/10/30 From: Los Banos, CA, Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin Posts: 6684 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members Can't say that I blame you, JF! Good Lord, what a mess!
I've spoken with several lawyer friends back East....one of whom was a college classmate of mine....who are specialists in Real Estate Law, and without exception, they told me that The Episcopal Church's tactics are nothing more than a money-hungry property-grab. None of these lawyers are Episcopalians, by the way, so they don't have a "dog in the fight." In fact, one of them happens to be Jewish....a fine man! Schori and Company....and the bishops and activists backing them....are bent on acquiring a financial power base for their brand of Secular Humanism, and they'll stop at nothing to achieve their goal of subverting every church in this country via their support for the LBGT "cause"....Rome included, and they'll continue to do it behind the smokescreen of their so-called "Christianity." They're fooling no one but themselves. Cennydd |
| jfmckenna | Posted: 2008/7/10 16:27 Updated: 2008/7/10 16:27 |
Home away from home Joined: 2006/2/4 From: Posts: 495 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members You're right, Cennydd. I was going into NYC one day a few months ago on the commuter train, and you'll never guess who got on at the next stop & sat right near me -- Schori herself. When we arrived at Grand Central Terminal, I introduced myself as a member of an opposition church and had a conversation with her on the way down the platform and into the terminal, and I suggested that there be a forum in which the central issues, such as homosexuality, would be aired fully and in depth by a dozen representatives, lay and clerical, from either side. As we parted, I said I'd lay it out in a letter, which I did. In her reply, she suggested that it start in one or two parishes and go from there. My reaction: She is afraid (and rightly so) of a full-scale hearing in which the weakness of the arguments on her side would become so apparent, and so the divide-and-conquer strategy is the way she's going forward.
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| Causidicus | Posted: 2008/7/10 20:28 Updated: 2008/7/10 20:28 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/7/3 From: Posts: 1065 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members The irony of this post is that the statistics are from the National Council of Churches. This is the same NCC (part of the internationalist WCC) that has been spreading liberal theology for almost 100 years. They have merely catalogued their own decline which seems to parallel the increase of their influence in the old mainline denoms.
Were statistics this obvious available on the global warming issue not only would non-scientists write books they would be running for office on the single issue. Guess which direction the C of E just threw all of its money, influence and talent? |
| morrismpls | Posted: 2008/7/11 0:21 Updated: 2008/7/11 0:21 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2004/1/4 From: Posts: 488 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members The numbers are in some ways even worse than the raw numbers published. Since most of the mainline Protestant denominations hit their high-water marks about 1965 or so, the population of the US has pretty much doubled. So as a percent of the US population, the decline is TWICE as steep.
So how's that liberal theology working out for you? |
| Ikerliker | Posted: 2008/7/11 2:51 Updated: 2008/7/11 2:52 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2007/1/16 From: PA Posts: 2046 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members jfmckenna,
I hope you did some sort of cleansing ritual after your encounter with Mrs. Schori. On a serious note, Mrs. Schori believes her own hype. I watched the ordination of the Bishop of Maryland online the other day. She is very impressed with herself position. She sat there holding court like a queen with this regal air. All those stupid male bishops cow tow to her every whim. It's a side show. She should just wear a tiara and ditch to oven mitt. I sent Mrs. Schori a very heartfelt letter after Mark Lawrence's election was overturned and only got a canned reply from a lesser minion. My opinion of her continues to drop daily as the church withers and dies. |
| Cennydd | Posted: 2008/7/11 4:12 Updated: 2008/7/11 4:16 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/10/30 From: Los Banos, CA, Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin Posts: 6684 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members JF, I find it no surprise that Schori would refuse to openly and publicly debate the issues confronting us, particularly if she were confronted by a theologian such as Dr J.I. Packer, or my own bishop!
She continually dodges and evades at every opportunity, like the boxer who tries to sneak a punch when he sees an opening. She won't debate with anyone whom she knows to be more knowledgeable and much better theologically educated than she is; in particular the African bishops and their primates. They'd each make a fool of her, and she knows it! And she does not like to be made the fool! Cennydd |
| unitarian | Posted: 2008/7/11 22:24 Updated: 2008/7/11 22:24 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/12/31 From: Bryn Mawr, PA Posts: 307 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members "Who today" to paraphrase somebody "has ever heard of the Methodists?"
These figures add to my sense that Anglicanism, like the other groups mentioned, will end with the proverbial whimper, not the bang of a cataclysm. Fewer folks will show up for church. Costs will continue to climb. Endowments will be exhausted. Buildings will close. Eventually they will be like the Christian Scientists--who survive entirely on endowment, but whose big churches are now mostly owned by universities as auditoriums or performance centers (Philadelphia, Providence) or have been made into shopping centers with a mini-church tucked in (Curzon St. London). Meanwhile other churches will grow. Eventually they will begin buying back property from which they were driven. |
| Mariel | Posted: 2008/7/16 14:03 Updated: 2008/7/16 14:03 |
Just popping in  Joined: 2007/8/10 From: Posts: 1 |
Re: Pro-Homosexual Denominations Lose Members I attended an Episcopal church in another city a while back. They had a forum on Sodom and Gomorrah and one older priest (not a homosexual) said that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality, but lack of hospitality. They were infringing on the dignity of the visiting angels by suggesting they have sex with the local residents.
Of course I think this is ridiculous. That an ordained priest would say such a thing is tragic. I am churchless more or less now, for various reasons--things like that Sodom and Gomorrah lecture, and then our local Episcopal church is opening a new social hall with a new carpet that will be toxic for me. I can get very sick from new carpet or bad carpet cleaner. I probably may go to the Catholic church which does not have a carpet. The world is full of many kinds of booby traps. Mariel |
