Causing offense. . .

The Methodist Church of Great Britain has called on its ministers, deacons, and elders to stop using offensive terminology such as “husband” and “wife” to avoid making assumptions that are not “the reality for many people.”  The church added the changes to its “Inclusive Language Guide,” an initiative aimed at preventing the use of “hurtful language” directed at groups the Methodist Church believes have been “marginalised and/or demonised by common culture.”  The church plans to update the Inclusive Language Guide every six months to avoid using language that could offend groups it perceives as marginalized.  Then you wonder why Methodists are imploding?  Really?  This is the big problem the British Methodists needs to deal with?  Not sin?  Not death?  People who offended by ordinary terms like husband and wife.  Yup, Jesus is certainly good with this idea, isn't He?

The progressive idea is to make every exception into the rule.  If there are families without a husband or a wife, then all families will be stripped of the terminology.  What works for marriage will work for as many other faithful and Biblical and traditional terms -- just about everything!  Instead of striving to preach Christ crucified and risen, the Methodist Church is working to eradicate such terms as “partner,” “child,” and “parent” in order to be sensitive to and show solidarity with those “relationships [that] come in many varied expressions.”  The Methodists are certainly not alone.  Language is undergoing a radical transformation at the hands of those who find sterile terms preferable to traditional ones.  In this case, the Methodists have specifically addressed the issue of gender identity, insisting that “using a person’s chosen pronouns is helpful as it honours their identity.”  Expect that other vocabulary words will be on the banished list as well -- such as ‘brothers and sisters which is neither inclusive nor friendly to the non-binary among us.  Oops, Jesus.  You should have known better!

And to think.  We were worried about our enemies in the world and the devil roaring about seeking to devour someone!  I guess we had it wrong.  We were our own worst enemies all along.  Honestly, Jesus, You should have known better!