How important is it?

Well, the Methodists have gone and done it.  The United Methodists in the US have decided that it is worth dividing their church and for the sake of giving approval to homosexuality and homosexual clergy.  This issue was the hill on which a church died.  Imagine that.  Not for the sake of the divinity of Christ or His humanity or for the sake of justification or for the cause of Scripture -- they were willing to kill a church for the sake of the alphabet soup of sexual desire and gender identity.  So they effectively eliminated the opposition -- diluting the votes of the conservatives by denying the Africans the right to vote on what happened in America and turning their backs on conservatives in their own denomination.  

Of course, it began with the ordination of women.  No, I am not saying we should blame the ordination of women for all this craziness.  What is to blame is this.  Once a church body has learned to ignore or silence Scripture and ignore or overrule the catholic tradition, everything is possible.  It will not be long before in the name of the Gospel they disengage sex from marriage and insist that Jesus died so that everyone can do what is right in their own eyes.  By the way, that little Biblical phrase was never a positive one to describe virtue but the mark of sure apostasy and sin.  

The cause was a “radically inclusive” church for everyone – especially its LGBTQIA+ members -- but with no room for those who disagree with them on these issues -- including other Methodists.  Think how far they have come.  In 1972, the UMC declared homosexuality was “incompatible with Christian teaching” and later banned “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from becoming ordained.  In did not take long before the United Methodist Church began a civil war over sex issues that has lasted decades. When the United Methodist Church’s governing body opened a temporary window for congregations to petition to leave over the issue in 2019, who could have predicted that four years later, according to church records, more than 7,600 churches voted to disaffiliate.  The divorce proceedings were ON. The once United Methodists are, like many progressive and liberal Christian churches, bleeding off members and congregations while unhesitatingly pursuing the cause of LGBTQIA+ inclusivity.  So, even if Jesus decided it was wrong, the UMC is not sure it matters.  They have forged their path and redefined the faith to fit what they insist have to be the positions of their church body on these issues.  They are sad for the pain and suffering caused the LGBTQIA+ folks but not for the damage done to their church body.  The nation’s largest Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Lutheran denominations have all now removed barriers to LGBTQIA+ participation in the pulpit, at the altar, and in the pews but all of this has come amid long-term declines in membership and influence.  How important are the sex issues to liberal Christianity?  Ask your local Methodist....