Boy Scouts Send Inconsistent Message – Is It OK or Is It Not?

The Boy Scouts of America (May 23, 2013 in Grapevine TX) voted on Thursday to lift a ban on openly gay scouts that had been in place throughout the organization's 103-year history, capping weeks of intense lobbying on both sides, the group said in a statement. --- internet news release

Well, they went and did it after months of mounting pressure which included large church groups such as the United Methodist Church and the Church of Latter-day Saints that sponsor a rather substantial number of scouting units. Young scouts that are sodomite oriented are now permitted to become members of a Boy Scout troop. The ban was lifted due to a vote of more than 60 per cent of the leaders in their gathering at Grapevine TX on May 23, 2013. However, it was emphasized that there is still a ban on adults being Scout leaders if they are of sodomite orientation. This poses a rather critical issue – how is it that sodomy is OK for the young ones who are members of a troop of Scouts, but it is not OK for a Scout leader to be of sodomite orientation?

Our culture has been under pressure for years to accept same-sex activity as being just as normal as sexual intimacy between a male and a female. Some states have already passed legislation in which two sodomites can legally marry each other and likewise it is the same for two lesbians who want to be married.

Now for a time of “meddling” by bringing Almighty God, our Creator, into this mix! God has given us a complete revelation about Himself and the moral laws which He has established for us human beings. In regard to our sexuality, God has explicitly drawn the boundary lines as to what is acceptable and what is not. According to God’s standards, sexual intimacy is acceptable only within the covenant of marriage involving a man and a woman!

There are a lot of sexual violations taking place around the clock throughout this chaotic world including fornication, adultery, incest, sodomy, lesbianism, bestiality, rape, and sexual abuse of children and youth. There are those who attempt to justify sodomy and lesbianism by a twisted and perverted interpretation of the Scriptures. One vain example of such is the attempt to paint David and Saul’s son, Jonathan, as sodomite lovers! But when one becomes honest and open in regard to the total revelation God has made available to us through His Holy Spirit, not one statement can be found where He places His stamp of approval on sodomite and lesbian activity or any of the other sexual violations previously mentioned!

God gave us a very powerful and blessed gift in our sexuality which can so easily be abused and perverted. But when experienced and enjoyed within the covenant of marriage as God originally intended, it is indeed the highest and the best. Unfortunately, a majority of Boy Scout leaders have failed to see this issue as God views it. The price to be paid for such a debacle has yet to take place! It is simply a further demonstration as to how it is in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” – who in the world pays any attention to God and what He has to say about human beings, their relationships, their behavior patterns, and their responsibilities during these days of mass confusion?

And so the question still remains -- how is it OK for young lads to be sodomite oriented and be accepted as members of a Boy Scout troop, but adults who are sodomite oriented cannot be Scout leaders? Explanation please!

They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. While claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes. For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. These people have exchanged God's truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! For this reason God allowed their shameful passions to control them. Their women have exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion. --- Romans 1:21-27 (God’s Word translation)

W PA Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church Sets Another Record!

The Western Pennylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church will meet at Grove City College in Grove City PA on the dates of Thursday, June 13th through Sunday, June 16th. All clergy are required to be in attendance. The service of ordination will be held on the morning of June 16th and will last approximately 3 hours. --- gleaned from information sent to W PA Conference delegates.

Well, they did it again! The first year they did it was back in 2005 and then again in 2006. They took a year off in 2007 and then did it again in 2008. They have had a number of years off now, but will do it again this year on June 16, 2013! What is this, you ask? All pastors of the United Methodist Church of the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference will be at the closing session of the conference at Grove City College on Father’s Day, June 16, 2013. That is the day of ordination and all pastors, including retired elders such as I, are expected to be present. It’s about a 3 hour session or so.

The first year they pulled this debacle I wrote to the bishop and as expected, there was no response. I also wrote the second year and again, no response.

Question: how many churches can you name, independent or denominational that have had their pastors off somewhere on something by way of some outside activity and not in their pulpits on Father’s Day? How many United Methodist Conferences can you name that have done this kind of thing that qualifies as a major foul-up of the first magnitude?

Yes, the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference stands in a class all by itself on this! All we have to do is come up with a name for that class – difficult to do, as there is probably not a word in the English language yet to really define such a thing!

The issue in this is whether or not Father’s Day is an important date on the church calendar and worthy of time and attention in a nation where the ranks of dead-beat dads are growing year by year – you know, those guys who think nothing of fathering a child and then take off to let the impregnated female to fend for herself – all those “Baby, I love you -- I’ll love you forever!” statements in the heat of passion now mean absolutely nothing! The Bible does have some things to say about fatherhood and responsibility that falls directly on the shoulders of fathers, does it not?

By scheduling a conference session on Father’s Day and requiring all clergy to be present (and absent from their pulpits) the conference administration is sending a message – Father’s Day isn’t worth the ink which was required to print the name on the date of June 16th on the 2013 calendar where the name appears.

Yes, yes, I know – the defense is likely that scheduling with the college was limited in time and those few days in June ending on June 16th were the only days available in which the conference could be held. There is absolutely no law that says that the conference has to be held over through Father’s Day and an ordination service can be scheduled at other times.

As a result of such a fiasco as this, hundreds of fathers will not get to have that special day with their families and hundreds of pastors will not have the opportunity to observe this very special day in their churches.

A few of us, and maybe just a very few, still hold that Father’s Day is on an equal level with Mother’s Day in terms of importance and each of those days should be observed in churches with an equal amount of zeal. In over half a century of ministry I never missed a Father’s Day service. Further, I have probably conducted more Father’s Day services than any other pastor in the W PA Annual Conference mainly due to the fact that I chose to turn down a station appointment and to stay with a circuit of small congregation churches. The total of those services which I conducted on Father’s Day comes to 139. This June 16th will make #140 although as an ordained elder, I am supposed to be in attendance at the session of the Western PA Annual Conference on June 16th. But I will be conducting a Father’s Day service at Gipsy Christian Church in Gipsy PA. No brag, just plain ordinary fact!

In one of those letters to the bishop I asked that if this situation were occurring on Mother’s Day, would the conference hold the session, do the ordination, and require attendance on part of all pastors? I then said, “We both know the answer to that, do we not?”

I rest my case!

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. [Ephesians 6:4 - Wesley NT]

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. [Colossians 3:21 - Wesley NT]