Steve Sampson
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I read with interest the following in the News Tribune, "The United Methodist Church, America's second-largest Protestant denomination, faces a likely surge in defections and acts of defiance after delegates at a crucial conference voted Tuesday to strengthen the faith's divisive bans on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy." When the writer of this article uses the word "divisive," what does that mean to you? The only thing I use for faith and practice is the KJV Bible. The KJV Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is not an alternate lifestyle, you are not born that way, but it is a sin condemned by a Holy God.
John and Charles Westley, along with George Whitfield would be appalled by what the modern Methodist church has become. Ordaining women, and even the consideration of ordaining LBGTQ individuals as pastors, and the sanctioning of marriage of LBGTQ individuals. All of this is contrary to the teachings as set forth in the KJV Bible. There are many differences to various religions, but I kind of thought that "Christian" religions were built on the teachings of Holy Scripture? When Holy Scripture teaches that something is wrong, then why would a body of people disregard that teaching and say, "we have a better idea."
2 Timothy 4: 2, 3 and 4 states, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away from the truth, and shall be turned to fables." For many years we have seen several denominations turn away from the bases on which they were founded, in order to justify their own deviant life style and turn to those "fables."
We are seeing the second law of thermodynamics come to pass. Like everything else, we are seeing before our very eyes, things not getting better, but worse. The new car I bought deteriorates along with the new house we built. Things don't get better with time; they get worse. The old immorality is the new morality. Man does not and has not evolved into something better, we deteriorate over time. As we get older we don't get stronger, we get weaker.