tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post9036470597276446309..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: FaultlinesJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-60642491698405028152016-07-30T11:19:31.683-07:002016-07-30T11:19:31.683-07:00Thank you, Daniel and Nancy. The answer to your qu...Thank you, Daniel and Nancy. The answer to your question, Nancy, may partly depend on the quality of our prayer-based pastoral care for the many people who don't know how to answer -- and for those whose answer comes too quickly.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-55403992438713084822016-07-30T07:59:05.105-07:002016-07-30T07:59:05.105-07:00Thank you, Johan, for the clarity of your reflecti...Thank you, Johan, for the clarity of your reflections. I find them helpful in sorting through the swirling emotions following yearly meeting. I'm wondering now if, rather than the question, "Can we agree to disagree?", we might ask, "Can we agree to stay together through this dark period of not yet knowing God's leading for us?" <br /><br />I believe the testimony of the Scriptures that God delights to reveal divine mystery to us, including the mystery of God's will, as well as aspects of theology. But we really have no indication of a timeline for this revelation.<br /><br />At any rate (slow or fast), thank you for your thoughtful contributions.Nancy Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660294694426043259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-73790401511463064772016-07-29T06:41:58.545-07:002016-07-29T06:41:58.545-07:00Johan,
Thank you for a very lucid, moderate accou...Johan,<br /><br />Thank you for a very lucid, moderate account of this very controversial issue.<br /><br />You wrote, "West Hills' non-compliance is symptomatic of a faultline that runs through many churches..."<br /><br />To quote Huck Finn, "Ain't that the truth?"<br /><br />My wife and I were members of a meeting in California Yearly Meeting before it went through years of controversial disagreement with Friends United Meeting. When CYM officially supported nuclear weapons at our yearly meeting and our local meeting hired a fighter pilot for minister, we left the Friends. We became Mennnonites/Anabapists--me wrongly thinking that a change of denomination would help us find the true church. <br /><br />But then came the 'battle' within the Mennonites over same sexuality. At the time I was committed to the conservative view, saw the behind-scenes-politicking (as a leader, engaged in some of it myself), observed a facade and concern for unity rather than truth be the main focus. A few years later, I was a member of Pacific Yearly Meeting (the opposite from CYM), when it became clear that nontheism was becoming a center point! Etc.:-(<br /><br />Sorry for the longer comment, but I wanted to give a little backdrop to my response:<br />Based on my experience of 55 years in churches (including being youth minister, leader, Bible teacher, etc.), it would seem to me that there can be unity with minor points of disagreement, but on major points--theology, ethics, not. <br /><br />Look at the issues of slavery among Friends, of war, of the Holy Spirit's primary guidance versus a literal interpretation of Scripture. <br /><br />I say this, even though now I support same sexual marriage.Daniel Wilcoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05178375087492786696noreply@blogger.com