It's come to this: SC church refuses straight weddings until same-sex unions are recognized

By Correctamundo

** HYPOCRISY ALERT - HYPOCRISY ALERT - HYPOCRISY ALERT **

This kind of stuff never ceases to amaze me. You have a church in SC that is refusing to perform what used to be called back in the day 'weddings' between what you would expect a bride and groom to be - a man and woman - until gay unions are recognized.  

Leaders of a United Methodist congregation in Winston-Salem, N.C., have decided not to hold weddings in the church building until the denomination lifts its ban on same-sex marriage.

Green Street Church announced publicly March 17 that its 18-member leadership council also has asked its pastors to refrain from signing marriage licenses until the State of North Carolina recognizes same-sex marriage.

“I do not see it as an act of exclusion for straight couples, but an invitation for all people to be in solidarity with those who are excluded,” said the Rev. Kelly P. Carpenter, the church’s senior pastor, in a pastoral letter. “Some may think it to be a sacrifice made by straight couples, but I think a better way to see it is the creation of a level playing field in one sacred space.”

So not allowing a normal couple to marry UNLESS your demands are met isn't considered 'exclusionary'? How are they being included, exactly, when you won't marry them, not based on anything illegal but simply because you want to include a lifestyle that is an affront to the God that you claim to serve and will pout in the corner until you get your way? Yeah, you went there so let me join you.

Here's your public statement [PDF] that you issued on 10 March.

The Marriage Covenant between two people is a ministry of the church. Couples making a commitment to one another need a supportive community of faith to sustain and uphold them so as to grow in faith and love. Weddings are the occasion for covenant making, a time to seek God's blessing on their commitment to one another. When a couple chooses to be married in the church, they should also be conscious that they are making a declaration of their relationship as a new ministry for the congregation and the world. At Green Street Church, we claim the committed same-sex relationships as no less sacred in their ministry to us and the community.

1) The God that you serve has something to say about marriage: 

Gen 2:18, 21-24

The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him'...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
If God had intended the human race to be fulfilled through both heterosexual and homosexual marriage, He would have designed our bodies to allow reproduction through both means and made both means of sexual intercourse healthy and natural.

Homosexuality as an immoral and unnatural sin. Leviticus 18:22 identifies homosexual sex as an abomination, a detestable sin. Romans 1:26-27 declares homosexual desires and actions to be shameful, unnatural, lustful, and indecent.

2) Your claim that same-sex marriages are no less sacred is an abomination and an affront to God. The problem with your church is that you're trying to update Biblical principles to fit a world-view. The Bible warns of false prophets:

Matt 7: 15, 20

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

2 Tim 4: 3-4

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

There's also a warning to those who would pervert the perfect Word of God by adding or subtracting from it - meaning, willfully rejecting what was revealed and not acting in obedience to it. THIS IS WHAT YOUR CHURCH IS GUILTY OF.

Rev 22:18-19

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

At some point, Christians have to draw a line in the sand. To me, this church is not a 'fellow Christian' of mine. They are perverting God's word to be PC. They are denying heterosexual couples the right to be married, before God, in a relationship which God blesses - one between a man and a woman - for the sake of being all-inclusive, all-loving, and a one-size-fits-all doctrine. 

I have no problem with homosexuals - but by the grace of God go I. I am a sinner - but saved by grace. And every sinner has a chance to come to repentance. God can change you from the inside out - I've seen it, I've experienced it. What I have a problem with is so-called 'Christian' churches bending over backwards to accept a lifestyle that is completely in direct opposition to what the Bible teaches, which they claim is their authority to begin with.  I don't like being lumped into the same category as these types of lawless 'Christians' that really have nothing in common with Christ. 

What's next for you, Green Street Church? Will you be endorsing abortion? And what will be your biblical backing be on that issue? You already ordain gay clergy, along with The Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is such a slap in the face to God.

And this is your defining statement from your public statement PDF:

We affirm our unity in Jesus Christ while acknowledging differences in applying our faith in different cultural contexts as we live out the gospel.Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance, and support that enables all persons to participate in the life of the Church, the community and the world, therefore, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination. The services of worship of every local church of the United Methodist Church shall be open to all persons.

The mark of an inclusive society is one which all persons are open, welcoming, fully accepting and supportive of all other persons, enabling them to participate fully in the life of the church, the community, and world. A further mark of inclusiveness is the setting of church activities in facilities accessible to persons with disabilities.So tell me - will you be open to allowing a known, registered sexual predator run your nursery during church? How about a 5-time convicted bank felon overseeing your finances? Or a known rapist counseling 15-year-old girls? You see, God also gave us a brain to discern what is right and what is wrong. Discrimination is a must in some circumstances. While God loves His creation, he also has expectations that His Word will be obeyed and upheld as a beacon. And you have chosen to hide it under a rock. Shame on you for being ashamed of the Christ that saved you in the name of inclusiveness and cultural expediency.