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The Church of the Nazarene has decided to expel a theologian and author from the denomination due to his advocacy to affirm same-sex marriage.
The Rev. Thomas Jay Oord of Nampa, Idaho, was found guilty by a Church of the Nazarene court on Saturday for advancing teachings that go against the biblically-based stances of the denomination.
Specifically, the church court took issue with a book that Oord co-authored with his bisexual daughter titled Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming.
While many church groups are caving to pressure from LGBTQ+ activists and tearing pages from their doctrinal statements---and the Bible---the Nazarenes chose to take a biblical stand this past Saturday.
Be informed, not misled.
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Not all Nazarenes agree with the church's decision.
“Oord is guilty of conduct unbecoming a minister and of teaching doctrines out of harmony with the doctrinal statement of the Church of the Nazarene,” read the decision, as quoted by the Roys Report.
“Oord has shown absolutely no repentance or willingness to submit to the authority of the church … his behavior exhibits a pattern of disregard and disrespect for authority.”
But not everyone agrees.
Samuel Powell, a retired theology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University and former dean of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry, told the Roys Report that his sentence was unprecedented.
“Defrocking was not unexpected, but expelling him from membership is harsh and vindictive,” Powell said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep people. There never has been an attempt to weed out members who don’t believe everything.”
I am not a Nazarene, but I know a good number of Christians who are, and I applaud the action the 2.5 million-member denomination has taken.
Samuel Powell reflects what's wrong with too many Christian denominations and a growing problem in "Christian" colleges and universities.
His comment, "We're doing everything we can to keep people," is revealing.
That's what the United Methodist Church, a number of Presbyterian churches, the Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church, and a list of others have been saying.
"We're doing everything we can to keep people" is a deception from the devil---it is not biblical, and it doesn't work. It is the gates of hell trying to prevail against the Lord's church.
The churches that are abandoning the clear teaching of the Bible regarding human sexuality and gender are not "keeping people." They're losing people by the thousands.
For his part, Oord posted a copy of the ruling on his blog, explaining in the post that “I’m now considered a heretic who has been defrocked and excommunicated.”
If he is propagating teaching that affirms anything other than the fact that God Himself created two genders---"male" and "female" not many genders, he is a heretic.
He is also a heretic if he is affirming same-sex unions as being "marriage." They are not.
God created the institution of marriage, and He defines marriage as a union between one male and one female. Any other arrangement is not marriage in the eyes of God, regardless of what the "government" or allies say.
I'm sorry that Oord's daughter Alexa claims she is bi-sexual. This would tear at the heart of any parent, but it does not give license to rewrite God's Word.
In its decision, the church court cited a book Oord wrote with his daughter Alexa Oord, Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming, in which they affirm gay sex, which the court found particularly egregious.
“Some LGBTQ behavior — including same-sex marriage — can promote well-being,” the Oords wrote. “It’s good and healthy; it represents the values of the Kingdom of God. The transformation God desires rarely if ever requires LGBTQ people to change their sexual orientation, identity, or loving behavior.”
The Church of the Nazarene holds that “the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is contrary to God’s will.” Oord’s trial, which took place in Boise, Id. last week, follows last year’s guilty verdict against Selden Kelley, then a San Diego Nazarene minister, who was also defrocked for some of the same reasons. Kelley, who pastored San Diego’s First Church of the Nazarene, advocated for dialogue on LGBTQ+ issues.
This is not a time for "dialog" about sin.
God bless the leadership in the Nazarene Church.
The denomination is declining in the U.S., with about 500,000 members in 4,600 churches.
The United Methodist Church, to which the Church of the Nazarene is theologically akin (both trace their origin to John Wesley), underwent a major split over LGBTQ+ inclusion in the past two years, losing 25% of its U.S. churches and more recently all its churches in the Ivory Coast of Africa. At its most recent conference, the UMC voted to repeal the denomination’s condemnation of homosexuality from its rulebook and allow LGBTQ+ people to be ordained and ministers in the denomination to marry same-sex couples.
I've written about the issues in the UMC several times in this column. And we've talked about it on our live radio program.
The biblical segment of the UMC has formed a new Methodist denomination that is committed to biblical teaching.
Clearly, the Nazarene Church has chosen a different path. May God bless them.
Takeaway
The Bible speaks to the issue of trying to revise God's Word.
Galatians 1:8,9:
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Romans 12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Be Informed. Be Faithful. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.