Fellow Mennonites, Let Your Voice Be Heard

My Fellow Mennonites,

If you oppose the acceptance of practicing homosexuals in your congregations, now is the time to find your voice and stand firm against this latest surge. The 'radical hospitality' activists are not the only ones allowed to be vocal - speak your mind and let your pastors, your elders, and the entire Mennonite Church know that you affirm the definition of marriage as it is described in the Bible, and in the Confession of Faith. Keeping silent will only allow blatant sin to infiltrate our halls of worship.

As much as the 'radicals' would like to detach Jesus' message from the rest of the Bible, it simply can't be done without nullifying the validity of the entire book. Jesus' main message is that of love and forgiveness, but that should not be confused with accepting the ways of the world, especially when those ways are in direct contradiction with God's commandments. We are to treat all persons with love and respect, and without condemnation; but we are also to hold each other accountable for our actions, and in order to do so, we must also be able to identify that which is sinful.

The Bible is not a book that is meant to be changed depending on the culture reading it, and it does not make exceptions for sin simply because that sin has become accepted practice by the heathens in the secular world. As a heterosexual male, I have natural urges that, if followed, would be in direct contradiction with biblical teachings, yet they are perfectly acceptable in the modern secular world.

Is this where we are at in the Mennonite Church? Are we ready to accept any and all sexual activity as natural and acceptable to God? I, for one, am not - and I will let that be known to any and all who will hear it.