My View of the Open Letter

On April 5, 2009, several Mennonite pastors took it upon themselves to publish an open letter to Mennonite Church USA, and to congregations in general, regarding the issue of gays and lesbians within the church.

Here is the letter: An Open Letter to Mennonite Church USA

As an active member of the Mennonite Church, I see several fundamental issues with taking such a radically 'hospitable' stance on something that the Bible so clearly defined as a sinful and unnatural practice. To accept practicing homosexuals via 'Radical Hospitality', without acknowledging the need to turn away from their sinful desires, is to throw out Divine wisdom and adopt the wisdom of the world.

My view tends to fall more in line with that of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches: Homosexuality: A Firm Response

From John 8:1-11, we see the following passage about an adulterous woman:

¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

¹¹"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

In verse 11, Jesus says all that really needs to be said regarding this, or any other sin. Come in, accept Christ, and worship with us; but go and sin no more. If this 'Open Letter' implies that we should forget about the latter, then it presents fundamental contradictions to the Bible -- contradictions which I simply cannot accept.

I will be so bold as to predict that this letter, and those behind it, will lead to another split of the Mennonite Church. It may just be a small splinter group that branches off to follow this perverted idea of Christ's gospel, but it will be division none the less.