The Judicial Council then later affirmed its previous decision when annual conferences stepped out of line to define “practicing” beyond the Judicial Council’s interpretation. So each annual conference was allowed to define the term, much like the definitions of divorce and remarriage doctrine in the past. “In 1993, the Judicial Council reaffirmed in Decision 702 that the responsibility to define the phrase fell to the General Conference and/or the various annual conferences. Steinwert included some history in her 2009 doctoral thesis on the history of the homosexuality debate in the UMC. The case law on defining the word “practicing” goes back to its inclusion in the 1992 Book of Discipline. It turns out The UMC has a very unjust but nuanced definition of “practicing.” And the shifts of that definition over time should trouble anyone who cares about minority groups as we go down the wrong path in The United Methodist Church “Practicing” as an Act Is that what Confessing Movement understands “practicing” to mean? Behavior between two members of the same gender? What does that behavior look like? To be tempted or attracted is not a sin, but to embrace that temptation and act upon it, leads us into behavior that violates God’s will for us. The shake-your-head responses aside, then we get to the core contention: As well, the statement encourages Bishops to not uphold the Discipline, which I thought they were always against? Their statement is fascinating in that it blames the lack of inclusion on “delay tactics by opponents” and not their own culpability as it was their own executive director that helped shepherd it out of the Commission on A Way Forward process, though it was ultimately written by a secret group of bishops. In response, the Confessing Movement cried crocodile tears over the lack of the word “practicing” in the Traditional Plan. In the Discipline as it is now written and affirmed by the Judicial Council, it would seem that even celibate (“non-practicing”) gays and lesbians would be barred from ministry across the board. It was discovered that the Traditional Plan, in several places, lacked the word “ practicing” when it referred to gays and lesbians eligibility for clergy membership. In United Methodist polity, it seems it can be debated so many more. What does a single word mean? In Scripture, it can be debated eighteen different ways.
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