LETTER: Maybe church just needs to change its ways

I’m compelled to respond to Joyce Baughman’s recent letter to the editor titled “Anything goes in new Methodist Church.”

My father was a Lutheran pastor, but my career job required occasional moves and we joined whatever church was available. Our previous church (Lutheran) split apart over the issue of gay and lesbians and excluded that group of human beings. In the examples of Jesus’ life, he was very inclusive, not exclusive, so about 10 years ago we joined the Methodist Church. We received education and instruction upon joining the Methodist Church and what we were taught differs from Ms. Baughman’s belief. The Methodist Church is founded on the Wesleyan Quadrilateral belief and I quote some excerpts of our instructions:

“John Wesley used four different sources in coming to theological conclusions. These sources were first referred to as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral in 1964 by theologian/scholar Albert C. Outler in a collection of Wesley’s works edited by Outler entitled simply “John Wesley.” The four sources are: 1) Scripture, 2) Tradition, 3) Reason, 4) Experience. METHODOLOGY: Scripture refers to the inspired and sufficient written word of God, the 66 canonical books of the Bible. Upon this foundation church traditions are adopted which agree with the biblical text, and those which are inconsistent are discarded. Next, reason is received as a gift intrinsic to the image of god. Finally, with scripture, tradition and reason in place, human beings are prepared to experience the reality of God’s love. (http://www.mars-hill-forum.com/resources/ogcp.html).

Church custom changes over time. When I was a child my Lutheran church didn’t believe in playing cards, dancing, going to the movies, ladies wearing lipstick, drinking a beer, enjoying recreational activities on Sunday and a host of other “don’ts.” In my lifetime all of these restrictions have been eliminated, not necessarily by church doctrine or rules, but by a change in membership customs. Perhaps Ms Baughman’s church is experiencing the same changes which she finds objectionable. —Phil Iversen, Kalispell