Letters to the Editor, The Wesleyan Christian Advocate
We United Methodists seem to have a hard time understanding our status as Gentile Christians. We are not under any law; instead our spirits strive with the Holy Spirit to become manifestations of the heart of Christ in all of our lives. Thus the Golden Rule is our solitary guide in dealing with other humans (as Jesus indicates in Matthew 7:12). Until we understand this our contentions are not intelligible.
Now a marriage is simply a special case of a monastery, somewhat like the brotherhood between Jesus and his disciples except that a marriage happens to be one man and one woman. But it might as well be five men and seven woman, or whatever; the point being that any adults may enter into a life-long commitment of total sharing of wealth and talents in Christ, and therefore deserve the blessing of the church.
With regard to sexual conduct in any monastery, as it always has been with regard to the special case of marriage, the church must insist upon no sexual relations outside of the commitment. This does not mean that the members must have sex with each other, but merely that they cannot with anyone else.
Now for the sake of the Jewish Christians, i.e., those who think that there is some law in addition to the Golden Rule (see Galatians!), the sexual conduct by members of any monastery (including therefore also a marriage) are not to be discussed publicly.
It is as simple as that.
Yours in Christ
Philip McPherson Rudisill
Member of St. Mark UMC, Atlanta
To contact the author, please e-mail: pmr**kantwesley.com (note: the ** must be replaced by @)