TW has inherited a purge mentality from his father. That coupled with a Christ as fully human as only as our model, the 8 million he boasts of with soon be less that 144,000. The Great Disapointment will end as a whimper. rightly so. tom Z
4 Likes
Its really shocking that many here trump the unions prerogative to ordain as if that was all there was to it.
It seems too adult a puzzle that while they ordain they do not establish the criteria for ordination.
Just like a nominating committee does not decide how the church is organized. They simply fill positions as needed according to already long established criteria.
Effectively they do. Each union operates as determined by its own constitution, and a union constitution can only be changed by the union constituents in session. A union constitution can stipulate rules for ordination that differ from those of the world church, should the constituents decide to adopt such rules.
GC working policy contains a model constitution for unions, but this is nothing more than the GC’s wish list about how they would like unions to behave. It is for the union constituents to either accept or reject the recommendations of the GC, on any matters that fall within the unions’ jurisdiction.
There is a mechanism to deal with unions whose behavior materially departs from that regarded as acceptable by the wider Adventist community. It is a long and convoluted process, and culminates with a decision by the GC in session, to disband the union. Not even Ted Wilson would be stupid enough to attempt this course of action over women’s ordination. This would finally and irrevocably split the church in two, because it wouldn’t be just one union being disbanded - it would be 6 or 7, and these would include some of the most significant financial supporters of the world church.
3 Likes
A union constitution must also contain the phrase that they will operate in accordance with the world church. Just as the conferences and church’s must have the same wording.
Such phrasing as this from a few constitutions I have dealt with.
- "Each Conference/church is required to conform to the tenets of faith and the general church policy of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination."
This is also the problem the Southern Cali conference had/has with its constitution. Its own lawyer said the document was at odds with itself when they changed it to allow for WO but didn’t even try and change the wording where it said they would be in agreement with the world church tenets of faith and the general church policy of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.
So, I take it you do not believe in civil disobedience or standing up to discriminating policies when they conflict with morality. You would never have challenged segregation laws, participated in civil disobedience to protest those unjust laws nor supported those who did for moral reasons?
3 Likes
You are straining at a gnat.
Not at all. The Civil Rights movement never would have happened had not individuals “broken” policy, stood up alone, and like Irene Morgan (an Adventist) and Rosa Parks, individually committed civil disobedience. The two women’s actions alone changed history.
Adventists who support ending discrimination against women and defying policies that are immoral are following in their footsteps.
4 Likes