{"id":6792,"date":"2024-10-02T15:10:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T22:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2024-10-09T11:32:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T18:32:02","slug":"six-ideas-that-helped-my-queer-church-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/six-ideas-that-helped-my-queer-church-trial","title":{"rendered":"Six Ideas that Helped My Queer Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently met with students at the Vancouver School of Theology. Geoffrey Clark-Tosca invited me to talk about queer issues and my expulsion from the Church of the Nazarene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found the conversation meaningful, as I have when talking with other groups about this topic. I explained how I became fully affirming of queer people and shared the events that led to my trial and defrocking\/excommunication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides sharing the narrative, I pointed to six ideas that helped me as I faced my queer trial in July 2024. Here are those ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Organizations are organisms, not mathematics: they change.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a few people thought I should simply walk away from the Church of the Nazarene rather than try to seek change. \u201cThere are other groups you can join,\u201d they said. While this is true, I got the feeling that many thought the denomination\u2019s view on human sexuality was set in stone. It\u2019s unchanging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think organizations are evolving organisms rather than immutable mathematical equations. A look at the history of Christianity and the Church of the Nazarene reveals many changes. Thinking of denominations as organisms gives hope that positive change can occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We each have unique calls to love: my call is different from others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I tell my story and describe my fight for change in the Church of the Nazarene, I\u2019m quick to say, \u201cBut what I did isn\u2019t required of everyone.\u201d While I stayed and fought, I respect the choices of others to leave without fighting. And of those who fight more quietly from the inside. My way isn\u2019t the only way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have privileges and a voice that others do not. I have a support network of family, friends, and a lifelong supportive partner in my wife Cheryl. Others are less fortunate. My status as a significant theologian also gives me a platform of influence that others don\u2019t possess. I’m relatively financially stable. And so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How God calls me to work for full queer inclusion will differ from how God calls others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans should not be divided into neat binaries: \u201chuman nature\u201d is a myth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aristotle has greatly influenced Western views of what it means to be human. He thought each species had a particular essence, and all creatures in a species share that essence in common. In terms of humans, this essence is called \u201chuman nature.\u201d In terms of human sexuality, many have divided humans neatly into male and female, each with an attraction to the other. All else is \u201cunnatural\u201d because it transgresses their essence.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Darwin\u2019s evolutionary theory overturns Aristotle\u2019s views about essences and natures. And this is good news for queer theory. Rather than strict binaries and specified elements of a single human nature, queer theory rightly points to non-binaries, diversity, and no human nature shared by all humans. Fluidity abounds. It helps me to make sense of LGBTQ+ people, with their diverse orientations, identities, and sexual behaviors, if I remember humans are diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God doesn\u2019t cause or allow injustice: God\u2019s not to blame.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For several decades now, I\u2019ve been arguing that God doesn\u2019t possess the power to control creatures. Uncontrolling love is God\u2019s eternal nature, and it is the mode of divine providence in the world. God always loves everyone and everything, so God can\u2019t control anyone or anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believing that God can\u2019t control helps me face what I consider the injustice of my trial. It helps when I think about the injustices that queer people face. I don\u2019t have to believe God causes or even allows unnecessary suffering, as if God had the power to prevent it. Or as if it’s part of some plan. Instead, the uncontrolling God of love influences and consoles, but cannot control. That\u2019s good news for all of us! (I explain this idea in several books, but see The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence<\/em>.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than settled, the future is open; it will be decided by God, me, and creation in collaboration.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the notion that institutions are organisms is the notion that these organisms are not predetermined. Instead, they live moment by moment, moving into an open and yet-to-be-decided future. Rather than outside time, God also lives moment by moment, influencing creation and being influenced by it. Both God and creatures are experiencers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believing that I move with God and creation into an open future provides ground for hope. Instead of thinking the outcomes of life and my trial were settled in advance, I think many outcomes are possible. Some are more likely than others, of course. But our actions make a real difference to what happens in the present, and we influence how the future will be. (I explain this in God After Deconstruction<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We make a difference to God\u2019s project of love: our influence extends beyond death.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was handed charges in the summer of 2023 and told I\u2019d face a trial, I suspected the verdict would mean I\u2019d lose my ministerial credentials. It wasn’t pre-determined, but it was likely. Although the future is open and there were many possibilities, I\u2019d seen how other Nazarenes (like Dee Kelly) were treated. I was publically and repeatedly advocating for change in the denomination’s statement on human sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My belief that God is affected, active, and everlasting means that what I do influences God and creation. And my actions continue to exert influence after I die, because God takes what I do into the everlasting divine life. This is called \u201cobjective immortality\u201d in some circles, and \u201ccontributionism\u201d in others. We can contribute to God\u2019s agenda of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theology matters. The recent trial and events leading to it confirm this. I would have acted differently if I didn’t believe the ideas above. Open and relational theology makes a difference!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently met with students at the Vancouver School of Theology. Geoffrey Clark-Tosca invited me to talk about queer issues and my expulsion from the Church of the Nazarene. I found the conversation meaningful, as I have when talking with other groups about this topic. I explained how I became fully affirming of queer people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7402,7403,7404,7405,7406,7407],"yst_prominent_words":[1235,1268,1269,1399,1840,1922,2301,2520,3104,5330,5388,5684,6120,6559],"class_list":["post-6792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-postmodern_philosophy_theology_and_culture","tag-trial","tag-human-nature","tag-contributionism","tag-objective-immortality","tag-institutions","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6792"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}