To a Wesleyan believer, whether left or right, holy living is not optional. Perfect love casts out sin, but if we don\u2019t know how to define sin, what is being cast out? What are we being saved from? And what is the empowering grace of God healing?<\/p>\n
In the name of this newer vision of holiness, some have decided that they are no longer bound by the Discipline or the Judicial Council. This is schism. Let\u2019s not mince words.<\/p>\n
Some have turned away from their ordination vows. They\u2019re tired of the battle. I get it. So am I. But they have undermined the truth-telling ability of the Church, torn our common covenant, and brought into question their own ability to tell the truth.<\/p>\n
Some are calling for a \u201clocal option.\u201d This is a denial of Methodism itself, not only structurally as a connectional body, but a denial of holiness, that relativizes the Christian life based on geography or local interests.<\/p>\n
Wesley flatly denied this approach in his sermon \u201cCatholic Spirit.\u201d Leeway was to be given for opinions and manner of worship, but not to basic questions of how a Christian is to live. He writes against those who \u201care for jumbling all opinions together,\u201d and writes, \u201cyou have quite missed your way: you know not where you are.\u201d He describes an indifference to opinions as \u201ca great curse, not a blessing; an irreconcilable enemy, not a friend, to true catholicism.\u201d<\/p>\n