I was watching one of Rev. Troy Perry's sermons online when another video caught my eye. It was called Queering Christ and the subtitle included the words "Metropolitan Community Cult". The video was published by Battling Christian and is also linked to a blog site (Journal of a Battling Christian). Erik, the man behind Battling Christian admits to struggling with sexuality himself. He says, interestingly in the past tense, "At the time I was going to either deny my faith and pursue homosexuality, attempt to accommodate my faith to meet my desires or end my life". This is a struggle. I and many other gay Christians know what he is going through.
Erik has studied gay theology (the study of what the Bible says on same-sex relationships). He concluded that people who say a man can have a relationship with Jesus and another man, are wrong. That's fair enough. I have no issue with people who (having thought it through) disagree with same-sex relationships. But Erik goes one step further and asserts that the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) is a cult. Why?
Erik says that there are 3 things cults have in common.
- They claim a link to the Biblical Jesus
- They twist Scripture
- They have secret beliefs
Erik claims that MCC meets these criteria and therefore is a cult. Really?
Like Erik I come from a conservative Evangelical background. I have not abandoned that - I still think of myself in those terms. I was brought up in a Presbyterian Church (Erik's denomination) but switched to the Baptist Church over the issue of baptising babies. Later I started attending an MCC, and now MCC is my main Church though I still frequently go to a Baptist Church. So I know something of what MCC believes, and how this compares to other mainstream Christian Churches. So I would like to challenge Erik's view that MCC is a cult. I would also like to challenge his criteria for a cult as I think he is missing one important factor - which most people recognise as being "cultish". Specifically to "avoid independent thinking" (to borrow the Jehovah's Witnesses terminology). He also discusses MCC in the same breath as JW's and Mormons so I will be making references to them as well (see also other posts on my blog about them)
His first criteria is only half true. Not only do cults claim a link to the Jesus of the Bible, so do all legitimate Christian Churches. So we can ask if a Church is Trinitarian, does it accept Jesus claims to be the one true God, equal to the Father and Holy Spirit? MCC's statement of faith says, "Christianity is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and is the religion set forth in the Scriptures... We believe in In one triune God, omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, of one substance and of three persons: God, our Parent-Creator; Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, God in flesh, human; and the Holy Spirit, God as our Sustainer". So, MCC maintains the same view of Jesus as Christians have held for 2,000 years.
Secondly he says that cults twist Scripture. I agree with that one, but this raises the question - how do we know who is twisting Scripture? It is telling that the JW's made their own version of the Bible, and the Mormons read the Bible through "Modern Scripture" - and both through what their organisations teach. If a JW or Mormon sees a verse, he is told what it means. "Independent thinking" is discouraged. MCC does not do this. Our Churches have Christians from a variety of backgrounds in our congregations. We hold varying beliefs on issues like creation/evolution, the end of the world etc. But on the core doctrines (Jesus, God, the Bible, salvation by grace through faith, etc) we agree. But we all hold to the Bible as our standard. MCC's statement of faith says, "the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, showing forth God to every person through the law and the prophets, and finally, completely and ultimately on earth in the being of Jesus Christ."
Differing opinions on side issues (divorce, women in ministry, same-sex relationships) do not mean a person has joined a cult. It is worth noting that the Church of Scotland (which is Presbyterian) has recently agreed that gay men currently in training can be ordained, and is considering opening this to all future ordinations as well. Has the Church of Scotland become a cult, too?
Finally Erik maintains that MCC must have secret beliefs. It's hard to argue with this one, since it's impossible to prove the non-existence of a non existent belief! All I can do is to give you my testimony, MCC is very up front about what it believes. Specifically that God loves us all, that he came here in the person of Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins so that we don't have to. Jesus died and rose again, and now intercedes for us before the Father. The Holy Spirit indwells all who trust Jesus for forgiveness. We try to follow God by seeking his will (through study of the Bible and through prayer). God calls us to a life of personal holiness, prayer and outreach. There are no "insider secret beliefs" in MCC.
Where MCC diverges (though many other Churches agree with this, and many Christians within Churches that officially don't also accept this) is that we not only believe that faithful monogamous relationships are fine (whether straight, gay, lesbian), we campaign for it. We also campaign for social justice across the board. We do reject much of what the gay community stands for in terms of promiscuity, just as we reject heterosexual promiscuity.
It is true that there are some liberal elements in MCC, but that is true of every Church. But for Erik to brand MCC a cult because he disagrees with what some people in MCC say is wrong. I would encourage Erik to cease slandering MCC, and to have an open honest dialogue about what the Bible says, because that is what matters. Churches make mistakes, people make mistakes, but we always need to go back to the Bible. It alone is our standard.
My final point is simple. I encountered the Holy Spirit in the Presbyterian Church and in the Baptist Church. The same Holy Spirit is active in the Metropolitan Community Church as well. How could that be so unless the people there are also the Body of Christ?
Image: MCC Logo, from Google Images, Logo (c) Metropolitan Community Church www.mccchurch.org
