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Methodists Vote to Install Obese Bishop
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – In a highly controversial vote that may divide the denomination, the Free Methodist Church of North America voted today to install Dr. Jack Harvey, an openly obese man, as the bishop of the western conference of the church. Harvey is the first admitted obese person to have been installed as a bishop in the FM Church. The vote, which came after several hours of intense debate at the annual Free Methodist General Conference, fell in Harvey's favor by a margin of 421-385, according to a report in the Holy Observer...
Harvey, who at six feet tall tips the scales at 389 pounds, declined to stir the controversy further, offering only a succinct statement at the press conference following the vote. “I’d like to thank my supporters for their confidence in my depth of faith and servant’s heart. And I’d like to extend an olive branch to the thin community and let them know I’m their bishop, too. I will work tirelessly to oversee the western conference and care for our wonderful pastors, regardless of their race, gender, or body mass. Thank you.” Harvey refused to answer questions from the press, noting with a chuckle that he had to get home in time for dinner with his family.
Opponents of the decision turn to the Bible for support. Roger Greenwood, president of Frees Against Gluttony, an internal group organized to oppose Harvey’s election, says the group cites “no less than sixty direct references to the avoidance of gluttony and the type of binging so commonly practiced within the obese community.” Such passages include Philippians 3:18-19, which Greenwood claims describes obese persons as “enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.” Greenwood also referred to the famous passage in 1 Corinthians that describes the body as a temple: “That passage is obviously about smoking, but we think it also applies to one’s body weight. What kind of Christian would dump two or three cheeseburgers a day into a temple of the Holy Spirit?”
Greenwood also announced the launch of his organization’s Web site, http://www.godhatesfat.com. The site will be an Internet rallying point for opponents of obesity, with a schedule of public protests, statements about obesity within Christianity, and a laundry list of scriptural support for the anti-fat view.
This sentiment was echoed across the nation, with protests organized in several major cities. One such demonstration in New York City drew nearly 80 people to the steps of the Brooklyn Free Methodist Church. Protestors held signs bearing slogans such as “God hates fat” and “Dr. Atkins, not Dr. Harvey.” Julio Ramirez, the organizer of the Brooklyn protest, articulated the sentiment on the minds of many Free Methodists across the nation: “It was only a matter of time. First the airlines gave the gluttons two seats for the price of one. Then it was the movie theatres. Now they’re electing them to the highest office of our church. We won’t stand by and let our children see this kind of lifestyle glorified within the church.”
Indeed, the matter of schism seems to be a question of when, not if. In an expected counter motion, thirty-five churches in the western region refused to acknowledge the headship of Bishop Harvey, promising to pursue affiliation with the Midwestern conference. Several other churches declined to participate in that motion, opting instead to seek affiliation with another denomination altogether. It is not yet known how many individual churches will sever ties with the FM church, but some leaders estimate the number to be as high as twenty.
The vote also set in motion an international response. Three bishops of Free Methodist regions in Africa—Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Rwanda—have already moved to condemn the North American church, declaring any church supportive of the decision to be “apostate, and fully outside the Free Methodist community.” The African regions have begun plans to send missionaries to North America, beginning with major cities and later moving into rural areas, in hopes of reclaiming the continent for the true tenets of Free Methodism.
It remains to be seen how far-reaching the response to this decision will be. The swiftness and intensity of the response from within the Free Methodist community indicates that many were ready for this decision, waiting for the right time to submit their arguments to the national and global debate. Church experts anticipate the decision will open the floodgates to similar controversy within other Holiness denominations.
This post has been viewed 1442 times and was added on August 25, 2006 by Todd Rhoades. Filed under: Miscellaneous Church Leadership Humor Share this post with a friend right now! View reactions to this post at other blogs... You can really help us out by subscribing to our free RSS feed with your favorite feed reader, or here at Bloglines. Also, you can add us to your favorites at Technorati.
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I'm Todd Rhoades... the MMI guy. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the founder and developer of a website named ChurchStaffing.com.
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Post Your Comments:How do you have a secretly obese man? I am fairly chunky and it’s out in open p[retty much all the time.
My diet has been going well, I’ve lost 25 pounds so far. It has been a very stressfull and difficult week, so I decieded to sit down and reward myself. As I drink my sugar filled soft drink, and munch on a candybar I will spend some time on MMI. Where is the humor today? BTW, where did you get my picture?
I wish this site (Holy Observer) was still active. I loved it when they were going strong!
Brian
Greenwood appears to be taking on the role of the Holy Spirit. It’s not Greenwood’s job to convict others of their sin. While the bishop’s weight is certainly an area of concern, it is not our job to judge him. The bishop is probably already paying for his obesity through numerous health problems that accompany such a condition. Will his obesity continue to be an issue? Absolutely, but he is just on of many ministers around the world that have weight issues. Hopefully with some time, he will be able to shed some of those pounds just for his own health.
Simon,
You may not be aware that the site this is taken from is a Christian parody site, and the article is simply a joke.
Brian
STUPID FUNNY!!! Apparently most of your readers have lost their ability to recognize fine parody.
Sorry, I guess I’m just stupid. :o)
I’m glad to to know that this is just a parody. I was getting ready to say, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
I guess I will weigh in on this one. Being a person of mass I found it very funny. Don’t worry Simon I too was almost taken in.
Actually, though I’m sure that some overweight folks will take offense at this recycled(3 year old) article, there is a truly fine question that I am forced to consider: what sins are forgivable and what sins are unforgivable? Despite the pitch from the pulpit, most church goers today still consider some offenses untenable and worthy of eternal judgment, and some denominations and congregations have there list of acceptable/unacceptable offenses in order to make their membership lists. I know that someone is going to pitch in and say that all sins are forgivable, and that the arms of Jesus are open to all who sincerely confess him as redeemer, but I also know that most “believers” take silent issue with some offenses. Perhaps they feel that these are best dealt with by man’s judgment so that God doesn’t need to be troubled with them. Or perhaps they would rather rewrite the rules in favor of their own system. Nevertheless, humor and parody are excellent tools, particularly when they produce the inevitable taking of offense on the part of those easily offended. Jesus liked it.
I’m actually not positive that all sins are the same. I’m not sure the Bible even remotely supports that. In any case, the article was pretty good satire, especially in light of some of the discussion here a couple weeks ago.
I wish that THO would come back, though…
Actually I found this article to be offensive once I found out it was a joke. I am hoping the butt of this joke was not a real person. The reason I did not find this humorous is because it could very easily have been true. Too often the church judges people for what they look like, how much money they don’t make and a myriad of other criteria. Yes, gluttony would be a concern but we need to remember that ALL sin is offensive to God, no matter how small and any sin can keep us out of heaven ... James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all.”
However, other scriptures seem to indicate that there are sins that will reap greater consequences. Consider Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” If you study the New Testament you will find that there will be rewards for the righteous and, though I think consequences would be a better word, rewards/penalties for the unrighteous. Unfortunately, this scripture is often used by some to indicate that you need to work your way into heaven ...
David,
I actually am not so sure that the Bible says all sins are equal, however, your Matt 16:27 quote, which talks about rewarding men according to their works, doesn’t prove your point about “penalties” I think. If you compare this article to what happened when the Episcopal Church installed an openly gay bishop, I think you’ll see the writer’s point, which as funny as I think the story is, I find incorrect.
Hello all, thanks for the interesting discussion of this article and for your kind words about the site. As a writer and co-founder of The Holy Observer, I wish it were still going too, but it just became too much work to maintain, particularly for the one of us (not me) who had to do all the web design. Thankfully, we were able to put up a lot of content in the short time we were publishing, and some of it might even still be funny.
Perhaps I can elucidate my point in writing this article. It wasn’t so much to say that all sins are equal as to encourage people to think about the way they judge others for certain sins more than for others. Of course, at the time, the Episcopal church had just voted to install an openly gay bishop, and that provided a nice starting point for the article repeated above. But having grown up in the holiness tradition (a tradition for which I still have some affection), the image in my mind as I wrote was always of a grossly overweight pastor pounding the pulpit about such topics as the use of tobacco or alcohol. Of course, the citation of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ("your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit") always accompanied such ranting. Aside from being a clear misapplication of the purpose of that passage, this type of hermeneutic struck me as ironic: that someone being so abusive to his body could do this with a straight face seemed, well, laughable.
And I suppose I was also trying to articulate my sadness at the church’s treatment of the gay community and persons of homosexual orientation. Without trying to start a debate, I will simply say that even those who hold the most conservative possible view on the sinfulness of homosexuality must obey the law of love when interacting with others. We Christians have failed miserably at this, even when we’ve been very quick to overlook other patterns of sinfulness in our communities. Again, my purpose was not to equate obesity with homosexuality on any plane of moral equivalence, but to help us all (myself included) stop and think about whether we really do “judge not, lest [we] be judged.”
Again, thanks for reading, and I’ll check back in to see if the discussion continues! Grace and peace to all of you.
Scott
Actually, there is one sin greater than all - blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This one, according to the Bible, is the only unforgivable sin. I still believe that God views all sins as relatively equal. Whether we steal a paper clip or commit adultery, any offense can condemn us to hell. But thankfully we have someone who can intercede for us and help us with repentance - God’s own son, Jesus Christ.
David, Not to start a contorversy on the unforgiveable sin, but I believe the only unforgiveable sin is when someone totally and completely turns their back on God. I have yet to find a credible biblical definition of what exactly blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is, I believe turning your back on God may qualify though.
I’m new to this site here, and was not aware of this article, it is alarming, and we forget it is God that is the judge, though we are to live by example, however I am a Minister in the Free Methodist Denomination, and have grown up in all my life, and am not aware of any churches pulling out. The thought of others coming to us to minister is a good thing, we have gone to the side, ministry is all about providing good entertainment now, what pleases we do and give, where is the sacrifice, the love, the oportunity to make a difference in one’s life, Forgive me for being ignorant, I don’t mean to be, However, how can any one call them selves a Christian, and bring judgment upon others when we as individuals face it daily before God’s sight., Make a difference in one’s life, if the obesedy is a problem, then encourage that person. don’t condemn them, God doesn’t!
Scott,
Thank you for your response, You validated what I thought the article spoke to. But I am baffled by some of the dopey “parallels” of a few of the respondents.
Thanx again, bill
It seems to me that this article is trying to make a joke about churches that are ordaining other openly sinful ministers and I think that isn’t funny.
Once again, just to make it clear, the article is a joke, taken from a satire site. Do not take it seriously.
And SJ Austin, I will be waiting with baited breath for the site to come active again. Although I have never known what baited breath really is…
Brian
I know it is a joke - that was my point. I don’t think it is a funny topic. The issue of obesity isn’t even funny. But the article seems to be trying to make another serious point about churches ordaining people with certain lifestlyes that may actually be sin. The article IMO is an obvious take off of the ordination of homosexuals issue. I am not upset or offended, I just think we should joke about certain things that some people really struggle with and obesity is one.
So…
Do you know who was the fattest person in the Bible?
The woman of Samaria. (some area?)
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