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Dr. Denny Wayman

dwayman@fmcsb.org

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THIS ONLINE DISCUSSION IS PROVIDED BY THE STUDY COMMISSION ON DOCTRINE – SCOD. In the life of the church there are three levels of authoritative documents. Within the Free Methodist Church we define the three levels in this way: First Level is the BOOK OF DISCIPLINE: Official documents approved by the delegates at the General Conference. Second Level is the STUDY COMMISSION ON DOCTRINE: Guidance provided to the church by those assigned the task. These are not personal opinions, but are vetted by scholars who have various expertise. Though not binding on the church, they are meant to be helpful scholarly works. Third Level is this FREE METHODIST CONVERSATIONS. This online discussion is where various individuals express their own opinions about a variety of issues. These are not authoritative, nor are they necessarily meant as guidance, but God may use them to do so. There are SCOD documents on this site and the members of the SCOD will be participants. We are inviting the entire church to join the discussion. Our intention is not to limit discussion but to elevate it by assuring that God’s love and respect is always expressed. We will therefore post those comments which further our mutual understanding and assure that every person is being treated with dignity even when disagreement is being voiced. Specifically: 1. The SCOD encourages respectful, intelligent and impassioned discussion and debate. 2. The SCOD encourages a Wesleyan method of looking at the topic from a Scriptural perspective as well as that of Reason, Tradition and Experience. We recognize the Revelation of God in Scripture is our primary source of truth, with Reason, Tradition and Experience serving as supportive resources. 3. Any personal attack will keep the entire comment from being posted. This includes not only attacking others within this SCOD conversation but anyone within the larger secular or Christian world. 4. Any libelous, defamatory, profane, vulgar, threatening, harassing abusive, hateful, racially or ethnically objectionable comments will not be posted. 5. Any invasion of another’s privacy or any post that emulates or pretends to be someone else will not be posted. 6. This online conversation is not to be used to solicit or advertise personal blogs. 12. The SCOD, in our sole discretion, retains the right to remove individual posts or to revoke the access privileges of anyone who we believe has violated any of these standards. For more informal conversations with Free Methodists: LIGHT AND LIFE CONVERSATIONS – Facebook page LIGHT AND LIFE MAGAZINE – Facebook page – Online Issues FM RADIO – Facebook page or iTune episodes If there are any questions contact our moderator, Dr. Denny Wayman: dwayman@fmcsb.org.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND REAL RELATIONSHIP

July 23, 2023 By dwayman

As the conversation about the benefits and dangers of Artificial Intelligence occurs within our academic, business and political cultures, Dr. Sam Wells, Vicar of St. Martin in the Fields, London, brings the Christian church into this larger conversation.  Preached on July 16, 2023, Pastor Wells begins:

Reading for address: Romans 8: 1-11

“Earlier this year, the CEOs of the leading global tech research organisations announced their recommendation that ‘Mitigating the risk of extinction from artificial intelligence should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.’ This statement marked a parting of the ways.

Up until this year there’d been two conversations about artificial intelligence. The dominant one was one of promise: it was about how artificial intelligence was coming to be used in more and more ways that both took over the roles performed by human beings, resulting in less burdensome work and more leisure, and offered to improve the results of human investigation. The quieter conversation was one of threat: it was about how AI could jeopardise human existence, either by becoming as superior to humans as humans are to gorillas, or by being so set on achieving its goal it stopped at nothing to obliterate humankind. What the tech CEOs are now saying is that the conversation about benign promise has been superseded by the conversation about looming threat. So it’s time for some serious consideration of AI and of how church and world should respond to it.

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FULLER’S BIBLICAL SUPPORT FOR WOMEN IN MINISTRY

June 13, 2023 By dwayman

David M. Scholer

As an historically more reformed seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary has supported the equal calling of Women in Ministry since 1966.  In this positional statement Professor David. M. Scholer provides an extensive biblical study on this support.  Click here for the entire article.

Women in Ministry

In the following article, we present Fuller Seminary’s position on women in ministry, as described and biblically supported by the late Professor of New Testament David M. Scholer.

An Introduction

Women have contributed much to the ministry of the Church throughout its history. However, their role in this area has never been free from controversy. Today, most church bodies are discussing the place of women in their ministries. Crucial to these discussions for many of us are the matters of faithful biblical interpretation…

The Basis in Creation

First, man (‘adam), a generic term meaning the “human person,” is created in God’s very own image (Genesis 1:26–27; 5:1–2). This creation in God’s image includes the identification of persons as male and female. This mutuality of women and men carries no suggestion of male headship or female submission.

Second, this mutuality is confirmed by the fact that both the man and the woman together, without distinction, are charged with responsibility for all of God’s creation (Genesis 1:26, 28). This equal partnership between man and woman is also present in the retelling of the creation story in Genesis 2.

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FULL IMPLICATIONS OF BEING PRO-LIFE

May 31, 2023 By dwayman

Rev. David Wisener, Redeemer Free Methodist Church

I’m concerned pro-life Christians aren’t being ethically comprehensive. We need to reflect a coherent ethic that does justice to the value of all human life. We need to both recognize how wide- ranging the issues are surrounding the protection of life and be more precise with how we define the stances we choose to take.

A prime example for more precision is The Book of Discipline’s statement regarding abortion: “The intentional abortion of a person’s life, from conception on, must be judged to be a violation of God’s command, ‘You shall not commit murder,’ except when extreme circumstances require the termination of a pregnancy to save the life of the pregnant woman.”

The statement implicitly assumes all instances of terminating a human embryo occur within a woman’s body, but that is not the case. What of embryos that are created as part of invitro fertilization? In this process, several are created and frozen until a couple decides what they want to do with them: one or more are selected to be implanted to carry to term, but what about the others? The only options available are for the couple to either donate them to other couples; donate them for scientific use; dispose of them; or keep them frozen.

Yet, if we are going to use the same ethical logic from The Book of Discipline stated above, unless a couple donates their remaining embryos to other couples,

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A CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS

May 26, 2023 By dwayman

Rev. Dr. Keith Cowart

Beyond These Walls Conference (ILI)

The Woodlands: Houston, Texas

April 2023

Dr. Keith Coward is a candidate for bishop.  To see his introduction click here.  To hear his interview click here.

 

A Church Without Walls video click here.

 

Speaking of Jews and Gentiles, the Apostle Paul declares in Ephesians 2:14:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…

When I was 6 years old my parents made a decision that would shape my life in ways I never could have imagined. They decided to send me to the newly integrated public school instead of the brand new private school that most of my friends would be attending. As a result, I was one of the first in our county to attend twelve years in a fully integrated school. Most of my new friends were black. We went to class together. We were in the same clubs. We played sports together. That’s me circled in red – the kid with the great hair. (The Lord gives and the Lord takes away!) Now, there were some interesting policies in our school,

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

May 23, 2023 By dwayman

“A Surgeon General’s Advisory is a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.”

More research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media; however, the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents. We must acknowledge the growing body of research about potential harms, increase our collective understanding of the risks associated with social media use, and urgently take action to create safe and healthy digital environments that minimize harm and safeguard children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being during critical stages of development.

The influence of social media on youth mental health is shaped by many complex factors, including, but not limited to, the amount of time children and adolescents spend on platforms, the type of content they consume or are otherwise exposed to, the activities and interactions social media affords, and the degree to which it disrupts activities that are essential for health like sleep and physical activity.6 Importantly, different children and adolescents are affected by social media in different ways,

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