Recently I published two articles on the negative state of the Methodist Church (UMC) given its movement toward inclusiveness (see details here and here). The topic resulted in a broad range of responses, most of which challenged the premise that compliance with the world was a bad thing. One of the more succinct, yet telling responses came from a reader, quoted as follows....
Good Lord. I feel like I just wasted 3 minutes of my life reading this. I'm a lifelong Methodist. I left the church about 5 years ago. My small town Methodist church, where I raised my daughters, left the UMC. I shall NEVER return to this, or any church. The reason? Because they DO NOT "comply" with MODERN TIMES> In 20 years churches will be nearly empty. IT IS A CULT. Period.
This individual is/was a "lifelong Methodist", angry that her church left the UMC denomination because its leadership believed the denomination was not maintaining its traditional views and, was instead, acquiescing to our current cultural norms. Her anger was that her church was not keeping up with the changing world around it. Note that her brief response also generalized to all churches, calling the institution a cult, and that its end as a viable entity is approaching.