Petition Text: 20995-DI-NonDis-O

The lack of belief in The United Methodist Church's doctrinal standards is deepening. This lack of belief is seen in the rejection of the Scriptures as the authority in matters of faith and practice. The United Methodist Church does have doctrinal standards, and these doctrinal standards are found in The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church and are stated to include belief in and commitment to the scriptures as the authority in matters of faith and practice (Discipline, page 43, which states: "We share with many Christian communions a recognition of the authority of scripture in matters of faith..." and ¶ 67, Article IV, page 66). The Doctrinal Standards of The United Methodist Church states that "the Scriptures" means the books of the Old and New Testament (¶ 67, Article V, page 59) and calls these books, that is the Bible, canonical (¶ 67, Article V, page 59, 77) where canonical means: "the books which form the original and authoritative written rule of the faith and practice of the Christian church, i.e., the Old and New Testaments. The word canon is properly a `straight rod, a rule.' The word canon indicates the rule by which the contents of the Bible must be determined, and also an index of the constituent books" (the definition of canon comes from A Dictionary of the Bible by William Smith, page 105). The Discipline also calls the Bible the Word of God (page 77). And The Discipline states that The United Methodist Church believes that the Bible is the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine (page 77).

The Discipline also states that the rejection of the scriptures, that is, the Bible, as the authority in matters of faith is a rejection of the Doctrinal Standards of The United Methodist Church and places one in a situation where one can be tried for teaching that which is contrary to the doctrinal standards of The United Methodist Church (¶ 2623).

Therefore, we petition the General Conference to affirm its belief in and commitment to the Doctrinal Standards of The United Methodist Church and the Bible as the canonical rule of The United Methodist Church by directing every board and agency on the General Conference and annual conference level, all institutions of higher education related to The United Methodist Church to hold, propagate, and teach only those positions which are consistent with the Bible, the only canonical rule of the Doctrinal Standards of The United Methodist Church.

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Petition Text: 20995-DI-NonDis-O
1996 United Methodist General Conference