Well, the Episcopal church has gone and done it. Well, not really. They issued a statement in repair the rift between them and the wider Anglican church, but it didn't really help. (For those who don't know, the Episcopals ordained a gay bishop, and are blessing gay marriages. For obvious reasons, the Anglican church is just a tab bit upset about this.)
They promised to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." Huh? They're going to fix things by not doing something? Thats never been good enough, for any relationship. "I promise not to do it again" doesn't address the deeper issues that bring division.
In the Old Testament, God gave the Law to prove to the people of Israel that they couldn't be good enough on their own. Then, to rectify to problem, he promised to give them new hearts that would delight in following his law. Intrinsic restraint rather than extrinsic.
The episcopal church has said that "we won't do it anymore, but we won't change what we believe, or desire to do."
Instead they went on and called for "unequivocal and active commitment to the civil rights, safety, and dignity of gay and lesbian persons." Rights? Safety? Okay, every person has rights, and deserves safety. But dignity? Dignity? Sorry. That just sort of blows me away. They should be ashamed, but instead they are shouting from the housetops "I revel in my sin! I wallow in it like a dog rolling in his own droppings!" They want to guarantee the dignity of sinful actions. Steve Taylor said something about "coming out of the closet, rather than cleaning it."
Another bishop said "I think it's clear the American church wants to continue its way and to ignore the persistent requests that have been made from the rest of the communion." Exactly. American's are like this throughout the world. To our shame. We have forgotten that we are "american Christians" and not "Christian americans." The first word modifies the second one. Are we Christians, who happen to live in America? Or americans, who just happen to attend a christian church? They want the world to bow to the American way of sin ... er ... I mean, the American way of life.
The bottom line isn't that of homosexuality, American vs. the world, or Episcopal vs. Anglican. This division is based on differing views of the Bible. Is it, or isn't it, inspired. Genesis to Revelation. The whole thing. Is it the divinely inspired Word of God?
Some have said that it contains the Word of God. That sounds nice, but a container holds a thing without being the thing it holds. Look at a salad bowl. There is salad in it, but it isn't the salad itself. Its a bowl.
So, if the bible merely "contains" the Word of God, who decides which parts are inspired, and authoritative? Which parts do we have to obey? Most people pick and choose and leave the things they don't want, which makes it ineffective and useless as a whole. My kids tend to pick over the healthy bits of supper and eat the junk.
So do most people when it comes to the Bible. "I like this. I agree with this. I'll do this, but not that." If you did that with American laws, you'd end up in jail. There was a woman in China who poisoned, and killed, her boyfriend. She saw him talking to another woman, and decided he deserved death, because he was cheating on her. Maybe he was. Maybe he deserved to die. Whats certain is that the decision wasn't hers to make. I have friends who don't obey speed limit laws, because "they're stupid."
The division in the Anglican church is just a very visible symptom of a common disease.... autonomy. The desire for self-rule will destroy us. Unless we excise the diseased organs from the body, the whole body will die.
They promised to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." Huh? They're going to fix things by not doing something? Thats never been good enough, for any relationship. "I promise not to do it again" doesn't address the deeper issues that bring division.
In the Old Testament, God gave the Law to prove to the people of Israel that they couldn't be good enough on their own. Then, to rectify to problem, he promised to give them new hearts that would delight in following his law. Intrinsic restraint rather than extrinsic.
The episcopal church has said that "we won't do it anymore, but we won't change what we believe, or desire to do."
Instead they went on and called for "unequivocal and active commitment to the civil rights, safety, and dignity of gay and lesbian persons." Rights? Safety? Okay, every person has rights, and deserves safety. But dignity? Dignity? Sorry. That just sort of blows me away. They should be ashamed, but instead they are shouting from the housetops "I revel in my sin! I wallow in it like a dog rolling in his own droppings!" They want to guarantee the dignity of sinful actions. Steve Taylor said something about "coming out of the closet, rather than cleaning it."
Another bishop said "I think it's clear the American church wants to continue its way and to ignore the persistent requests that have been made from the rest of the communion." Exactly. American's are like this throughout the world. To our shame. We have forgotten that we are "american Christians" and not "Christian americans." The first word modifies the second one. Are we Christians, who happen to live in America? Or americans, who just happen to attend a christian church? They want the world to bow to the American way of sin ... er ... I mean, the American way of life.
The bottom line isn't that of homosexuality, American vs. the world, or Episcopal vs. Anglican. This division is based on differing views of the Bible. Is it, or isn't it, inspired. Genesis to Revelation. The whole thing. Is it the divinely inspired Word of God?
Some have said that it contains the Word of God. That sounds nice, but a container holds a thing without being the thing it holds. Look at a salad bowl. There is salad in it, but it isn't the salad itself. Its a bowl.
So, if the bible merely "contains" the Word of God, who decides which parts are inspired, and authoritative? Which parts do we have to obey? Most people pick and choose and leave the things they don't want, which makes it ineffective and useless as a whole. My kids tend to pick over the healthy bits of supper and eat the junk.
So do most people when it comes to the Bible. "I like this. I agree with this. I'll do this, but not that." If you did that with American laws, you'd end up in jail. There was a woman in China who poisoned, and killed, her boyfriend. She saw him talking to another woman, and decided he deserved death, because he was cheating on her. Maybe he was. Maybe he deserved to die. Whats certain is that the decision wasn't hers to make. I have friends who don't obey speed limit laws, because "they're stupid."
The division in the Anglican church is just a very visible symptom of a common disease.... autonomy. The desire for self-rule will destroy us. Unless we excise the diseased organs from the body, the whole body will die.
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