The least of their worries
Submitted by Dave on Thu, 2006-05-04 12:24.
Bible | Church | Doctrine | Torah
The Episcopalian Diocese of California is about to elect a new bishop. According to this article, three of the seven candidates for the job are openly gay and currently living with same-sex partners. As I read the article, I saw something that made me realize that the problems in this organization go much deeper than gay clergy.
The following statement appears in the article:
Episcopalians who support ordaining gays disagree. They say that in biblical times, there was no understanding that homosexuality was a natural orientation and not a choice, and that Scripture condemning homosexuality should not be interpreted as barring monogamous gay relationships.
To put it in other words, their "argument" is that we now have knowledge about homosexuality that was not available at the time the Scriptures were written, and that we should interpret them based on this new understanding. The problem with this attitude -- and the problem I am pointing out in the Episcopalian church -- is that it is underpinned by a lack of faith in God as the all-knowing, infallible author of the Scriptures. There are certainly things that we know today that were not known by men -- or even conceived of -- during Biblical times, but there is nothing known, then or now, that was not known by the One who created the universe, and subsequently (from our perspective) authored the Bible. The Episcopalians seem to believe that the author of the Scriptures was ignorant, and made a mistake, but that can only be true if the author in question was ignorant and fallible. God is neither of those things; therefore He must not have been the author of the Bible.
Operating under a severely flawed worldview, as they are, the Episcopalians are bound to reach a great many bad conclusions -- as they do. The election of yet another gay bishop is not the cause of their downfall, but merely a symptom of a greater problem. The church leaders would do well to review chapter 2 of the book of Revelation, specifically the letters to the churches of Pergamos and Thyatira, and then repent, and return to the true and unchanging Word of God as it was written. Otherwise, they may suffer the same fate as Jezebel.
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Christ and the Holocaust
Submitted by Dave on Wed, 2006-06-21 11:18.
The Episcopalians are at it again. The House of Deputies of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church refused to consider (much less approve) a resolution affirming that Jesus Christ is "the only name by which any person may be saved." In doing so, they have, in essence, rejected John 14:6, which is perhaps the most foundational verse in the New Testament.
And what were the reasons for the rejection? I make note of a few statements made by Rev. Eugene C. McDowell, who opposed the resolution. He said, "This type of language was used in 1920s and 1930s to alienate the type of people who were executed. It was called the Holocaust." Translation: If you don't like something, spin it so that you can place it alongside the Nazis. Is he really trying to convince anybody that faith in Christ led to the Holocaust? He also said, "In the Episcopal Church we don't do up and down votes on Jesus Christ as Lord, and to do so is potentially a mean-spirited approach, to ask questions that aren't meant to be questions." Translation: Well, I'm not actually sure what he meant with this nonsensical statement, but throwing in the phrase "mean-spirited" is a classic leftist mud-slinging technique. As for "up and down votes on Jesus Christ as Lord," it seems to me that they just did one, so I would have to cite this as an example of Orwellian doublespeak. Finally, he said, "Salvation by grace is remembering that we are the children of a living God. Grace is already there. And salvation is realizing we now live into that salvation. And sanctification is the transforming of my life from one that's me-centered to one that's God-centered." Translation: Salvation can be obtained without Christ. This is a false teaching, and those who follow it will be very disappointed when the trumpet sounds.
In closing, I want to quote one of the supporters of the resolution, Judy Mayo, who said, "My friends, this is a church convention, and this is the very essence of our faith. This may be the most important thing we deal with at this entire convention...Surely we can say together that Jesus Christ is Lord. And if we can't, we have no reason to be here." Amen, sister.
On the line
A group of Episcopalians is trying to force the bishops to fish or cut bait. This group, the Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion, is "calling for all clergy involved in the consecration of an actively homosexual bishop to be put on trial by the church." According to the article, ten bishops are needed to initiate such proceedings. We will see what sort of spiritual courage is left in the Episcopalian heirarchy.