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.
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.