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TechnoratiAlthough conservative Anglican leaders have called on The Episcopal Church – the U.S. branch of Anglicanism – to roll back support for same-sex unions and homosexual ordination, Jefferts Schori has on several occasions confirmed that the U.S. church body will not retreat, though they are willing to "pause."
"All people – including gay and lesbian Christians and non-Christians – are deserving of the fullest regard of the Church," the Episcopal Church head has asserted. "We're not going backward."
At a recent public forum at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Jefferts Schori further claimed that members of The Episcopal Church are living as Jesus did.
"What does it mean to follow Jesus? How did Jesus live? With whom did he eat? With whom did he converse?" she posed at the public forum.
"Jesus hung out with people on the margins. He hung out with people who were unacceptable to the Judaism of his time," the church leader pointed out. "I think that's what it means to follow Jesus."
While there is no doubt that we have been called on to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39), we have not been called to love sin nor have we been called on to promote, encourage, and approve of sin.
There is a very big difference between loving sinners and loving sin, as there is between the condemnation of sinners and the condemnation of sin.
Yes, Jesus embraced prostitutes, tax collectors, and even worse sinners. He spoke with them, he ate with them, and he “hung out” with them.
But it’s clear that he did not encourage sin; he discouraged it.
"Then neither do I condemn you …. Go now and leave your life of sin," Jesus told a woman accused of adultery, as recorded in John 8.
When the Pharisees at this event brought the adulterous woman, they were attempting to trap Jesus by either forcing him to order the woman to be stoned (as the law of Moses commands) or to order the people not to stone her – thus breaking the law.
Today, many Christians find themselves in the same position. Some choose to stone because the law says to. Others choose to either ignore the law or distort the law.
The response we should have as Christians, however, is like that of Jesus’.
“When they (the Pharisees) kept on questioning him (Jesus), he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)
By saying this, Jesus did not say that the law was wrong. The law is right. Sinners deserve to be punished for committing sin as a criminal in society deserves to be punished for committing a crime.
However, as Jesus indirectly pointed out, there is no one who is without sin and thus there is no one who can judge and condemn another person without making a statement to God that they themselves want to be punished for their sins. Even Jesus, who was without sin, did not judge nor condemn the woman.
BUT … while he did not condemn her, Jesus did tell her to leave her life of sin. He did not ignore the fact that she was sinful and did not say what she committed was not a sin.
Christian leaders such as Rogers and Jefferts Schori would be wise to look more closely at what the Bible says and not put their thoughts above God’s much higher thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), which are revealed in the Bible.
To the liberals, questions to consider are: Would Jesus lead the charge for the equal rights of adulterous women? Would Jesus see to it that adulterous women are ordained or see their relationships blessed?
And to those who have led many to see Christianity as “anti-homosexual,” questions to consider are: Is “stoning” sinners going to lead them out of sin? Are you in the position to condemn, or are you in the position to love?
Believers at both ends need to get back in line with the Bible and do as Jesus would do.
Cameron »
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