The Bishop of Stafford has called on churchgoers to celebrate Anglicanism and 'proclaim what God has done and is doing for us in Jesus Christ,' but to also undertake an honest self-assessment of where they stand with Jesus.
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Bishop: Anglicanism Has Not Lost Its Way Despite Rifts
By
Maria Mackay
Christian Post Correspondent
Thu, Jan. 31 2008 11:43 AM EST
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“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11, 12). Grace, not only has brought us salvation, but grace is a teacher. Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.
Dear reader, if the grace (you say you have) is not teaching you the things pertaining to what we just read in Titus, then you do not have the grace of God working in your life. You have accepted a counterfeit, a lie from hell. Take heed. The teachings of grace will include that homosexuality is an abomination, an unseemly act.
(continued)
Isaiah said, "woe to those that call good, evil, and evil, good." Consider what you believe and what you are saying, my friend. You are on a very dark path right now, if you consider homosexuality either moral, right, good, or a "civil rights issue" on par with racism, slavery or usury. Leviticus, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians make it plain and clear - there is no need for any deep Biblical exegesis on this subject. It's quite clear and has been for nearly two thousand years.
If you honestly think Jesus, Paul, or the prophets would stand with you and declare the ordaining of an openly homosexual and unrepentant priest to be a good thing, and justified, and defend the ordination, then you are a lost, lost soul. Friend, I urge you to consider your beliefs and read your Bible. The New Testament isn't all about "grace" as so many Christians confuse it - it's also about *repentance*. Jesus repeatedly calls people to *repentance*. Paul lists homosexuality as a grave evil, and sin, and says no homosexual (along with the other sins he lists) will inherit the kingdom of God (unless they repent).
There is no Biblical foundation for a defense of homosexuality, homosexual priests (1 Timothy 3, I believe), or same sex unions. It is a violation of the basic order of creation as defined in Genesis, and it is why both the Old Testament and New Testament condemn it.
St Johns
You are using the same moral relativism canard that liberals within the church body always use to advance the biblically unsound teachings that are always advanced by liberals as they wreak havoc on the church of God, disrupting church unity and attacking the Biblical foundation of church teaching from the dawn of time. To equate homosexuality with slavery, racism, and usury is an attempt to distract and misdirect - a very common approach, and an easily dismantled one.
Paul repeatedly condemns homosexuality as being a grave sin on par with murder, adultery, theft, etc. Both the Old Testament and New Testament condemn homosexuality as being an abomination, morally evil, and wicked behavior. For you to defend this is just one more example to me of how misguided (and over the cliff) much of Protestant (and I happen to belong to a mainline Protestant body) Christianity has become. Is homosexuality worse than any other sin? No, and I'm personally quite tired of Christians having to go down that road with all sorts of caveats and hand wringing. The difference is not whether or not homosexuality is "worse" than any other sin - that's not the issue. The issue is *recognizing* that homosexuality is a sin, and a grave one. But instead, we have numerous liberal protestant church bodies willing to deny it is a sin, to in fact, uphold and defend it as right and good. This is apostasy.
Gratus--
Amen!
StJohn\'s You write "Gene Robinson was elected Bishop of New Hampshire because he was considered an effective and caring priest." Considered by whom? By those who upheld the norms of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 when selecting a bishop? Certainly not.
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach
No, the liberals in the Anglican communion are obsessed with sex. The liberals push beyond all boundaries to advance an anti-Christian agenda, and when conservatives push back with God's word, the liberals raise a hue and cry about how "mean" conservatives are.
God's word makes homosexuality very clearly a sin, and a grave one. There is no issue here for anyone committed to keeping God's word. Those who want to tear up God's word are called "liberals" - they're the only ones doing the pushing.