Posted on 12/26/2004 3:08:03 AM PST by Lindykim
The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com READ IT - LEARN FROM IT - PRAY OVER IT - SHARE IT --- Why 85 Episcopal churches closed their doors December 25, 2004 By Les Kinsolving
New Hampshire's Episcopal bishop, the Right Rev. Vicky Gene Robinson, continues to attract extensive coverage in our nation's left-wing dominated Old Media – because he is the only known Anglican (or Episcopal) prelate who left his wife and daughter and who now lives unmarried with his sodomist lover. The decision to consecrate him a bishop has caused a worldwide rift in the 77 million-member Anglican communion. There are further consequences at home in the United States.
Already reported has been the loss of $900,000 in pledged offering to the denomination's largest diocese: Virginia. Now there are more serious reports nationwide.
Episcopal religion writer David Virtue reports the following national denominational statistics for 2003 – which are very likely to be even worse when the 2004 reports are in next December. He reports: Attendance statistics for the Episcopal Church USA in 2003 reveal a church in continued steep decline with nearly 36,000 active baptized members leaving for greener theological pastures, a significant drop from 8,000 on 2002. Another 24,000 Sunday worshippers left the ECUSA last year, more than twice the previous year.
In 2002, the church claimed a membership of 2,320,221. In 2003, it was down to 2,284,233, the church officially declared.
If this walkout of 36,000 – while evangelical denominations continue to grow – seems grim, the next statistic is horrendous: Some 85 parishes closed their doors – 7,395 in 2002 to 7,220 in 2003. How much effort and financial sacrifice in building and maintaining all those parishes is now lost?
That is more than twice the number of parishes that exist in the Diocese of New Hampshire, the majority of whose clergy and laity elected Vicky Gene without any apparent concern about what so many of their fellow Episcopalians regard as a biblical abomination.
Further statistics:
-- Average Sunday attendance in 2002 was 846,640. In 2003 it was 823,017.
-- The percentage of churches with any increase in average Sunday attendance also dropped from 39 percent to 34 percent.
-- The most startling figure was that the median average Sunday worship attendance of all Episcopal churches across the whole country is 77 members (down from 79).
Despite all this, Bishop Robinson was a special guest on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" which program was fair enough to allow one of Robinson's fellow bishops, Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, to appear with him.
Bishop Duncan told the nationwide broadcast: The purported statistics do not bear out vs. Gene Robinson's view that the acceptance of homosexuality would make churches grow.
In a question from Terry Gross, who asked whether gays and lesbians coming into the church were counterbalancing folks who were leaving, Duncan responded saying: "The latest statistics show we lost 36,000 members last year, three times what we lost the year before."
Les Kinsolving hosts a daily talk show for WCBM in Baltimore. His radio commentaries are syndicated nationally. He is White House correspondent for Talk Radio Network and WorldNetDaily. His show can be heard on the Internet at www.wcbm.com 8-10 p.m. Eastern each weekday. Before going into broadcasting, Kinsolving was a newspaper reporter and columnist – twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary.
moderator@christian-underground.com http://www.christian-underground.com/archive/read.php?sid=51 Posted to the CU: 2004-12-25 12:42:31 CST ======================================== We will Pray WHEN we want School - WHERE we want Work - The Street - The Mall - Persecute Us At Your Own Peril! The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com
Amen!
OK. You're keeping me hooked to this machine. I did a "google" on The Frankfurt School, Atkinson. I promise to read the whole thing. This looks intriguing.
We should go back to strict constructionism for the Constitution. I hope Bush appoints justices that will do that.
However, Biblical "literalism" is nothing more than a superficial interpretation of the Bible (usually the KJV written in English). There is a lot more to understanding the Bible than just reading it. Many of the literalists take such silly positions, they drive people away from Christianity.
If there is a Presbyterian PCA chuch nearby go for a visit. Very conservative bible believing.
One instance is the notion that the Noah epic is true in detail. There is no evidence of a world wide flood in the last six thousand years ( or ever for that matter). It is impossible to have all the "kinds" of animals on a wooden boat for a year. The population of humans on the Earth could not have come from Noah's family in the last 5 or 6 thousand years. Plus, the genetics of the Earth's populations falsify the idea of Noah being the originator of all humans.
There are many other instances, including some really weird takes on Revelation.
Look at post 46
I'm, sigh.in NY...beyond hope..I'll ping you on something I posted yesterday..my sad experience Christmas Eve..
Oh dear...what happened?
True that there couldn't have been the worldwide flood, but something happened to cause this story.
As for Revelations, I don't think we'll know what all that really means until it has happened. The book itself warns against false prophets.
Correction:
The Orthodox Churches are pulling out of the org.
Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: Evidence Suggests That History Could Repeat Itself
See #54. something to think about anyway.
"With respect, I ask anyone who still belongs what the attraction is or was?"
I gives you a chance to make believe that you're Christian while holding to your perversions and sins.
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/365plus.html
"the Episcopal church is the 'Chivas Regal' of Protestantism. ... It is as far from shout 'n sing Protestantism as you can get without going to Rome; and well it should be, for the point of it all is to become as Catholic as possible without becoming Catholic....
This doesn't strike me as large enough numbers to indicate an exodus yet. Heck that many members could die in a year.
But it is obvious they certainly aren't attracting new members.
Thank you for the list and the wise comments. The NCC itself is almost broke and is also a major staging ground for the Sodomite revolution.
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