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Mainline churches struggle over gay policy
Christian Science Monitor ^ | February 22, 2005 | Jane Lampman |

Posted on 02/22/2005 3:14:07 AM PST by Crackingham

Gathered this week in Northern Ireland, senior bishops of the Anglican Communion are seeking to maintain unity in the global body amid the most difficult circumstances in the denomination's history. They are meeting for the first time since the release of a major report which called for the Episcopal Church, the US branch of Anglicanism, to repent for consecrating a gay bishop and allowing same-sex ceremonies, and to agree to a moratorium on such actions. Anglican leaders in developing nations have threatened schism if appropriate action is not taken.

.......

US mainline churches have been riven by the debate for years. For most Christian churches, unity is part of the fundamental witness of Christian life, and the prospect of any further splintering within the body of Christ is anathema. Yet the cost of unity is the issue troubling many.

From the perspective of Anglican leaders in the developing world, "Anglicanism is in danger of being no longer Protestant because ... they don't see how the American case works on the basis of Scripture," says Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the South Carolina diocese.

.......

Three churches in California recently left their diocese and attached themselves to a bishop in Uganda. The willingness of some African bishops to accept such oversight, crossing jurisdictional boundaries, is also criticized in the Windsor Report. The report's proposals include a stronger role for the Archbishop of Canterbury and a new "covenant" among the churches that would define common understandings. These are to be discussed from the grass-roots up and may not take full form for a few years. But conservatives are looking for immediate action regarding the Episcopal Church and Canadian dioceses that are performing same-sex rites.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: ecusa; fallout; homosexualagenda; homosexualbishop; schism; windsorreport
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1 posted on 02/22/2005 3:14:08 AM PST by Crackingham
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To: All
Jesus said: "And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." -from THE BIBLE: Matthew 19:4-6

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2 posted on 02/22/2005 3:16:59 AM PST by Cindy
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To: Crackingham

Do "mainline" church's even bother to read the Bible anymore?? If they did, then the issue of homosexuality would be a no brainer.

Homosexuality = wrong

I didn't even have to go to seminary to know that.


3 posted on 02/22/2005 3:24:25 AM PST by kb2614 ("Speaking Truth to Power" - What idiots say when they want to sound profound!!)
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To: Crackingham

[Liberal] Mainline churches struggle over gay policy


4 posted on 02/22/2005 3:31:44 AM PST by Jeff Blogworthy
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To: kb2614

If they do it is more like reading a menu in a Chinese restaurant, you chose what affirms you and your position and the rest of it was just cultural prohibitions of the time and not meant for Christians now. I doubt Jesus would recognize the Christianity practiced in mainline protestant churches today.


5 posted on 02/22/2005 3:33:18 AM PST by MKM1960
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To: Crackingham

Welcome to FR.


6 posted on 02/22/2005 3:34:57 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: Crackingham
The willingness of some African bishops to accept such oversight, crossing jurisdictional boundaries, is also criticized in the Windsor Report.

So let me get this straight.

Crossing "jurisdictional boundaries" set up by corrupt and apostate Anglican leaders is something so terrible as to be akin to spitting in the face of the Almighty and His law against homosexuality.

OK--got it.

7 posted on 02/22/2005 3:44:51 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: Cindy

Romans 1:20-32 seems pretty clear to me


8 posted on 02/22/2005 3:45:20 AM PST by dawn53
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To: MKM1960
I doubt Jesus would recognize the Christianity practiced in mainline protestant churches today.

It sure doesn't look anything like his own Christianity, that's for sure.

9 posted on 02/22/2005 3:48:40 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: Crackingham

Wolves in sheep's clothing...
Blind leading the blind...
Whitewashed sepluchres....


"Come out from among her, and be not partakers of her sins..."


10 posted on 02/22/2005 3:53:31 AM PST by Conservatrix (He who stands for nothing will fall for anything.)
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To: SkyPilot
Crossing "jurisdictional boundaries" set up by corrupt and apostate Anglican leaders is something so terrible as to be akin to spitting in the face of the Almighty and His law against homosexuality.

Ummm, yes.. St. Paul the Apostle makes that quite clear in Timothy I, with precisely that juxtaposition in fact.

11 posted on 02/22/2005 3:57:34 AM PST by AntiGuv (™)
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To: SkyPilot

PS. And in case the reasoning's still unclear to you, jurisdictional chaos would hardly be conducive to the mission of the church. Moreover, the bishops along with the limits of their authority are allegedly ordained by God, not by man.


12 posted on 02/22/2005 4:05:58 AM PST by AntiGuv (™)
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To: dawn53

I agree. I'd say it is very clear.


13 posted on 02/22/2005 4:07:31 AM PST by MagnoliaB (Never forget.)
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To: Crackingham
The more liberal a church is, the more its destined to be irrelevant.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

14 posted on 02/22/2005 4:10:13 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Crackingham
For most Christian churches, unity is part of the fundamental witness of Christian life, and the prospect of any further splintering within the body of Christ is anathema.

What these numbnuts fail to see because of their selfish arrogance is any gay is welcome but the church is not going to condone the perverted sin when the bible clearly defines it as such!

15 posted on 02/22/2005 4:12:18 AM PST by sirchtruth (Words Mean Things...)
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To: Crackingham
Our culture is slipping and at a time when we need moral direction many of our churches are remaining silent.
Maybe they are afraid to vocalize their opposition to the things happening to our culture because their congregations are dwindling and they don't want to upset those that remain.If this is so ,and I fear that it is , this is very unfortunate .
When my family goes by various churches on Sunday morning on the way to our church we see many empty church parking lots on the way.
Our nation and people need to get back to the basics and back into our churches and our churches need to address the cultural changes in a true and biblical sense.If this doesn't occur then we will continue to slip.
16 posted on 02/22/2005 4:21:51 AM PST by home gal
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To: Crackingham

This is the merely the latest manifestation of unisexualism.

Some believe that seual differences are minimal and that all sexual prohibitions are oppressive, whether one is refering to homosexuality, pederasty, or beastiality.

Unfortunately, these people control our educational system, our media and our entertainment industries. The propaganda movie 'Kinsley' and the many who gave it high regard is proof of this control as Kinsey was a pervert whose research involved the molestation of young children. Lets not even go into to Polanski incident more than to mention that this man sodomized a 13 year old girl and he is hailed as some kind of persecuted hero by the entertainment media elite and is never mentioned in school history classes.

I have a difficult time understanding how it is that that the conservative movement has had a completel inability to stop this from happening.

What happened?

Could it be that earlier generations of conservatives lost the struggle over earlier issues that we now accept as truthful, and the public turned on them?

Could it be that men like Senator McCarthy, General Douglas MacArthur, FBI Director Hoover, and others were abandoned for daring to oppose the spread of bad ideas in their day, and in losing this fight lost any conservative influence in these institutions?

I cant help but think that the demotion of Trent Lott over nothing but the posturing lies of shake-down artists like Jesse Jackson is of the same sort of abandonment and betrayal.

Conservatives always seem willing to turn on each other when it suits them and throw stragglers to the leftist wolves.

That such fiendish people as the Polanski/Kinsley supporters control our educational system, media and entertianment industry should be considered proof of this sort of inhouse blood-letting as even the most incompetent opposition could rid our institutions of learning, information and entertainment of these perverts in a nation hostile to them by a huge majority.

The next time I hear people spread scandal about a conservative like Trent Lott, I will ask them when the time will come that Polanski get his jail time or that Kinsely be denounced for pederasty instead of piling on the band wagon to pillory another conservative.


17 posted on 02/22/2005 4:27:10 AM PST by JFK_Lib
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To: Cindy

And Jesus knew their thoughts ,and said unto them,"Every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,and
every city or house divided against itself,shall not stand.. . . He that is not with Me is against Me,and he that
gatherethnot with Me scattereth abroad." Matthew 12:25,and 30 Those churches who are divided from what is written have
separated themselves form God And it is our duty to "come out from amongst them- to resist the devil and he will flee from you.


18 posted on 02/22/2005 5:12:46 AM PST by StonyBurk
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: kb2614

Mainline churches are to the Bible what the mere politicians
are to our Constitution. They are more interested in the
collection box and the fleecing of the sheep than they are
in whom they serve.


20 posted on 02/22/2005 5:14:40 AM PST by StonyBurk
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