Posted on 08/06/2003 2:25:59 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Some Christian activists expressed disappointment Tuesday over the election of the Episcopalian Church's first openly homosexual bishop - a vote that occurred after church officials meeting in Minneapolis, Minn., concluded allegations of past sexual misconduct on the part of Rev. Gene Robinson were baseless.
"It's a sad day for Christians everywhere," Peter LaBarbera, senior policy analyst with Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute, told CNSNews.com.
The vote by the House of Bishops had been postponed Monday following the 11th-hour allegations that Robinson had engaged in inappropriate touching with another man at a church event. An investigation was quickly launched into that charge, as well as one revolving around whether a website belonging to an organization Robinson founded for homosexual Episcopalian youth also contained a link to Internet pornography.
Robinson was cleared of any wrongdoing, and the final vote by the House of Bishops was 62 to 45 for approval.
"I'm thrilled we're going forward, and I'm very hopeful," Rev. Michael Hopkins, president of Integrity, an Episcopalian group of homosexuals - told CNSnews.com after learning the results of the investigation.
Hopkins said the vote confirming Robinson as bishop sends a "great message" from the church that its doors are "open wide."
However, not all Episcopalians applauded the decision or agreed with Hopkins on the message being sent. Rev. David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council (AAC), had previously told reporters that Robinson's confirmation would be a "fatal bullet" to the Anglican Communion, the church of Great Britain that includes the Episcopalian Church in America and has 77 million members worldwide.
"We are on the deck of the Titanic, saying to the captain, the presiding bishop, that there's an iceberg dead ahead. For God's sake, steer us away from it. Don't hit it," Anderson said.
According to a petition on the AAC's website, "to confirm a non-celibate homosexual as a bishop of this Communion or to approve the creation of liturgies for the blessing of relationships outside of marriage would shatter the church," a reference to the decision of some Episcopalian officials to bless civil unions.
According to the AAC petition, the decision to confirm Robinson would:
-- Separate the church from historic Christian faith and teaching;
-- Alienate it from the fellowship and accountability of the worldwide Anglican family; and
-- Confuse the witness of the church to the love and joy of Christian marriage.
According to press reports, the AAC is planning a meeting in October to decide whether to break away from the Episcopalian Church or take some other action. Like-minded Anglicans overseas were also reported as saying they would consider severing ties with the American Episcopalian branch.
The 1998 Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade gathering of Anglican leaders, approved a resolution calling homosexuality "incompatible with Scripture."
Yet Hopkins and other supporters expressed some doubt about the convictions of those threatening a church split.
"I hope that it's more bluster than reality. We'll see what they decide to do," Hopkins said. "I think in the end, there's more that holds us together than drives us apart."
Hopkins conceded that the church had lost some members when it decided to ordain women as priests, but he noted that then, as now, there were predictions of "a real worldwide split" in the church, which never came to pass.
Susan Russell, director of communications for Integrity, recently told reporters that Robinson's elevation to the position of bishop would increase church membership, which according to press reports has fallen 5.3 percent in the last decade.
"The same threats of schism were all around, and in my experience as an ordained woman in this church, the ordination of women has only strengthened our ministry and enhanced our ability to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus Christ to those yearning to hear it," Russell told reporters. "I think the Episcopal Church is poised on what we call a kairos moment, offering to the world a vision of a progressive, inclusive gospel, which is another step forward."
Critics like LaBarbera disagree. The "saddest thing" about Robinson's ordination, he said, is that it confuses children.
"It tells them that wrong is right, that it doesn't matter if a man has a (sexual) relationship with a woman or a man. It's just tragic that they are choosing to elevate something that is a sin, and all the young people are going to see this. The liberals are teaching the kids that sin is okay, and it's very sad," LaBarbera said.
He stressed that this issue is far from over within the Episcopalian Church and the larger society.
"The funny thing is that these people think they can change immutable standards by a vote. You don't change moral law by some liberal political action. God will not be mocked," LaBarbera said.
See Earlier Story:
Child Porn Link Delays Vote on Homosexual Bishop (Aug. 5, 2003)
E-mail a news tip to Steve Brown.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
Matt 7:13-15
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
(many conservative)
The Anglican Catholic Church
The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada
The Anglican Church in America
Anglican Communion
Anglicans Online
Anglican Province of America
Anglican Province of Christ the King
American Anglican Council
The Anglican Mission in America
The Charismatic Episcopal Church
Lambeth Conference
Old Catholic Church of America
Order of St. Vincent
The Prayer Book Society (Ecusa)
Reformed Episcopal Church
The Traditional Anglican Communion
The Conference on Anglican Unity
Sodality of the Most Holy Rosary
Traditional Anglican Documents
Episcopal Missionary Church
Episcopal Orthodox Church
United Episcopal Church of North America
That's because the heterosexual offender hasn't been excised from the Revised Episcopal Version of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
Don't you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers--none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
You see, it's all in the eisegesis exegesis.
Because you've probably read Revelation 22:18-19:
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
And apparently, the collective butt of the church body.
Ye shall know them by their fruits - This story puts a whole new spin on that scripture, get it?
Once the queers cause a break, they are left with "a church of their own, complete with psuedo-legitimacy". Their goal is first to gain acceptance, cause a split, gain legitimacy and then supremacy. They are the enemy within and the new force of the liberal movement. It is so will all Christian Churches.
Martin Luther had an observation about that subject:
"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at that point attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested. To be steady in all the battlefields besides is mere flight and disgrace, if the soldier flinches at that one point."
Bull's eye!
Law enforcement will find a way, believe me. I call it "creative prosecution."
It's a sort of post-modern "red letter" phrarasaism. If it isn't found expressly forbidden in the red-letter verses of the New Testament, it's fully allowable. This interesting twist on the pharasaical model of extreme legalism is employed with great zeal to justify and excuse licentious behavior.
But common sense and the Holy Ghost witness against this outrageous, cynical, and self-serving cancer on the body of the church soul.
Meanwhile it appears Bishop "Vicki" Robinson yesterday likened his winning a forced acceptance of sexual perversion on the flock to the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Astounding.
The gay movement in churches does, indeed force people out (along with other divisive liberal issues). I myself have left my life-long church, the Methodists.
I notice that the gays are not lobbying in the Southern Baptists, nor in the Church of Christ, nor in the Assemblies of God. Now, one would on its surface think that it is because those churches are less susceptible to the message of "inclusiveness." That may be true, but there is another underlying reason as well, I think.
The mainline Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholics, own a great deal of real estate and have fairly large bank accounts. The real estate (in Manhattan and Boston and other large cities across this nation) is owned by the denomination, not the individual congregation. An entire Episcopal congregation who wishes to split from the church and go independent must LEAVE the building, abandoning it to the gay-friendly people. This holds true for the Methodists as well.
On the other hand, most Southern Baptist congregations own their property individually. They can withdraw without losing the building.
It seems to me that this is a concerted effort to not only shape public opinion but to control real estate and money. Money is used to sway political beliefs, push certain social issues, and shape public discourse.
It seems to me that there is a plan afoot to rob people who have donated their time and treasure (in some families' cases, for generations) to a congregation and church building, and secure the land and money for their own purposes.
In other words, this is about money as much as sex. Otherwise, why wouldn't these people simply start their OWN churches? They don't want to do that, because they want the land, the buildings, and the money. I think this needs to be looked at with more attention to the financial side.
Let us not forget that Satan comes as a thief in the night.
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