This is not your father's (Episcopal) Church anymore (Cal Thomas weighs in on "gay" bishop)

Modesto Bee ^ | Aug 6 03 | Cal Thomas

[lentulusgracchus]

Pinging for possible interest here.......and comments...

[SerpentDove]

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.

2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

(2 Peter 2, NIV)

[defeat_the_dem_igods]

Another direct blow to human morality.

And to human mortality.

It's all about perpetuation of the species, to which gays (biologically) cannot contribute.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Paul the Apostle wrote to his young protege Timothy that an "overseer" (or minister) must be "above reproach, the husband of one wife," and "must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect." Paul then asks an important question: "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?" (1 Timothy 3:2-5)

All the funnier because Paul was gay.

[George W. Bush]

Cal Thomas frames the issue quite well.

I'm getting a strong feeling that the sodomite bishop and his supporters are going to get away with it. I don't think there's going to be any schism. The Episcopalians will become the opening wedge of absolute opposition to scripture in the Anglican Communion.

[AnAmericanMother]

If it is all about perpetuation of the species, then should infertile heterosexual couples be allowed to marry?

All that is required is that the couple be open to the possibility of conception. Infertility is unpredictable and often temporary or reversible. I know many people who thought they were infertile and wound up with a "surprise" -- especially after they adopted so that the overwhelming pressure to conceive was off the table. I even know one man whose vasectomy reversed itself -- talk about a REAL surprise!

The norm in a heterosexual couple is the possibility of conception of a child. That is an absolute physical impossibility on the part of a homosexual couple. No comparison at all.

[AnAmericanMother]

If you are against homosexuals having sexual relations outside of marriage, then why not let homosexuals marry?

Because marriage was established not only for mutual joy but also for the procreation of children. As noted above, not merely occasionally difficult but physically impossible in the case of a homosexual couple. They simply don't meet the job requirements.

[AnAmericanMother]

All the funnier because Paul was gay.

No, the liberal theologians and the likes of Bishop Vicki just wish that he was . . . makes their behavior so much more justifiable in their own eyes.

[hellinahandcart]

If you are against homosexuals having sexual relations outside of marriage, then why not let homosexuals marry?

They can pretend to "marry" all they want, but it will never be holy matrimony. That only occurs between a man and a woman.

[JZoback]

All the funnier because Paul was gay.

Trolling ?

[hellinahandcart]

Oh, they think everyone's gay. They think Ruth and Naomi were a lesbian couple because Ruth swore to stay with her forever. They think Abraham Lincoln was gay because of a friend e wrote letters to.. They even think Jane Austen was gay because she never married and she slept in the same bed with her sister. So she was not only a lesbian, but one who committed incest (in reality, her fiance was killed, and she died relatively young).

We're talking about a group of people who cannot grasp the concept that you can truly love a person of the same sex, in a completely non-sexual way. Without the least intrusion of physical desire. They can't do it, so they think the rest of us are all in denial about our true sexuality.

They're projecting.

[Sloth]

If it is all about perpetuation of the species, then should infertile heterosexual couples be allowed to marry?

The stuff about procreation is a red herring. The only thing that matters is that God created marriage for heterosexual couples.

[hellinahandcart]

You might get a sense of deja vu...

[Marysecretary]

And such freedom to worship, as well!

[Marysecretary]

Any denomination now can be considered pretty liberal. They love the Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian type churches because they can hide their sin in many of them and they won't be outed. Nobody does anything about it.

[Gopher Broke]

Thought you might be interested in AMiA's Statement on Robinson. Their web site is:
http://www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org

The Rt. Rev. Charles Murphy, Chairman of the Anglican Mission.

The Anglican Mission in America, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion as an outreach of the province of Rwanda, has weighed in on the Episcopal Church’s decision to confirm the first openly gay bishop in the history of the Christian Church.

In voicing its disapproval, the Anglican Mission contends that the central issue is not, at its core, about homosexual practice or lifestyle, although the 1998 global meeting of Anglican bishops [Lambeth Conference] unambiguously declared the practice and lifestyle to be incompatible with Scripture.

“The real issue before us is a church, the Episcopal Church in this country (ECUSA), that is in direct conflict with the Scriptures” declared the Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy, the Anglican Mission’s Chairman.

Murphy cited a December,1997 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine in which the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, acknowledged as much, by stating:

“Broadly speaking, the Episcopal Church is in conflict with scripture. ... (One) would have to say that the mind of Christ operative in the church over time ... has led the church to in effect contradict the words of the Gospel."

Murphy notes that "it is this kind of confusion and presumption from the very highest levels of leadership in the U.S. Episcopal Church that has now produced both this latest vote to confirm the election of Gene Robinson, and the severe crisis of Faith and leadership that now exists within the worldwide Anglican Communion. The situation now before us within the U.S. Episcopal Church demands correction, and invites the outside intervention that will, I am sure, be forthcoming."

The Anglican Mission in America is a missionary outreach of the Anglican Province of Rwanda, established three years ago in response to the crisis of faith and leadership that exists within the Episcopal Church, to focus on reaching out to the 130 million spiritually-disconnected people in the United States. The Anglican Mission is a growing movement of churches now stretching throughout the United States.

[Marysecretary]

Because God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman. Period.

[AnAmericanMother]

I love C.S. Lewis's take on it all . . .

Kisses, tears and embraces are not in themselves evidence of homosexuality. The implications would be, if nothing else, too comic. Hrothgar embracing Beowulf, Johnson embracing Boswell (a pretty flagrantly heterosexual couple) and all those hairy old toughs of centurions in Tacitus, clinging to one another and begging for last kisses when the legion was broken up ... all pansies? If you can believe that you can believe anything.