[Paul_B]

I thought this was an excellent, cogent look at what's happening in today's Episcopal Church. And what's happening is, quite simply, spiritual and ecclesial suicide. Kudos, Ms. Kersten.

[Tarheel]

Thank you for this excellent article. Yes, I agree the church has committed suicide.

The Tarheel

[gumboyaya]

amen

[FreeRep]

Great post.
Some in the Episcopal General Convention say this new Convention was "life-giving"!
More like "death-giving" I think.

[Blood of Tyrants]

This is exactly the kind of "church" that the devil loves. Everyone gets to feel good with no condemnation no matter how depraved or perverted your personal behavior.

[Biblebelter]

I appreciate the second paragraph of this article. The Episcopalians do a great job with costumes and scenery. To an onlooking world they may certainly look like a church, but alas to those who have spriritual discernment, they perceive nothing but the empty shell.

[hellinahandcart]

This one's for bookmarking.

[JesseHousman]

It's just another milestone on the highway mapped out by those generals who march forward with the Homosexual Agenda For America tucked under their arm!

For over three decades, homosexual activists have tirelessly pursued their satanic vision of an America in which their behavior is affirmed and their critics are silenced.

The Supreme Court's ruling overturning sodomy laws opens the door to the complete triumph of the homosexual agenda -- and the end of free-speech rights for all who have faith-based objections to endorsing, funding or supporting homosexual behavior.

A six-point strategy was laid out by two homosexual leaders in the late 1980s, to radically alter America's understanding of homosexual behavior. How all six of these points are being carried out in present-day American culture.

Homosexual activists have made progress by infiltrating, influencing and intimidating people in every major power structure -- including the media, education, government, corporate America, and even the major churches.

Homosexual activists are using corporate employment policies to promote homosexual behavior -- and to stigmatize, isolate and silence employees who express opposition.

"Gay rights" legislation in many states sets severe punishments for those who do not agree with its demands while the homosexual agenda is being pushed to elementary school children, starting in kindergarten. Then there's the little-known proposal to implement a full-scale indoctrination of children to accept and affirm homosexual behavior. Unfortunately, the indoctrination in our public schools has been all too successful while liberal churches exist for little more than promoting homosexual behavior.

Homosexual propagandists have been extremely skillful in portraying anyone who opposes them as sympathetic to, or even complicit in, violence against homosexuals.

They have succeeded in "piggybacking" their agenda on legitimate causes such as equal rights for racial minorities and Hollywood helps by replacing old stereotypes with new ones that idealize homosexuals and demonize their opponents.

The fundraising power of the homosexual movement extorts money from corporations and foundations while, thanks to the Lavender Tower, homosexual behavior and its promotion have become pervasive at colleges and universities.

"Domestic partner" policies and "civil unions" are aimed at the wholesale destruction of marriage (as one influential homosexual writer actually boasted) are aimed at homosexual adoption: a devastating critique of the sloppy, poorly-documented studies that helped it gain acceptance.

[Asclepius]

God is doing something new indeed. He has departed the Episcopal Church of America.

[Terriergal]

Ashamed to be a Minnesotan. I sure don't envy the good devout conservative Episcopalians.

[Terriergal]

Ashamed to be a Minnesotan. I sure don't envy the good devout conservative Episcopalians.

[Terriergal]

Make sure you all hit the CNN poll on whether there should be a legal definition of marriage.

It could use some freepin help.

[SuziQ]

The gospel of inclusion has little place for repentance or transformation. Thus, it has little place for the central feature of Christianity: Christ's Cross, which brings redemption through suffering. This new gospel may be appealing, for it permits its adherents to "divinize" their own, largely secular agenda. But in a Christian church, it cannot easily coexist with the Gospel of Christ.

I thought this was the most important point of the whole article. IMO, this "if it feels good, it's OK to do it" theology dovetails perfectly with the whole narcisstic attitude of homosexuality.

[SuziQ]

Check out this article from The Opinion Journal on the new homosexual Episcopal Bishop.

[Spok]

The Episcopal church is bending over forwards to appeal to secular society by validating self-indugence. They're doing to the Bible what liberal courts have done to the Constitution-if it feels good, it's okay/legal/moral/acceptable. Christianity, and interestingly, freedom, are both founded on discipline and premised on the ability of humans to resist the call of their darker impulses, and embrace the 'better angels of their nature'. The failure to nourish that ability will doom both.

[maryz]

Pinging my Catholic ping list and, if you'll pardon the liberty, some of the more active contributors on the Anglican bishops thread.

[Grampa Dave]

Episcopalians might want to visit our new thread for resources and sharing the word on how to battle this obscene happening in our church.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/960631/posts?page=1


If you have a helpful link, please post it on this thread.

Please post what your priest or bishop has to say about this morass this Sunday and in other church functions and news letters.

That way we can share what is happening across the country.

[NYer]

Instead, they radically reinterpret it, using techniques imported from America's postmodern universities. Walter Brueggemann, a theologian quoted in a pro-same-sex-union Episcopal publication, put it like this: Scripture is "the chief authority when imaginatively construed in a certain interpretive trajectory." Approached this way, inconvenient passages can be dismissed as inconsistent with "Jesus' self-giving love."

This is a serious and growing problem in many religious organizations. Not long ago, I came across a christian lesbian apologetics web site, developed by a recently ordained lesbian Protestant minister. The website has an ample assortment of lesbian apologetics essays offering a "biblical defense" of homosexuality. (somewhat of a conundrum I feel).

The webmistress herself recently married her life partner. It took place in a Lutheran church, something that truly disturbed me. More disturbing, yet, is that these people truly believe that their lifestyle and marriage are blessed by God!

Here is the happy couple, along with a link to the web site.

"My perspective at this moment was looking into the face of the woman I most love in all the earth and being filled with the deepest sense of joy and gratitude. Dana confirms the same was was true for her!"

Peace Lutheran Church
Danville, California

Why Get Married?

I'm willing to admit I was heavily influenced by heterosexuals in my formative years. Everywhere I looked, there they were, flaunting their life style and as a result the couples I most admired were those who were married and like so many other young women I grew up dreaming of marriage and realizing I was a lesbian later in life did little to change that. I hoped to one day fall in love and get married to that special someone and that dream became reality the day I met Dana.

On the day I asked her to be my wife, I didn't give any thought to what the government, the church, or my diversely-opinionated gay and lesbian friends would think. I asked Dana to marry me because I love her above all others and out of that love flowed the desire to commit my faithfulness to her alone and to create a life together as a couple in this world. For the record, I've been assured by Dana that her responding 'yes' had everything to do with love and nothing to do with an attempt to irritate and infuriant the masses.

Why Get Married In A Church?

As Christians, our faith and our God are central to our relationship. For this reason church is one of the most significant communities within our lives and seems the most right place to celebrate and affirm this next step in our lives together. We've already affirmed our commitment to each other before God but we also want to make that same commitment before our friends and family so they'll know the intent of our heart and the promises we've made to each other and to God. Our motivation for marrying within the church isn't so we can give the appearance of conformity to the rites and traditions of the church and thereby gain acceptance but instead we marry within the church because we believe in both our sexual identity and in our relationship we have something life-giving to bring to the church that will enrich its collective life and enlarge it beyond its boundaries. I mean, let's not kid ourselves! After all the vows have been exchanged and the rituals have been fulfilled there will be two women kissing and so that alone makes it a radical event!

Why Do We Call Each Other 'Wife'?

I understand the concerns of some lesbians who shy away from the word because of the presumed marital roles and inequity of power that it traditionally implies. We've tried all the gay couple language like 'girlfriend', 'partner', 'significant other', and 'lover' but those words leave me unsatisfied. I've had other girlfriends but what I have with Dana is a unique once-in-a-lifetime relationship and so it needs a word I've never used before and 'wife' and 'spouse' are the only ones I can come up with short of creating a language of my own. Those are the only words I currently know that capture our mutual commitment and the intimacy of our relationship. When I call her my wife I'm speaking of the one I cherish above all others and when she calls me her wife I feel cherished above all others.

CHRISTIAN LESBIANS