Posted on 07/24/2005 3:48:50 PM PDT by sionnsar
Is there a ‘gay conspiracy’? No. Don’t be ridiculous.
It’s an open, organized, international, deep-pocketed thing which has been going on for years, directly or indirectly involving activists, lawyers, a variety of judges, academics, politicians, legal experts & conferences, trade unionists, media, educators, journalists, grass-roots folks, and (of course) some clergy. Just ask energetic Catholic-whackers (to be fair, traditional non-liberal-religion foes) Kevin Bourassa & Joe Varnell at samesexmarriage.ca —
Three years ago, in Turin, we heard the words of South Africa’s Justice Cameron. In anticipation of the great victories around the world, Cameron urged the LGBT community to leverage our advocacy skills to end other social ills. There are so many who need us to raise our voices in support of them, just as they have done for us, in and outside our community. Indeed we have an obligation to do so…
Shocked, shocked , we are.
Secret conspiracy? Pah! Lots of do-gooders and tax-dollars there, along with a lot of ordinary people being too busy and compromised in their own intellectual and private lives to get too worked up about it all. The jack-in-the box just popped, and there goes the weasel.
That Canadian Anglican leaders have done some past things but almost nothing public on this for over a year is a sad testimony to the collapse of our various institutions to hyper-radical barbarians over the past thirty and more years. It’s not that we can hope for a swift and tidy reversal of the tide if folks do step up: likely the opposite. As we’ve tried to illustrate on CaNN by linking to lots of articles by people holier, smarter, and nicer than we are, it’s all a complicated business.
But to hearken back to the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ (so named by the snooty people who came after them, who took for granted and enjoyed all the benefits of what their ‘benighted’ forebearers had built up), God is still God. Providence (God’s guiding and redeeming power in and through all things) has not been repealed. Truth is still truth, even if none believe it.
So a young noble, Benedict of Nursia (AD 480-543) set out to pray alone in the time of the falling apart of much of Western civilization as it had been; other young men were inspired by the example; Western monasticism, education, universities, hospitals, and faith would be established through his Western monasticism.
Only a Roman toddler when Blessed benedict died, young Gregory (AD 540-604) lived in a time of upheaval, invasion, and disaster. He gave up a shining political career to become a monk, and came to be elected Pope, during a devastating plague. As Pope, he wrote, sent out missionaries (including Augustine of Canterbury, to England), kept the network of churches in Europe and elsewhere connected.. the list goes on.
Christians do not need comfort, peace, and approval to transform the world by the victory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We should not seek mockery, or persecution or martyrdom, but be prepared for it and bear it gladly as a sign of blessing if it comes. As broadcast from the Canadian Senate hearings in the past few weeks, some Canadian believers are very much willing to step up, speak out, and take the consequences. Sadly, no Anglicans.
Whether in Canada, and the state as the dragon Leviathan encroaches upon religious freedom, or in places of open persecution and trouble elsewhere in the world, we are called to redeem the times, as they are, where we are, however we can. We must remember to assert the righful claims of God upon ourselves, our parishes, our various callings, and to our society as a whole. There’s a world of work to be done, but at least we’re not living amidst the ruins– yet.
Contrary to the various failed and failing utopianisms of the 20th or 21st centuries, we already have a better kingdom, a higher life, a perfect fulfilment, a merciful justice; we may return, then, with maddening courage and cheerful persistence to the world which God so loves, to live and tell that Good News, which alone can save. Each of us, all of us, and the world need to be turned upside-down again and again.
Comfortable Western Christianity has taken too much for granted in the past century, and if all must be taken away to rebuild the foundations upon a surer footing, then so be it. Seen in that way, mumbling bishops or ravening activists or confused and compromised laypeople are signs of the same times, and warning signs from God of a harvest of judgement & consequences coming nigh.
Remember the Greek myth as it applies to our times and human nature: handsome Narcissus had to fall into his watery reflection and drown, before the love-affair came to the foregone conclusion.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Great article. I'm reminded of hearing a blowhard left-winger that blamed the 'dark ages' on the Christian Church. The maroon didn't know that only Christianity had held Western civiliztion together after the Roman Empire failed from within. And it is no accident that Christian/post Christian Western countries have the most enviable living standards in the world today.
Ping
Homosexual Agenda Ping + Moral Absolutes Ping - there really are a lot of Two-fers.
The writer has quite a way with words, and the message is good too! I like this statement:
"Comfortable Western Christianity has taken too much for granted in the past century, and if all must be taken away to rebuild the foundations upon a surer footing, then so be it. Seen in that way, mumbling bishops or ravening activists or confused and compromised laypeople are signs of the same times, and warning signs from God of a harvest of judgement & consequences coming nigh."
Or as I often pray in simple layman's language: "Whatever it takes!"
I would add that it is high time for every religious believer to try to appreciate our traditional spiritually based moral values, and work together to defeat secularist, atheist hedonism. If we argue and wrangle among each other, time's a-wasting, and the servants of the dark side rub their hands in glee.
Freepmail me if you want on/off either pinglist.
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