Posted on 01/28/2020 4:51:48 PM PST by marshmallow
The Church of England has become a laughing stock, senior religious figures have warned Bishops, after they issued a decree that people in civil partnerships should not have intercourse.
Following a landmark legal battle in 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that civil partnerships could be made available to heterosexual couples.
However last week the House of Bishops issued pastoral guidance to clergy on how to deal with sex outside of marriage. It concluded that sex belongs only within heterosexual marriage, and that Christians who are in either gay or straight civil partnerships should conduct sexually abstinent friendships
The guidance sparked furious criticism from LGBT campaigners both within and outside the church.
However, today, well-known CoE figures issued an open letter to Archbishops warning that The Church of England has this week become a laughingstock to a nation that believes it is obsessed with sex.
More importantly this statement has significantly damaged the mission of the Church and it has broken the trust of those it seeks to serve it seems our trust has been misplaced and we feel badly let down.
Among the signatories include: the Ven Canon Peter Leonard, Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight and chair of the pressure group, One Body One Faith, Christina Baron, a member of the General Synod and chair of the Human Sexuality Group on General Synod, the Revd Andrew Foreshew-Cain, chaplain to Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford and the Founder of the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England, as well as Jayne Ozanne is a prominent gay evangelical and member of General Synod.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
better to be moral, or at least try to be moral, and a “laughing stock” (as he put it), .............................than patently immoral and whatever
bttt
“Church of England is a ‘Laughing Stock’....”
England is a laughing stock.
The bigger issue is the civil partnership. It’s not marriage.
That where sexual relations belongs is even a matter of debate testifies to spiritual and moral declension.
The guidance sparked furious criticism from LGBT campaigners both within and outside the church.
Confirmation that the Biblical position is correct.
Laugh now; for it ain't gonna be very funny later...
Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
Leviticus niv
18:22 Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
20:13 If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them;
they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.
Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
================================================
2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.
They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
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.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
But there IS hope!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
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