National Council of Churches Pres.: Jesus Never said Anything About Homosexuality or Abortion

LifeSiteNews ^ | 13 July 2006 | Gudrun Schultz

[Aussie Dasher]

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Forget about traditional morality—Christianity should focus on eradicating poverty, protecting the environment and ending the war in Iraq, according to the general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Dr. Bob Edgar.

“Jesus never said one word about homosexuality, never said one word about civil marriage or abortion,” said Dr. Edgar to CBS News at a recent gathering of liberal Christian leaders in Washington.

The gathering was the latest effort by the “religious left” to gain back some of the political power the group enjoyed during the 60’s and early 70’s. 30 years ago liberal religious leaders used their political influence to lead demonstrations against social injustices such as civil rights abuses and the Vietnam War. Once those issues left the spotlight, liberal Christianity lost focus and faded to the background.

Now, liberal Christian leaders are attempting to stage a return to power, targeting young voters and concentrating on increasing childcare funding and raising the minimum wage. The group wants to build a strong voter base to counter what it calls the “ground game” of the Christian right—the powerful voting block of traditional Christians that has significant influence on the country’s politics.

Finding a unifying message that will allow the group to achieve political clout has been a struggle, observers have said. The New York Times reported in May on an earlier meeting by liberal Christian activists in Washington, a brainstorming session concentrating on identifying the group’s goals.

During a session on ethical sexual behavior, the meeting bypassed discussion of concrete issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Instead, Rev. Ama Zenya of First Congregational Church in Oakland, California, directed the gathering to discuss their spiritual values and “to practice fully our authentic being,” reported the Times.

The results of the gathering were disappointing, said liberal Baptist minister Rev. Tony Campolo, who once acted as spiritual adviser to President Bill Clinton, and attended the conference.

“We didn’t get on the same page with everyone, and it is about getting on the same page. The thing about the left is that they want everybody to feel good.”

Dr. Edgar, who has been general secretary of the NCC since 2000, was applauded by homosexual activist organizations shortly after his election for withdrawing his signature from an ecumenical statement in defence of traditional marriage, “A Christian Declaration on Marriage.”

Dr. Edgar also apologized to members of the homosexual community for originally endorsing the document, which was co-signed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the National Association of Evangelicals.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Jesus would never approve of the marriage laws of the OT.

"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16;31)

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16;31)

[GoLightly]

I have a cast on my right arm & it makes typing quite tedious. Rather than writing out my own response to you,
I offer a link:

http://www.ldolphin.org/divorce.html

[Zeon Cowboy]

You know, if Christianity was only about that which was recorded as being spoken aloud by Jesus Christ, the bible would be about 30-40 pages long. There are thousands of years of prior history that go along with it. In a way, Jesus "rewrote the rules" when he saved our souls from damnation, but he did not in any way lower or relax the moral standards that God's people should hold themselves to. He actually raised them significantly.

I don't get this logic that "Well, if Jesus didn't say anything about it, then it must be okay." Why would Jesus have spoken about abortion or something as then-completely unheard of as gay marriage? And as for homosexuality in general, if God wasn't okay with it in the Old Testament, what makes them think that he's changed his mind since then? Just because Jesus didn't have time to talk about it? You know, his ministry only lasted a couple of years and he had a couple of other, more pressing matters to attend to, like, oh, I don't know, saving mankind? He was a great teacher, but a savior before that. Merely because Jesus did not address the issue does not mean that he was neutral towards it. To my knowledge, Jesus never spoke about incest - does this mean that he was okay with it? Of course not.

Perhaps the answer to the issue of homosexuality was such a non-issue in those days that the writers of the gospel did not even see fit to record it, even if Jesus did say something about it. Immoral then, immoral now - it was the same as it has always been. They probably preferred to focus on writing down the new teachings that Jesus brought.

[Manic_Episode]

Bookmark

[Shelayne]

AMEN & AMEN!

This is my favorite subject!! No--not the homosexual marriage/abortion subject--I'm talking about my Jesus!

Hallelujah, He reigns!

[Lancey Howard]

He never said anything about protecting the environment, either

I once asked my daughter, "What would Jesus drive?"
She answered, "A Chrysler. Obviously."

[fish hawk]

This is so simple, most people can't even grasp it. So, here it is. When Christ came the law was done away with. In the old Testament you were saved by obeying the law, after Christ, he came to fulfill the law. "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." So simple its hard to believe.

[redgolum]

I believe that even by first century standards thess laws were immoral. I am no liberal, but I believe that Jesus did indeed repudiate the Mosiac Law.

The problem is that makes the God of the OT different from the God of the NT. There have been a number of heresies from way back that took a line of thought similar to yours and followed it to its conclusion.

Remember this about the Canaanites. When the Romans (hardly the standard of virtue) fought the remnant of the Canaanites (the Carthaginians), they were horrified at the child sacrifice and other things that they did. Scipio razed Carthage both in retaliation for Hannibal, and to put an end to their horrible ways. These were not nice people whom God just decided to pick on.

[RobbyS]

They seem to be overlooking comments about his fulfilling rather than abolishing the Law.

[redgolum]

Slavery in ancient Israel was not the slavery we think of today. Every seven years, and during the year of the Jubilee, the slaves were freed and paid for their labor. There were laws to regulate the treatment of bond servants, and explicit warnings to remember that "They are your brothers". Of interest, the land that was sold outside of the family was also to be returned during those Jubilee years.

There were times when this was not followed, and later rabbinic traditions tried to find all sorts of loop holes to make it more harsh, but from the beginning, slavery was more of a contract employment. Slaves were expected to be paid for their labor, and freed after the time of service was done.

[Señor Zorro]

Jesus never told anyone to stop being Jewish. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder. He was observant to the end.

I suppose that all depends on what, precisely, you mean by that. Jesus did not tell anyone to stop being Jewish--that would be as absurd and undoable (to a human) as telling the Irish to be Polish, or Swedes to be Mongols. In other words, it would require changing the past. However, if you mean that Jesus never said that OT laws were obsolete, you are wrong:

""Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")" Mark 17:18-19 (Emphasis mine).

[Coleus]

what does one expect from the national council of churches?

[firebrand]

He also didn't say anything about sprinkling Rice Krispies all over someone's floors and then unscrewing all the lightbulbs.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Forget about traditional morality—Christianity should focus on eradicating poverty, protecting the environment and ending the war in Iraq, according to the general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Dr. Bob Edgar.

I'll have to pick up the New Testament and find out Our Lord's views on Kyoto and Iraq...

[Coleus]

Membership Statistics
For The National Council of Churches' Member Communions
Current as of 07/07/2005

Religious Body	Year Reporting	Number of Churches Reporting	Inclusive Membership	Number of Pastors Serving Parishes
African Methodist Episcopal Church	1999		2,500,000	7,741
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	2003	3,236	1,432,795	3,285
The Alliance of Baptists in the U.S.A.	2002	128	63,870	286
American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.	2003	5,834	1,433,075	4,277
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America	2003	226	390,000	400
Armenian Apostolic Church, Diocese of America	1991	72	414,000	49
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada	2003	3,717	770,793	3,412
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church	2002	3,300	850,000	3,001
Church of the Brethren	2003	1,062	132,481	796
Coptic Orthodox Church	2000	100	300,000	140
Episcopal Church	2002	7,305	2,320,221	6,060
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	2003	10,657	4,984,925	9,225
Friends United Meeting	2002	427	42,680	306
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America	2003	510	1,500,000	570
Hungarian Reformed Church in America	2001	27	6,000	27
International Council of Community Churches	2003	126	108,806	283
Korean Presbyterian Church in America, General Assembly of the	2003	302	55,000	465
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Diocese of America
Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India	2003	72	35,000	45
Moravian Church in America (Unitas Fratrum)	2003	92	24,650	90
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	2000		3,500,000
National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.		9,000	5,000,000
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America	1992		2,500,000
The Orthodox Church in America	2003	731	1,000,000	798
Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A.		31	7,000	45
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends	2003	104	11,874	0
Polish National Catholic Church of America	2003		60,000	120
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)	2003	11,064	3,241,309	8,945
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.	1995	2,000	2,500,000
Reformed Church in America	2003	897	278,739	828
Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada	1986	68	67,000	60
The Swedenborgian Church	2003	40	1,677	26
Syrian (Syriac) Orthodox Church of Antioch	2003	31	32,500	26
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.	2000	115	13,000	103
United Church of Christ	2003	5,738	1,296,652	4,219
The United Methodist Church	2002	35,102	8,251,175	24,269
Totals		106,288	45,125,222	79,897

Current as of 07/07/2005

African Methodist Episcopal Church  The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church  Alliance of Baptists  American Baptist Churches in the USA  Diocese of the Armenian Church of America  Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)  Christian Methodist Episcopal Church  Church of the Brethren  The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America  The Episcopal Church  Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  Friends United Meeting  Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America   Hungarian Reformed Church in America  International Council of Community Churches  Korean Presbyterian Church in America  Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church  Mar Thoma Church  Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province  National Baptist Convention of America

National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.  National Missionary Baptist Convention of America  Orthodox Church in America  Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA  Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends  Polish National Catholic Church of America  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.  Reformed Church in America  Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada  The Swedenborgian Church  Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch  Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America  United Church of Christ  The United Methodist Church     See also:  The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA)

National Council of Churches USA -- Home Page

Membership Statistics for National Council of Churches Members

[Inphamy]

I agree with all the comments here and I'm utterly disgusted that this schmuck can sit there and say these blasphemous statements like this. All I've got to add is in the old testament there was a city called what? UMM let see was it Sodom and Gomorrah!!! Hmmm and why did god destroy that city? If you haven't read it then I suggest you do, because obviously this guy didn't.

And if we keep on the track and the pace that we as a nation are moving then we will be a first hand witness of the fact that S and G was a true story!!!!

[YOUGOTIT]

"UMM let see was it Sodom and Gomorrah!!!"

Also the tribe of Benjamin were destroyed because they had started to become like Sodom and Gomorrah. All of the tribe were killed including all women and children and animals except for 400 hundred men who fled. The rest of the tribes allowed them to return and furnished them wives as well as allowing them to take women from a religious festival without consequences just as the Romans did later to the Sabine's.

[Inphamy]

(tribe of Benjamin)

And yet another perfect example of how GOD deals with sexual immorality!!!


Spot on YOUGOTIT!!!!! Spot on!!!

[Inphamy]

The thing that baffles me is people think that being a homosexual is some modern day way of thinking, when this stuff has been going on for thousands of years and you know every end result was the same, Death and Destruction!!!

And I will tell you this God does not deal in "If" "Ands" or "Buts"...His word is the truth, and woe to anyone who tries to twist it or change it and leads anyone astray by it!!!