Posted on 10/22/2006 2:04:14 PM PDT by Peanut Gallery
As many as a third of this weekend’s convention delegates, based on voice votes, seemed to be willing to walk away from the denomination now. But Bishop Stanton asked his more conservative churches to stay with the diocese in spite of the national church.
“Separation is never a strategy,” he said in a speech. “Those who depart the church are not, I think, fulfilling Christ’s call but are fulfilling the expectations the world has about the church, that we cannot really get along,” he said.
Bishop Stanton is a leader in the conservative Anglican Communion Network and shares the opinions of many of his conservative members. But he wasn’t just making a rhetorical point about unity.
The largest church in the diocese – one of the largest in the denomination – pulled out last month. Christ Church of Plano may be followed by St. Matthias of Dallas, which sent a note but no representatives to the weekend convention.
After the convention, the bishop said his call for church unity would apply to the denomination only if it follows “the teachings of the apostles.”
Whether that’s happening is what created the rift in the Episcopal Church – and is roiling other denominations including the Methodists, Presbyterians and even the Southern Baptist Convention. In the conservative-led SBC, its leaders are battling over whether a “private prayer language” – commonly known as speaking in tongues – is in accord with the Bible.
Those battles may make the local survey particularly interesting. It’s an unusually detailed snapshot taken by a market research company whose owner is a local Episcopalian.
According to the survey, about three-quarters of the local leaders said the national denomination did not reflect their personal convictions or their Christian beliefs. About 70 percent disagreed with the right granted by the national body for the ordination of “people living in homosexual unions” or for local clergy to perform same-sex marriages.
Read it all.
ping
Am I the only one to see the irony in this statement coming from a Protestant?
There has been a long and often close relationship between
the Anglican and Catholic Churches. In certain situations
there remains a mutual recognition of the validity of key
doctrines, liturgies, and practices. And the Catholic
Church continues to hold the faith and moral teachings as
taught by the Apostles.
I understand that there is also an Anglican Use liturgy
within the Catholic Church, wherein the Book of Common Prayer
is used for the Mass (with minor updates). So there is no need
to lose the liturgy Anglicans may be familiar with.
Resources for those interested in the Catholic faith:
Catholic Answers
www.catholic.com
A superb site for clearing away the myths propagated by too many.
Offers free on-line library that examines all the major issues,
free on-line archive of over 1,500 hours of radio/audio material,
plus magazines, books, pamphlets, tracts, videos, and more.
Coming Home Network
www.chnetwork.org
Provides fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant
pastors and laymen who are somewhere along the journey or
have already been received into the Catholic Church.
Biblical Evidence for Catholicism
www.biblicalcatholic.com
Dave Armstrong's monster site. Eclectic, fun, exhaustingly
detailed, personal, moving, and more.
And may God bless your journey where ever it takes you.
posted on 08/05/2003 5:19 PM PDT by polemikos
I'm a protestant and I think the statement is ridiculous.
I just don't understand these "Bible-based" religions embracing homosexuality or same-sexed "marriages". It must be a different Bible or a fulfillment of a last days prophecy.
Hey now. Episcopalians are more Catholic than Protestant. Belonging to the organization has always been more important than doctrine.
I am glad to see this division develop. It is long overdue.
My Christmas song:
May all the Mainlines go to Hell,
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel.
In more than one verse in the Bible we are told not to argue with fools. So, yes, the church should split so that the fools who argue against God's word by promoting homosexuality do not run the entire "church." Then the followers of Christ can continue with their Christian, believing, church and not have to argue about ut.
"According to the survey, about three-quarters of the local leaders said the national denomination did not reflect their personal convictions or their Christian beliefs. About 70 percent disagreed with the right granted by the national body for the ordination of “people living in homosexual unions” or for local clergy to perform same-sex marriages."
Kinda hard to express unity when 70% are against you--unless unity means that you agree with the 70%.
You probably are not the only one, but the Anglican Church is in the apostolic tradition, and does not regard itself as having broken away from anything.
What caused the split between the Western Church and the Orthodox? It is rather hard sometimes to tell who left whom.
Being in the "right church" does not guarantee salvation, anyway.
A friend of mine wrote a book on "Milton and the Rhetoric of Zeal." He quotes a sermon by Henry Wilkinson (1641) on the via media of the Anglican Church. Wilkinson describes Anglican "moderation" thus: "What lesse to be indured in the stomacke, than indigested meate? What lesse to be embraced, than vomit? What more to be loathed?"
His words seem somewhat appropriate to this case of latitudinarian tolerance.
NO!!
I've reduced my offerings greatly to the Presbyterian church as the "rulers" are so far in left field that I don't want to support their values! I remain at my church right now for the fellowship with wonderful Christians who are also very upset with their rulings. Once they open to homosexuals, I'm out of there.
"In more than one verse in the Bible we are told not to argue with fools."
Jesus himself also says that we are not to call a brother a fool. It's a pretty hard commandment to keep nowadays!
Irony? Even Jesus said at the End Times, he will turn away from the false teachers.
This widening schism has important international implications.
When individual Episcopal churches in the US have had enough of their liberal bishop, they have an escape: to leave his diocese and become a "missionary church" to a conservative African diocese.
It is a marriage made in heaven. And the timing is perfect.
These "missionary churches" in America are very wealthy, and send huge amounts of money to their African diocese, by Africa standards. In turn, this has allowed the African dioceses to greatly expand and enlarge.
With Moslems who have converted to Christianity!
Great numbers of African Moslems have had enough of Islam, and are turning to Anglicanism (and Evangelical Christianity) at *just* the time when extra money is flowing in to build new churches and minister to their needs.
It would be agonizing to these liberal bishops if they knew that indirectly, by their actions to corrupt the Episcopalian church with liberal causes, they are both undermining Islam and building gigantic conservative dioceses.
As a Roman Catholic, I can see your point, but we still all have unity as Christians.
I could be mistaken, but I don't belive that Christ called the world to sodomy.
Do not throw your pearls before swine, or give what is holy to dogs... It's refreshing to see the Episcopalians finally saying "Enough!"; forty years and their finally getting a wake up call!
Sometimes I have to wonder who is a "brother" in Christ and who is not. If someone doesn't believe the New Testament is he a Christian? Can he truly say "No, I don't believe the New Testament but I believe that Christ is the resurrected Son of God?" Where did he get the message that Christ is the Son of God? If someone believes the Bible yet publicly claims that they can't follow it (not one of us can follow it perfectly) I'm fine with that. But when someone claims that God's word does not say what it clearly says are they truly disciples of Christ?
I've had liberals in my old church (I left when they left God's word) tell me that conservatives can not possibly be Christians because conservatives aren't politically correct (which to them is "love").
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