Why We Left the Episcopal Church

Washington Post ^ | 8 January 2007 | The Rev. John Yates and Os Guinness

[shrinkermd]

When even President Gerald Ford's funeral at Washington National Cathedral is not exempt from comment about the crisis in the Episcopal Church, we believe it is time to set the record straight as to why our church and so many others around the country have severed ties with the Episcopal Church.

...The core issue in why we left is not women's leadership. It is not "Episcopalians against equality," as the headline on a recent Post op-ed by Harold Meyerson put it. It is not a "leftward" drift in the church. It is not even primarily ethical -- though the ordination of a practicing homosexual as bishop was the flash point that showed how far the repudiation of Christian orthodoxy had gone.

The core issue for us is theological: the intellectual integrity of faith in the modern world. It is thus a matter of faithfulness to the lordship of Jesus, whom we worship and follow. The American Episcopal Church no longer believes the historic, orthodox Christian faith common to all believers. Some leaders expressly deny the central articles of the faith -- saying that traditional theism is "dead," the incarnation is "nonsense," the resurrection of Jesus is a fiction, the understanding of the cross is "a barbarous idea," the Bible is "pure propaganda" and so on. Others simply say the creed as poetry or with their fingers crossed.

It would be easy to parody the "Alice in Wonderland" surrealism of Episcopal leaders openly denying what their faith once believed, celebrating what Christians have gone to the stake to resist -- and still staying on as leaders. But this is a serious matter.

[AnAmericanMother]

Ping for the Anglican Ping List . . .

[DungeonMaster]

Any church that makes females pastors should be abandoned because said church has abandoned the bible.

[Recon Dad]

Bravo!

[Dudoight]

Basheva, your rational thinking impresses me. As a Christian, I am with you!

[Reo]

"Episcopal revisionism negates the authority of faith. The "sola scriptura" ("by the scriptures alone") doctrine of the Reformation church has been abandoned for the "sola cultura" (by the culture alone) way of the modern church. No longer under authority, the Episcopal Church today is either its own authority or finds its authority in the shifting winds of intellectual and social fashion -- which is to say it has no authority."

In other words, the Episcopal Church has chosen to become its own arbitor and source of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They will find the apple bitter. This from a once-Episcopal, later Lutheran, now 12-year Catholic parishoner who finally feels like I have come home.

[Stashiu]

Hear, hear, Basheva!

I am a long inactive Lutheran just getting back into circulation once again. I prefer the liturgical church as it provides a connection to our past that is the underpinnings of our present and future.

IMHO, the main line churches have strayed into side issues instead of stressing faith and spiritual development. The core issues of faith are important. How we live our lives and treat our fellow man and ourselves are certainly important, but should come from the inside out. In a sense, our lives ideally reflect our inner life.

Many of my social views might be viewed as having theologically liberal underpinnings (although that would be mistaken), but, again, these are distractions from the spiritual life. In the spirit of Martin Luther, I question theologies, but in the Zen tradition, I recognize that these are man's attempts to intellectualize the spiritual.

I am opposed to gay 'marriage' in my church, because it is not traditional. I believe it also to be a human distraction from the divine. Gay, not gay? I'll let God sort that out.

I think that the singleness of purpose, the core beliefs of the church, is what needs to be focused on. As humans, we can interpret what that means for us to live our lives. As usual, it is always subject to human error.

The gospel of Jesus is always relevant. The gospel about Jesus is always a temptation to succumb to the mundane.

As we have balkanized this country, we have balkanized our churches, while arguing about the number of saints to fit on the head of a pin on any number of social issues. This is a distraction. We are under assault by a death cult intent on our demise.

Stashiu.... an antique Lutheran, been there, done that, still praying (I stole that!).

[eureka!]

marking

[rochester_veteran]

Basheva,

This Roman Catholic and many others that I know, stand with you and our Jewish brothers and sisters! I agree with you that together, we have created a worthy and I must add, free civilization. We are all being tested and are living in trying times. The Jewish people are included in my daily prayers. We must stand together!

[dimeadozen]

It seems to me that one by one "christian" churches are swayed by the rising tide of secularism, and the result is the death of pure christian values. It also seems to me that the pattern eastablished in the bible to maintain christain doctrine against paganism (or in our case, secularism) was to establish prophets and apostles with revelation to teach what it was that God wanted to tell his people- where are they now that we need them the most? Why are the heavens shut?

[ishmac]

Would that Episcopal leaders showed the same zeal for their faith that they do for their property. If the present decline continues, all that will remain of a once strong church will be empty buildings, kept going by the finances, though not the faith, of the fathers.

But the material collapse will eventually follow the moral debacle. The congregations of these places will continue to dwindle until they are forced to sell the buildings. The buildings will become "community centers" as they have in Europe and the people who have run them into the ground will live off the capital until they die.

As a cradle Episcopalian and now Catholic convert, I came to see that the Episcopal church did not have the "antibodies" to fight off the modernism that has engulfed it. Although the Catholic Church has been disrupted by modernism, it has the "antibodies" to fight it off and eventually prosper.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

"Denominations with official and long-standing PRO-CHOICE positions include the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and Reform and Conservative Judaism.

These organizations have a diversity of views about ABORTION and recognize it as a morally complex decision that must be made by the person most affected--the woman."

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/120/story_12021_1.html

(*IMO acceptance of ABORTION in so many denominations is the worst thing of all. I left the Presbyterian Church USA because of it.)

[NewHampshireDuo]

The new pastor at my mother's UCC refers to Jesus as "her."

[Basheva]

Well, folks - blush, blush.....thanks for appreciating my comments.

Which brings me to more comments. I assume that most of you have heard of the Cross that sits on Mt. Soledad in La Jolla - San Diego, California.

A decades long battle by an athiest (recently deceased) has been waged to remove that Cross from public property. Though the athiest has died, the battle rages on.

We mounted a huge campaign to get this on the ballot and it was overwhelmingly approved by the people of this city to keep the Cross where it is. Still a judge overturned the results of the vote. Duncan Hunter (presidential candidate) and Brian Bilbray and other Republican represntatives from this area persuaded Pres. Bush to take this land as a National Monument to keep the Cross where it is - as a war memorial - which it also is.

But the other forces have not given up and the battle STILL continues - probably all the way to the Supreme Court.

What I really want to say is that you should know the huge effort in this fight to keep the Cross - was run by a Jew. No, not me - but another Jew - I had lunch with him. I, as a Jew, voted to keep this Cross on the mountain.

I am not sure where the law is about the Cross on public property - I assume the Supreme Court will someday rule on that - but I do know that if we tear down that Cross, we will next tear down the Star of David, and then the Churches and Synagoges and we'll all go down the tubes together.

But, that's not the end of it. When all our religious symbols are gone it will leave a vacuum. Nature hates a vacuum. And there is Islam waiting to fill it - as it has already done in Europe.

And when those symbols and our Houses of Worship are gone, so too will our other American institutions: self-government.

That Cross on Mt. Soledad is the symbol of the health of my beloved country. Our beloved country.

[rlmorel]

A very well worded and thought out post, Basheva.

[rlmorel]

Your last line brought tears to my eyes. It seems...how rare it is to hear that.

[LiteKeeper]

Amen!

[LiteKeeper]

In my opinion, the Reformed Episcopal Church is an excellent choice for those interested in Anglicanism.

RE Church

[GVnana]

I'm just a glutton for a flame, but I'll say it anyway. Look at the destruction homosexuals and their weak-minded enablers do.