Posted on 01/08/2007 7:06:05 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Just FYI for people who hadn't previously considered Anglican Churches -- they are a good alternative to the Episcopal Church and are typically quite conservative.
A repudiation of God and God's word is certainly consistent with gay bishops, woman priests and leftist politics.
Excellent.
Honestly, I'm surprised the WaPo published it.
ping
The title convinced the editor.
Excellent post shrinkermd, thanks so much.
wow.
It ounds like the Episcopalians are sibmitting their church to the religion of secular humansism which dominates our government, schools and society topday.
The federal government is violating the first amendment by establishing the religion of secular humanism.
It is a creed. It is doctrinal. It has a hierarchy. It has clerics. It has money. It has dedicated adherents.
It is entirely faith-based.
We must invoke the anti-establishment clause and force the Feds to stop promoting the creed of secular humanism.
Woah! a shot right between the eyes! thanks for posting it shrink.
Not nearly as conservative as they once were. If I were you,and considering a move to the Anglican (in which I was originally baptised), I would take a good, close look at the doctrine and the expression thereof. The Anglican church in Canada supports homosexual members, as does the Lutheran, although I don't think it goes so far as to allow gay ministers, or homosexually-married minister, but I could be wrong. This is not a case of 'love the sinner, hate the sin.' I DO know that the Lutheran, in Canada, preaches total tolerance of homosexuality and considers the abhorence of sodomy in the Bible to be 'old fashioned' and no longer relevant... 'pick and choose' Christianity.
I'm a former Episcopalian and have considered trying to find a conservative Anglican church or maybe a conservative Lutheran one. Where are the resources on the net? I haven't been able to find one here in Oregon (maybe because the state is too liberal?)
lol!. . .probably 'multi-tasking' while reading the rest of it.
First let me say - I am not a Christian - I am a Jew.
But, next let me say, that events like this grieve me. I don't like to see Christians who repudiate, deny, or water down their faith. I don't like to see churches in trouble, like the Catholic Church with the recent scandals.
Our civilization - our Judeo/Christian civilization - needs Christians to be strong in their faith, strong in their belief and united in their defense of that faith. We need one another.
Together, Christians and Jews, albeit with many stumbles along the way - have created a worthy civilization, a means for people to govern themselves through representative republics (often mistakenly called democracies), through self-imposed justice rather than the king's justice, and with peaceful transition of power every few years.
These are fantastic accomplishments. And, it is all being tested and threatened by an alien religious ethic that believes in none of the above. Islam preaches precisely the opposite.
Just at a time when our faith and resolve are being tested by the "other" - our own house is not strong, even crumbling. The churches of Europe are empty, the mosques are full.
To defend our house, we need strong faith.
The Roman Catholic church still believes. We may have our share of non-believers who are hanging on and the infamous cafeteria catholics, but the majority from the Pope on down do believe in the creed.
*Ping*
Try the Orthodox Church. We haven't changed in 2000 years :)
Hear! Hear!
Here is a list of "safe" Anglican churches in the US
http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/kaysplace/-finding.html
outstanding post
Yes, Basheva a good post. Thank you.
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