Posted on 08/08/2003 5:06:55 AM PDT by Paul_B
Edited on 04/23/2004 12:05:47 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Gospel of Inclusion? Its Episcopal disciples leave little room for Scripture.
MINNEAPOLIS--This week, the Episcopal Church's triennial Convention was the site of a media frenzy. On Tuesday, church leaders meeting here took the unprecedented step of approving as bishop a practicing homosexual, the Rev. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. At press time, they seemed poised to give local communities permission to bless same-sex unions.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
annie: a form of godliness, while denying the power thereof.
Revelation 3:14-19"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
I thought this was the most important point of the whole article. IMO, this "if it feels good, it's OK to do it" theology dovetails perfectly with the whole narcisstic attitude of homosexuality.
And one that C. S. Lewis talks about in "The Screwtape Letters".
Make you wonder why they don't see it that way. I guess their desire to push the homosexual agenda is stronger than their desire to teach the undiluted Word of God.
Indeed -- Or a war for the souls of the Christian churches.
We all should be on the same side in this degenerate age; this is why I find the inter-denomination sniping on FR so distressing.
Blessing a union whose "life force" is dead on arrival? Like God is going to turn the rectum into a womb and like where is he going to put the ovaries? And is He going to give both "significant others" the same organs,will they be interchangeable?
This is a serious and growing problem in many religious organizations. Not long ago, I came across a christian lesbian apologetics web site, developed by a recently ordained lesbian Protestant minister. The website has an ample assortment of lesbian apologetics essays offering a "biblical defense" of homosexuality. (somewhat of a conundrum I feel).
The webmistress herself recently married her life partner. It took place in a Lutheran church, something that truly disturbed me. More disturbing, yet, is that these people truly believe that their lifestyle and marriage are blessed by God!
Here is the happy couple, along with a link to the web site.
"My perspective at this moment was looking into the face of the woman I most love in all the earth and being filled with the deepest sense of joy and gratitude. Dana confirms the same was was true for her!"
Peace Lutheran Church
Danville, California
I'm willing to admit I was heavily influenced by heterosexuals in my formative years. Everywhere I looked, there they were, flaunting their life style and as a result the couples I most admired were those who were married and like so many other young women I grew up dreaming of marriage and realizing I was a lesbian later in life did little to change that. I hoped to one day fall in love and get married to that special someone and that dream became reality the day I met Dana.
On the day I asked her to be my wife, I didn't give any thought to what the government, the church, or my diversely-opinionated gay and lesbian friends would think. I asked Dana to marry me because I love her above all others and out of that love flowed the desire to commit my faithfulness to her alone and to create a life together as a couple in this world. For the record, I've been assured by Dana that her responding 'yes' had everything to do with love and nothing to do with an attempt to irritate and infuriant the masses.
As Christians, our faith and our God are central to our relationship. For this reason church is one of the most significant communities within our lives and seems the most right place to celebrate and affirm this next step in our lives together. We've already affirmed our commitment to each other before God but we also want to make that same commitment before our friends and family so they'll know the intent of our heart and the promises we've made to each other and to God. Our motivation for marrying within the church isn't so we can give the appearance of conformity to the rites and traditions of the church and thereby gain acceptance but instead we marry within the church because we believe in both our sexual identity and in our relationship we have something life-giving to bring to the church that will enrich its collective life and enlarge it beyond its boundaries. I mean, let's not kid ourselves! After all the vows have been exchanged and the rituals have been fulfilled there will be two women kissing and so that alone makes it a radical event!
I understand the concerns of some lesbians who shy away from the word because of the presumed marital roles and inequity of power that it traditionally implies. We've tried all the gay couple language like 'girlfriend', 'partner', 'significant other', and 'lover' but those words leave me unsatisfied. I've had other girlfriends but what I have with Dana is a unique once-in-a-lifetime relationship and so it needs a word I've never used before and 'wife' and 'spouse' are the only ones I can come up with short of creating a language of my own. Those are the only words I currently know that capture our mutual commitment and the intimacy of our relationship. When I call her my wife I'm speaking of the one I cherish above all others and when she calls me her wife I feel cherished above all others.
They remind me of the benignly smiling, happy-together, death-dealing Heaven's Gate cult
(who committed mass suicide) who also used New Wave religion for their deadly purposes.
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