Friday, August 8, 2008

No spine whatsoever

OK I take it back, the archbishop of Canterbury has no theological or moral spine whatsover:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4473814.ece

The Anglican church is quite clearly on the death march to hell if it follows this mans leadership.

God bless,
Bec

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The reason Rowan Williams won't stand up and be counted is he is afraid of falling off the fence.

Okay, that's a cheap shot. I apologise.

I think he is really looking at all the long-term harm that is done by schism in the body of Christ. He doesn't want to see more of that harm come to pass now.

As the word of God says,

"But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions (greek: schismata) among you." (1 Cor 11:17-18)

Schism is clearly not the perfect will of God for the Church. When it happens, it is caused by human weakness and sin. For this reason there are, sadly, some inevitable moments in history where the choice is between unity and sound doctrine but not both.

Continuing the same reading from 1 Corinthians 11:19, "And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognised."

At such an inevitable moment, those who would remain faithful to the Apostolic teaching must stand up and be counted. Not out of factionalism or divisiveness, or struggling for power or control, but for the sake of the sacred trust of the Gospel "... and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 Tim 2:2

There are many kinds of unity. The Archbishopp of Canterbury is seeking visible, organisational unity, and that certainly has a place. But the Apostle Paul was concerned more with doctrinal unity in truth. As he wrote to Timothy, "As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine..." (1 Tim 1:3)

Rowan Williams has his heart in the right place, but he has become wrong-headed. Having strayed from faithfulness to the Apostolic teaching himself, he cannot take a stand against the Episcopal Church of America and the Anglican Church of Canada, who are, after all, only putting into practise what the Archbishop himself believes.

Unknown said...

Nineteen Bishops of the Church of England have co-signed a recent letter to the Times newspaper. They criticise the way the paper used some personal letters written between seven and eight years ago by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The letters reveal something of his personal views on homosexuality.

The Bishops' letter to the Times can be found here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article4487712.ece

This brings fresh and valuable insight, and suggests the Abp.'s thinking has moved in the right direction since he wrote those letters.

One thing in the Bishops' letter concerned me: they specify that the moratorium applies to any more consecrations of practising homosexuals as Bishops. This moratorium should also apply to ordination of practising homosexuals as deacons or priests.

It is as if the ordination of deacons and priests is seen as territory already captured and that will not be given back.

Surely the biblical norm is that no-one who continues to be active in "porné" (sexual immorality) can hold office or be a member of an order in the Church.