The Gays And The Anglicans

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from The Associated Press, February 20, 2007, with a headline:Anglican Leaders Rule On Gay Issues.The following are excerpts:Anglican leaders demanded Monday that the US Episcopal church unequivalently bar official prayers for gay couples, and the consecration of more gay bishops to undo the damage that North Americans have caused the Anglican family.In a statement ending a tense six-day meeting, the leaders said that past pledges by Episcopalians for a moratorium on gay unions and consecrations have been so ambiguous that they have failed to fully mend broken relationships in the 77 million member Anglican communion.The Episcopal church, which is the US wing of world Anglicanism, must clarity its position by September 30, or its relations with other Anglicans will remain damaged at best.Anglican traditionalists believe gay relationships violate Scripture, and they have demanded that the US church adhere to that teaching or face discipline.Supporters of ordaining gays believe Biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the request contained in the document released Monday will certainly fall very short of resolving all the disputes, but will provide a way of moving forward with dignity.The advocacy group integrity, which represents Episcopal gays and lesbians accuse the leaders of bigotry, and urged Episcopalians to lobby their bishops to reject the demands.

Tom:

Dave, I’m just a simple minded guy, but it seems to me that if you do things God’s way, it’s going to work out.If you do things man’s way, you’re going to have trouble and trouble and trouble.The part of this article that my eye goes to is the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, he says will certainly fall—talking about this document—very short of resolving all the disputes, but will provide a way of moving forward with dignity.Why is that?

Dave:

Of course, he’s a man that we would look up to.Wasn’t he, a year or so ago, initiated as a druid?

Tom:

Right, he was hanging out with a druid.

Dave:

Right, occult group.Now Tom, you know, you have to kind of hold me down here, I begin to get red in the face and so forth.It says, Supporters of ordaining gays believe Biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.Well, we’ve got a guy standing before the judge and is found guilty of murder, but I think we ought to let the biblical passages about love take precedence here.Now, justice?God is just, and He has pronounced a penalty on this, and if you are going to let justice reign, how about God’s justice?Not somebody’s idea of inclusiveness, they say inclusive should take precedence.What do you mean inclusion?Well, let’s include everybody.Where are you going to draw the line?Well, we draw the line where the Bible draws the line, and very clearly, a death penalty in the Old Testament for this, it is absolutely forbidden, homosexuality.And Paul says, in Romans chapter 1, You go for this and God will give you up to a perverted mind.He’ll take His hand off of you and it’s going to get worse and worse.There’s no question that the Bible forbids this.You know it’s an old cliche, but God did not create Adam and Steve, He created Adam and Eve.And the Bible talks about a man and a woman, and it forbids two men and two women.Now Tom, there are some obvious reasons for this.See, they are violating, not just later commandments, they are violating—gays, homosexuals, lesbians, are violating, they are breaking, they are thumbing their noses at God over the very first commandment He gave.The first commandment God gave in Genesis 1, was, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.Now, gays do not have children, it's not the purpose of their union.Now, this is a life style, so called.I don’t know how you could have gay pride parades when if everyone adopted their life style, and they’re trying to get this going in the schools and so forth, if everyone adopted their lifestyle it would be the end of the human race.Furthermore, if this is some genetic aberration, which they would say, Well, it’s in my genes, you know, I inherited it, I can’t help it.Look, evolution would wipe that out in the first generation.Okay.Because these people don’t have children they are not going to pass this on.No, it is an idea, it is sin, it is wickedness, and the Bible is opposed to it, Tom, that’s it!This is what we go by, we go by the Word of God, not our feelings or what we want.

Tom:

Well, Dave, one of the positive things we can say about this, up to a point is that these Anglican leaders are trying to correct the US Episcopal church, which has just gone overboard with—I hate to say overboard, I mean, they have just gone into a pit with this.Yet the idea of tolerance, the idea which is the virtue of today, of our generation today, we would need to be tolerant in anything that—if you object to this group or that group you are being intolerant and so on.But they’ve got a mess, and they are not going to resolve any of these problems unless they can come back to God’s Word and do things His way, it’s just that simple.

Dave:

Tolerance is an abused word, Tom, as you know.We want the police to be tolerant of crime, we want doctors to be tolerant of germs and disease.See, some places that these words would work, but they are places where they don’t fit, and this is forbidden in the Bible.Am I going to be tolerant about disobeying the Bible?No.Are we going to change God’s Word?That’s what they are trying to do.No, we had better change our behavior to agree with God’s Word, it’s pretty simple.

Tom:

And of course there are other terms that are thrown out there, bigotry—according to this group—integrity.How is doing what God says to do—and He lays it out in very clear language—how is going along with what God says bigotry?I guess a term can mean anything you want, Dave.

Dave:

Well, these are the days in which we live, Tom, unfortunately. But anyway, they will not endure sound doctrines, don’t want to go by the Bible, they rewrite the Bible, we’re going to do it our way.This is rebellion, and we’re heading for judgment!