Posted on 08/06/2003 4:11:16 AM PDT by kattracks
The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia Aug. 6 —Anglican leaders in Australia and Malaysia said Wednesday that the election of an openly gay U.S. bishop could hurt the church, but differed on whether it would create a schism.
"In countries like ours, it is not only contrary to Scripture teaching, but also not conducive in our environment," the leader of the Anglican Church of West Malaysia, Bishop Dr. Lim Cheng Ean, said in Kuala Lumpur. "Practicing homosexuality is culturally and legally not acceptable here."
Lim said Southeast Asian Anglican bishops may discuss cutting ties with the U.S. church at a meeting next week, because of openly gay Rev. Gene V. Robinson's appointment as bishop of New Hampshire state.
"We will be having a meeting of the bishops of the province next week. We may discuss this then and a decision may be taken then," he said.
There are four Southeast Asian dioceses Kuching, Singapore, West Malaysia and Sabah.
But the head of Australia's Anglican Church, Primate Peter Carnley, rejected fears that Robinson's appointment would tear apart the Anglican community.
"I don't think it's a communion-breaking issue," said Carnley, who is considered a liberal voice in Australia's Anglican community.
Carnley said Robinson's appointment was likely to have a negative impact, but hoped it would spur a moral debate on homosexuality in Australia rather than a schism.
"It's an issue upon which we are divided but it's not the kind of issue that would cause us to turn out back on our Lord's teachings," Carnley told The Associated Press.
"I think it's clear there is no biblical teachings about long-term committed homosexual people, so I think we have to have a debate about how to apply the biblical principles, which really apply to promiscuity, and apply it to this modern and contemporary issue," he added.(*)
American conservatives and like-minded bishops overseas who represent millions of parishioners have said confirming Robinson would force them to consider breaking away from the church.
The Rev. Peter Jensen, a conservative Anglican archbishop in Sydney, said the decision was catastrophic for the church.
He said the new gay bishop would not be welcome in the Sydney diocese and urged opponents in the United States to fight the decision by withholding contributions to church coffers.
"For the first time, a branch of our Anglican church has knowingly appointed a person to this senior position who lives in breach of the Bible," he said. "It impacts on all of us because when a branch of the church does this, its teachings become compromised."
Melbourne's conservative Archbishop Peter Watson refused to comment on the decision, referring to an earlier statement on Robinson's pending election where he said the American church "has turned its back on our unity and must bear responsibility for the pain and disunity that will be felt throughout the Communion."
The Episcopal Church, with 2.3 million members, is the U.S. branch of the 77 million-member global Anglican Communion, which has been debating the role of gays for decades.
Nor any other societies environment.
I don't believe that the Bibilcal references, nor the societal norms regarding homosexuality are predicated upon issues of promiscuity. I believe it is the act of sodomy itself, not the frequency of the act, that is and has been the issue.
This is truly an interesting parsing. Somehow I feel that the Bibilcal references couldn't encompass the "long-term committed" aspects of the relationship, since the relationship, itself is proscribed. First time, every time.
This guy is trying to shave this too thin to justify his own liberal views--the act is wrong whether with one person for ten years or ten new people every year.
Wrong is wrong --there are no shades of gray here.
He also forgets what is spoken of in the Old Testament--Sodom and Gomorrah--just where does he think the word soddomite evolved from?
The Tarheel
(many conservative)
The Anglican Catholic Church
The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada
The Anglican Church in America
Anglican Communion
Anglicans Online
Anglican Province of America
Anglican Province of Christ the King
American Anglican Council
The Anglican Mission in America
The Charismatic Episcopal Church
Lambeth Conference
Old Catholic Church of America
Order of St. Vincent
The Prayer Book Society (Ecusa)
Reformed Episcopal Church
The Traditional Anglican Communion
The Conference on Anglican Unity
Sodality of the Most Holy Rosary
Traditional Anglican Documents
Episcopal Missionary Church
Episcopal Orthodox Church
United Episcopal Church of North America
Ya think????
Here's a clue, guys - think before you select.
Does anyone else find this headline, um, amusing?
Does anyone else find this headline, um, amusing?
I thought about offering some advice about the proper use of Vaseline, but rejected it as crude. Thanks for sharing my vision. :)
Thus creating a cult, outside of the true word of God.
The Bible clearly states in the Old Testament that Homosexuals are an abomination to God, and the New Testament shows that they will not enter the Kingdom of God.
I feel we are one step closer to rapture!
Martin Luther wasn't thrilled about quislings, either:
"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at that point attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested. To be steady in all the battlefields besides is mere flight and disgrace, if the soldier flinches at that one point."
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