Posted on 08/08/2008 11:30:04 AM PDT by Gamecock
ROME, ITALY - Pope Benedict XVI denounced the practices of the Episcopal Church (USA) this week by stating that they have strayed too far from scripture. In a move that shocked many because of its direct nature, the Pope said, "The Episcopal Church in the United States continues its practice of moving farther and farther away from what the bible teaches us. They act as if the holy scriptures have nothing to say about life and how we should live it. Now that they are openly ordaining gay bishops and ignoring the gospel message, what is left for them to ignore? The Episcopal Church is like a ship without a rudder. They have nowhere left to look for direction and guidance."
The Pope went on to say, "What Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori must do is lead the Episcopal church in a revival of studying the bible. They must ask themselves what the bible says, and then simply do it. They are in serious danger of straying so far from scripture that they will cease to be a church at all. They must be careful that their traditions do not get in the way of what the inspired word has to say even today."
In response, Bishop Schori said, "We understand the Pope's concerns. After all, we did make the mistake of breaking with Rome 500 years ago. However, what is done is done, and we are moving onward."
Schori continued, "Despite his good intentions, the Pope has made an assumption that is faulty. He assumes that a true church must follow scripture. What he must not yet understand is that the Episcopal Church has evolved to the point of no longer needing the bible. In fact, I don't even own one. We now gain our wisdom and understanding from higher forms such as our own minds, statues, crystals, stars and moons, and little blue men that inhabit the cellars of our church buildings. We have found this new, bible-free church life to be very liberating. I invite the Pope to try it sometime. He really needs to move past his fixation on the bible."
Not funny. Benedict would never address a person pretending to be a bishop by the title of Bishop.
Where’s the satire tag on this one?
see the keywords?
How is this satire. Apart from calling Jeffords-Schori a “bishop,” the first two paragraphs are true.
Yeah, I know. They got me too.
Now you’re being satirical!
Right there I called b.s The Holy Father would never refer to that woman as 'Bishop'.
This bit is just stupid.
********************
Heh. Good point.
What if he made air quotes when he said “bishop?”
Then I noticed the source.
Good one.
The Pope went on to say, "... They must be careful that their traditions do not get in the way of what the inspired word has to say even today."
Does anyone really think that the Episcopalians, in endorsing homosexual acts, are being true to 2000 years of Christian tradition generally, or 2000 years of Catholic Christian tradition specifically?
Does anyone really think that there's some sort of moral equivalence between endorsing homosexual marriage and praying the "Hail Mary"?
(If anyone does, frankly, I feel very sorry for them.)
I'd like to point out that some of the pro-homosexual advocates in the ECUSA try to claim that the Bible is on their side. They're wrong, but they do try to claim that.
"... those shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way"
--[Augustine: Confessions 3:8:15, A.D. 400].
That sounds like a pretty unequivocal witness from tradition to me.
From Catholic Answers:
James R. White is better known to Catholics as the anti-Catholic author of The Roman Catholic Controversy, Mary: Another Redeemer? and The Fatal Flaw. ... In his most recent book, The Same Sex Controversy, written with Jeffrey D. Niell, White turns his attention to "defending and clarifying the Bible's message about homosexuality."Even James White appeals to Tradition to defend traditional Christian teaching on homosexuality.Had White and his co-author limited their consideration to their subtitle's thesis, I'd have given their efforts a higher grade. Their examination of the biblical evidence in the Old and New Testaments is good. I appreciated their exegesis of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (p. 27 [Gen. 19:1-29]) and their defense of the traditional understanding of this passage against revisionist claims.
Unfortunately, the authors work from a premise of sola scriptura (the Bible alone), and this undermines their work. White and Niell claim that "the same-sex controversy is, at its core, a controversy over the authority and interpretation of the Bible" (p. 15). On the contrary, the Bible is merely a weapon employed by homosexual activists trying to overthrow traditional Christian morality.
In fact, the Protestant premise of sola scriptura is helpful to such activists. If they can demonstrate that homosexuality -- or at least some of its forms -- cannot be rejected on the basis of the plain words of Scripture alone, those who approach moral strictures from the premise of sola scriptura will find it difficult to uphold the traditional Judeo-Christian understanding of the biblical texts.
Indeed, White and Niell do not limit their rejection of the revisionists' claims to appealing to Scripture alone. They call on the Fathers of the Church to support their exegesis of the texts. Although this is a perfectly acceptable methodology for defending Christian doctrine and morals, it implicitly proves the inherent weakness of sola scriptura.
[emphasis mine]
Second that.
That's like German soliders dressed in American uniforms in WWII France asked for "petrol." Duh!
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