Posted on 07/13/2009 9:18:18 PM PDT by SmithL
The Episcopal Church moved Monday toward affirming their acceptance of gays and lesbians for all roles in ministry, despite pressure from fellow Anglicans worldwide for a decisive moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop.
Bishops at the Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, Calif., voted 99-45 with two abstentions for a statement declaring "God has called and may call" to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships.
Lay and priest delegates to the meeting had comfortably approved a nearly identical statement, and were expected to adopt the latest version before the meeting ends Friday.
Leaders of the Anglican Communion have been pushing Episcopalians to roll back their support for gays and lesbians since 2003, when the U.S. denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body.
Robinson's election brought the 77 million-member Anglican fellowship to the brink of schism. Last month, breakaway Episcopal conservatives and other like-minded traditionalists formed a rival national province called the Anglican Church in North America.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
fyi
They just don’t get it..
Self destruction isn’t pretty.
“”God has called and may call” to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships. “
It’s kind of interesting that they bother with the “lifelong relationships” stuff. I guess that makes the Episcopalians feel better about blowing off utterly unambiguous scripture.
But if you’re going to blow off scripture, why bother requiring the lifelong relationship thing? There is certainly no scriptural basis for drawing a line there—you are already way over the line. So you might as well let cruisers be bishops as long as they think the Holy Spirit has shown them to the holiness of cruising, or whatever.
Why are they discriminating against polygamists? Shouldn’t the church include all the baptized?
Every Catholic Church I visit seems to have former Episcopalians who left because of the gay issue. It’s getting worse. Some Episcopal churches in my area are becoming ghost towns or spliting up.
The ECUSA use to be a beautiful church.
I was a senior warden of one.
I left the EC over 10 years ago when it went off the cliff.
Me too.
Kudos for some of the best tags I’ve ever read.
“episcobaal”
Funny funny stuff.
As for this move, a pity really, shameful actually, the Left have seized the Robes in Education and in many of the Mainline Churches with the Episcopalian Communion suffering heavily for such nonsense.
Why not simply become Unitarians and be done with the charade?
ECUSA can’t get to hell fast enough.
It’s one thing for people to fight against their own sin problems and fail.
It’s totally different when you’ve got a denomination out there telling people their particular sin is actually good and God-blessed.
I can understand allowing them in the congregation. Hearing the sermons and the words of God could help them to change. I don’t see what possible benefit could be drawn from having them in the clergy.
“Why not simply become Unitarians and be done with the charade?”
What I don’t understand is why Unitarians bother to meet at all. If you can believe anything or nothing or everything, then why not just stay home and not miss any of the football games? Makes no sense to me.
bookmark
“I don’t see what possible benefit could be drawn from having them in the clergy”.
BENEFITS? One big “group stoop”. GROUP SERVICING AFTER THE SERVICE!!
It would be one thing if these were gays who realized it was homosexuality is sinful and disavowed practicing it, but “committed lifelong relationships” I mean that is ridiculed in just about every book of the bible. I could even understand ministers who once engaged in the practice and realized their sins, but actively involved, this is just mind-boggling.
I’m in a very conservative diocese, so I don’t see this coming our way anytime soon. But if it does, I’ll switch from Anglican to Roman immediately.
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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
My wife and I did the same at that time!!!
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