Posted on 10/19/2013 7:19:42 PM PDT by boatbums
At 82, retired and enjoying life, Bishop John Shelby Spong doesn’t have to be the liberal enfant terrible whose pronouncements for gay rights and against traditional dogmas once scandalized Christendom. Indeed, many of the views that once turned the Charlotte native and former Episcopal bishop of Newark into a lightning rod are now regarded as so matter-of-fact that they barely occasion much notice: Ordaining gay clergy and blessing same-sex marriages, for example, or having a female presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman elected to lead a national church in the Anglican Communion.
On a range of issues, Spong can point to advancements that he helped push during a long and remarkable career – 20 years as a priest in North Carolina and Virginia and 24 years as a bishop in Newark. Through it all, Spong never retreated an inch. By the time he retired in 2000, his own diocese had 35 openly gay and lesbian clergy, and he also helped promote a new generation of church leaders who can carry his progressive torch: 11 clerics from his tenure are now bishops, more than from any other diocese, he says. At the same time, Spong also became a best-selling author who routinely, and infamously, questioned long-held doctrines and literal interpretations of the Bible. The Virgin Birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the historical accuracy of Jesus’ sayings in the Gospels – all these and much more were targets of Spong’s pointed pen during his heyday. “It was really a very exciting time,” he said of the fight for rights for gays and women. “That battle was very controversial. But that battle is so over today. That battle is won.”
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/17/4394687/an-aging-maverick-charlotte-native.html##storylink=cpy
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotteobserver.com ...
“As do all protestants.”
Yes, well, just as Spong will one day have to answer for his smugness - even though he doesn’t think he will - so will we all. That I know for sure.
I actually went to a lecture he gave in Florida. It was like being in the room with a large lizard, really bad vibes, and I certainly was not the only person who felt uncomfortable with him. The virgin Mary was a prostitute? Or at least not a virgin.
Hey, Big'ol, how 'bout we hang up the Saturday Catholic vs. Protestant boxing match and agree about something for a change??? I certainly don't deny the virgin birth, the resurrection, the sacrificial death of Christ for my sins nor do I deny that the Bible contains genuine eyewitness accounts of Jesus' very words as He promised his followers He would bring to their remembrance everything He taught them through the indwelling and empowering Holy Spirit. So, NO, "all" Protestants do NOT ignore the truth. I don't believe ALL Catholics are heretics, either.
I believe this Bishop Spong is one of those that Jesus spoke of that would face Him at the last judgment and would be saying, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?", and He will declare to him, "I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS." (Matt. 7:22). This man loved the praises of men more than that of God. He cherished being a "maverick" and challenging the truths of God and he doesn't regret anything he's done. But, one day, he WILL.
I believe the root of his position lies in this statement:
He wrote: “[I have] immerse[d] myself in contemporary Biblical scholarship at such places as Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Yale Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School and the storied universities in Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge.”[2]
Union Theological Seminary became a well spring for liberalism, secular humanism, social gospel, and supportive of leftist/communist causes beginning in the 1950s. It is from here that many of his ‘beliefs’ probably came and that he has spread over the decades.
By what he has preached, I believe that he decided that his goal in life was not preaching the Gospel of Jesus, but the destruction of Christianity.
I agree. I think every one of those seminaries you mentioned at one time stood for the orthodox Christian faith but that stand was slowly whittled away into the institutions they now are where anything goes - all in the name of education and progress.
Exactly! The praises of men over the praises of God. He has a rude awakening coming and maybe not that much longer.
It is still considered by many that Lark’s Gospel was written by John Mark - travel companion of Paul and possibly the same Mark that was associated with Peter - Maybe not an eyewitness to everything but certainly a recorder of the stories of these men!
Mel
LArk’s hahaha - I meant Mark’s!
And the Gospel of Luke was recorded by a non-Apostle. What matters, and what disputes this Bishop Spong's false idea, is that these accountings WERE written either by direct eyewitnesses or with the input from direct eyewitnesses. Additionally, they were written, copied and disbursed WHILE many of the eyewitnesses were still living and could invalidate what was written as the truth concerning Jesus and His message and ministry had they been untruthful or mistaken.
We should remember that we accept the sacred Scriptures by faith as from the Holy Spirit, who carried along those who He commanded to write the words. These men, just like the prophets of the Old Testament scriptures, did not speak from their own thoughts and musings but spoke as God led them. That is why we see that the power of God comes through these words and hearts are won to Christ even two thousand years later - the message never changes and never has to.
Interesting isn’t it when there is just something that doesn’t sit right when we hear it. We may not be able to pinpoint it right away but there is this “still, small voice” that nudges our hearts.
so he’s an unbeliever who joined this particular faith in order to destroy it from the inside.
he ought to have been forced out of the ministry after denying the core teachings of the bible
Sounds like he is the “blind leading the blind”. All the genuine Christians probably left his ministry long ago.
that explains everything.
He pretty much succeeded in destroying the Episcopal Church from inside out! All of his heresies are also ancient ones. I am glad he did what he did because heretics like him pushed me to seek being received into the Catholic faith, a place where I really needed to be.
Yes very true but for those searching it is nice to be able to say - so and so wrote this only 30 years after Jesus’ death and he was associated with Paul or Peter etc. Peter in one of his letters says to his readers “We were eyewitnesses” - I don’t think a letter containing a lie like that would have stayed in circulation if it was not true so it makes for good apologetics to have some idea!!
Blessings
Mel
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Boatbums: that post of yours was what we need a lot more of here from ALL of us.
“The virgin Mary was a prostitute?”
I know that Spong’s a total heretic/false teacher but did he really say that?!
Agreed.
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