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To: RegulatorCountry
A church that performs same-sex “marriage” isn’t even Christian, fr_freak, let alone Protestant, no matter what husk of a building they’re occupying, or what name they claim.

I agree with you completely on this. Unfortunately, those "churches" are still claiming to be Christian. Hopefully, all actual Christians in their congregations have wised up and left by now.

Your Magisterium doesn’t seem especially effective with the “do whatever they want” crowd, either.

Well, considering that the Magisterium doesn't send armed troops to force people to follow teachings (lately, anyway), if people choose to ignore the doctrine, there isn't a lot they can do. But the advantage that the Catholic Church has is that they can point to the set teachings and say that this is what you all should be following. Protestants have no such delineated beliefs, which leaves people vulnerable to multiple interpretations from congregation to congregation and minister to minister. As a result, an Episcopal church can claim to be following scripture and all the members can do is leave, whereas any Catholic local church which attempted to endorse homosexuality would have its clergy disciplined, either by removal, excommunication or whatever.
61 posted on 04/04/2009 8:57:12 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: fr_freak
whereas any Catholic local church which attempted to endorse homosexuality would have its clergy disciplined, either by removal, excommunication or whatever.

"Endorse?" Slippery word, that. The Catholic priesthood has been widely perceived, rightly or wrongly and for a very long time, as a haven for homosexuals. That has borne fruit in molestations of boys within the church. To my knowledge, and I welcome your correcting me if I'm wrong, these priests, homosexuals preying on teenagers and therefore not pedophiles, were quietly shipped off to another parish.

So, you see, there are advantages to a decentralized approach as well. Are there Protestant churches that would have allowed such a thing to continue, quietly relocated the offenders, and reached monetary settlements with the victims? I don't doubt that there are. But, by far and away, such offenders would be called out, publicly shamed and immediately ejected from just about any Protestant denomination, aside from the liberal, adrift and sadly Godless few.

70 posted on 04/04/2009 9:09:57 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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