Should SJD Affiliate with the AAC?

Scripture, Stonings, and Homosexuality

[Update 12/17: I posted a link to additional scriptural citations in a comment below]

Traditionalists often argue that homosexuality is supposedly condemned by the Bible, and that's that.

But it seems to me that, if the literal words of Scripture held the once-and-for-all answers to all moral questions, then we would still be stoning rebellious sons at the town gates, as commanded by Deut. 21:18-21.

(I mentioned the stoning business to my mother on the phone not long ago. No doubt remembering my adolescence, she laughed and responded, "so?")

Bibliolatry

To paraphrase the Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne, Scripture is an invaluable laboratory notebook, in which are recorded a multitude of data about God and man.

We can even make the judgment that everything we need for salvation has been recorded in that notebook.

But just as the map is not the territory, the lab notebook does not completely define the reality.

Scripture: Word, or Logos?

Scripture is often said to be the Word of God. I wonder whether that statement ought to be phrased a bit differently.

Schism and Morality

Doubtless there are moral issues that might justify schism in the Episcopal Church.

Slavery certainly would have been such an issue. It didn't cause a schism.

It's hard to understand how homosexuality could be any more schism-producing than slavery.

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To make a comment, click on the link below. You don't have to include your name or email address if you prefer not to.

--D. C.

Statements of Belief for Vestry Candidates

At the November Vestry meeting, one conservative Vestry member suggested that the Vestry nominating committee should require all potential Vestry candidates to sign a statement of "correct" theological beliefs. Then as she was leaving the meeting, she repeated her suggestion. [UPDATE: The Vestry member in question has read this posting and says she takes issue with it, because she doesn't remember saying "correct theology." She might not have used that exact phrase, but that was indisputably the impression I got from her remarks and from the ensuing discussion at the meeting. If other Vestry members remember it differently, feel free to comment below or to contact me directly.]

This Vestry member is a wonderful Christian woman and wants to do the right thing. But doing as she suggests would be a totally-inappropriate interference in the parish's electoral process. Whether she intended it or not, her proposal amounts to an effort by one faction of the parish to consolidate its control and to lock out people holding other points of view. [UPDATE: The Vestry member in question says that she wasn't proposing a lock-out. She suggests that a happy medium might be to ask each Vestry candidate to include in their biographical material a statement of their personal beliefs, so that parishioners would know more about whom they're voting for.]

Gene Robinson is Indeed a Bishop

Some traditionalists have reacted to the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson with outrage, announcing that they refuse to recognize him as a bishop.

Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. From everything I've read, Bishop Robinson is a good man and a fine priest; his fruits so far appear to be pretty good.

Like it or not, Gene Robinson was consecrated a bishop after having been duly elected and confirmed according to the canons. He is certainly no less a bishop than Bishops Chuck Murphy and John Rodgers of the Anglican Mission in America.

To make a comment, click on the link below.

--D. C.

It's Not a Numbers Game

In these days of church controversy, it's useful to know, and worth prayerfully considering, that millions of Anglicans in the "Global South" supposedly believe X, or Y, or Z. But that can never be dispositive.

Truth isn't a numbers game -- if it were, we'd all have to be Roman Catholics or Muslims. And if the vote had been taken 2,000 years ago, we'd likely all be pagans, or maybe Buddhists or Hindus.

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To make a comment, click on the link below. You don't have to include your name or email address if you prefer not to.

--D. C.