Guess Who's Back, Back Again?

Andy's back, call your friends.... and I'm off.

I would like to chime in on the whole issue of homosexual bishops in the Episcopalian church. While I would agree with a little bit of what everyone said, I think that I will just lay out my own personal statements as a rebutal of sorts. First I would have to say that I believe there have been many bedrock issues that the church has learned to accept. For instance the issue of divorce (did someone say sanctity of marriage?). I'm pretty sure that Jesus really never addressed the issue of homosexuality during his time on earth (at least it's not spoken of in the Gospels) I do remember Jesus being pretty hardcore about divorce. It has been reported recently, probably by Barna, that Christian marriages are almost as likely to end in divorce as non-christian marriages and all we can do is sigh and say, that's too bad. Why? The thought process that "Jesus would want me to be happy, so of course He'd understand" permeates the church. So, we enlist divorcees to teach and minister within the church (which the new bishop also is). Do I think they shouldn't be allowed to be a part of living out the Gospel? Of course not, although I believeSo, rolling back into the issue of homosexuality, why are we surprised that the church will begin to overlook what scripture has to say for our relativistic impressions of what Jesus would want, because of course he's really just about making our lives hunky-dory. So, I believe the real issue at the core is how accuratly we as administers of the Gospel represent Jesus and what he wants for our lives, which it seems we have failed to do.
Now comes the issue of this poor chap who is about to become a bishop. I believe that he honestly believes that what he's doing is right, however as a Minister of the Gospel the dude is 100% W-R-O-N-G. Now hold the phone though, I don't believe he's 100% wrong because of his sexual preference, I believe he's wrong because it's very aparent that his identity is found in his sexual preference, and not in who he is in Christ. You may ask yourself, how do I know that, I believe I know that b/c it's out in the open and an issue. If this man had homosexual tendencies, and still felt called to ministry, I belive that he could do both, while denying his fleshly desires. Why would he do that? Because he knows deep down what the Bible says about homosexuality and beyond that what it says about people in leadership. Do I believe that someone can be of homosexual preference and be a Christian, absolutely. I just think that sometimes we get very confused about who we are, and who we think we are takes over.
Now that all this has been said, let me tell you what I think on a personal level. I don't care what happens. It's no skin off my back. The more I realize what the Gospel's really all about, the more I realize that the American church has less and less to do with the Gospel and more to do with legalism, fundamentalism, liberalism, and selfishness. Therefore, I realize that how I live my life, if I'm going to live according to the Gospel, is not only going to be counter to the World, but it will probably be counter to the pop-Christian world as well.
I know that we'll see things get worse and worse, but you know, in places where morality has fallen and darkness reigns are places where Christ's light shines through in BRILLIANT ways, therefore no matter what happens within the pseudo governments that we call denominations, the Son of Man will draw people unto Him.

posted by Anonymous @ 11:06 PM