Our Future?

The Episcopalians are meeting, and guess what?, they are being torn apart by the issue of homosexuality. But it's a little different from the RCA...for now. The issue at hand is the ordination of the guy in the picture, Gene Robinson, who is the first unrepentant gay bishop. The Episcopalians have pretty much given up trying to forbid gay marriage and gay clergy, so they are making one last desperate stand on the issue of bishops.

They should just divide and be done with it. The "conservative" Anglicans lost their battle long ago, when gay clergy became tolerated. Toleration, however, is not part of the radical gay agenda. Enforced acceptance, celebration, and power are their preeminent goals. They have reached this sad situation by:
1. Misusing the Bible. According to today's NY Times, "Backers of gay ordination contend Scripture does not prohibit monogamous same-gender relationships." Last year, a pro-gay clergyman said the same thing on the floor of my classis. Well, if the New Testament says nothing about this issue, then it says nothing about anything, and we might as well pack up and go home.
2. Deifying Church Unity. The RCA leadership is always saying in one form or another that unity trumps doctrine. Let's re-phrase that. What they are really saying is, "Unity is more important than truth." Despite serious objections from the evangelical heartland, our unelected, unrepresentative leadership is saying to us, "We must stay together and not exercise discipline against certain sins (i.e., sins they approve of)."

It is a slippery slope from dialogue to eventual ordination, enforced toleration, and finally liturgical celebration. For the perfect example of this process, just take a glance at our "covenant partner" the United Church of Christ. It is no longer, in my mind, recognizably Christian. It's next stop will be Unitarian Universalism. In fact the train has already left the station.