The situation the Church of England is now in.
The situation in which the Church of England finds itself as a result of the vote on the amended House of Bishops motion on Living in Love and Faith is a peculiar one.
In its official sources of doctrine, the Church of England maintains unchanged the traditional beliefs of the Christian Church as a whole, based on the teaching of the Bible:
a) That marriage is between two people of the opposite sex, that the sole legitimate place for sexual intercourse to take place is within marriage thus defined, and that any form of marriage or sexual activity outside these parameters is sinful.
b) That sinful activity needs to be addressed through repentance, absolution and amendment of life.
c) That those who are ordained ought to be living lives of visible holiness.
However, the result of November’s Synod vote is going to be that the House of Bishops will commend prayers of blessing for use in normal church services for those in same-sex marriages and/or sexually active same-sex relationships and with also authorise experimental ‘standalone’ services to mark such marriages and relationships. This liturgical provision will not contain any call for those in such marriages and relationships to repent of them, to receive absolution and to amend their lives so that they are in conformity the Church’s teaching.
In addition, it seems almost certain that the House of Bishops will institute a change in the Church of England’s existing practice which will mean that those who are in same-sex marriages and/or same-sex sexual relationships will be permitted to be ordained. This will mean that lives of visible holiness in relation to marriage and sexual conduct will no longer be a pre-requisite for ordination.
The result of these changes will be that as a result of the action of the majority of the bishops the Church of England will be a Church that still upholds beliefs a, b and c above in terms of its official doctrine, but will have ceased to uphold them in its practice.
The question I want to address in the remainder of this paper is how conservative Christians in the Church of England who continue to uphold the traditional Christian beliefs listed above should relate to their bishops in this new situation.
Martin Davie–A response to Meg Warner ‘Does the Bible really say … that sex outside marriage is wrong? https://t.co/tYzlpsnfpt #christianity #sexualethics #marriage #bible #anglican #anthropology pic.twitter.com/qdQI0oGk5j
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) May 30, 2019