Bishops from Singapore, Southeast Asia and Africa told Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in closed-door sessions Tuesday and Wednesday that there should be no more diplomacy on homosexuality, an issue that has split the Anglican communion.
Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, head of Uganda’s Anglican church and the host of the week-long All Africa Bishops Conference, said the Archbishop of Canterbury (pictured administering communion at the conference) faces a complicated task in trying to reunite the church.
“He (Williams) spoke what was on his mind and we also spoke. We impressed it on him that he had totally gone in a different direction and he has to sort it out,” Orombi told journalists after their closed-door meeting on Wednesday.
[blockquote]”…he has to sort it out…”[/blockquote]
When one has gone in a different direction, is there any turning back?
When you’ve gone in a different direction, turning back requires repentance (metanoia)
Well, at least Africa has dispensed with “typical British reserve” when dealing with this now 7 year old crisis (the roots go back 30 years or more.) I don’t know if it will do any good, but they’ve advised the ABC that they will not support the status quo and continued lack of discipline.
It was also refreshing to see CNN pretty much report the news without a lot of editorial bias. Yes, they printed the most provocative statements they could find, but overall it was decent reporting.
There’s a huge line between “tolerance” and “sanction”, ie a gold star or Christian blessing on any and all behaviors.
++RW’s problem is that he basically refuses to define the two–I’m not a priest, but, as a person, I can “tolerate” my children and listen to their explanations re: why they do what they do. But, that does not mean that my standards change, regardless of their whining, crying, or even PhD arguments they want to put forth. When the rubber meets the road(no pun intended), as a parent it is my duty to say, “Ok, I’ve heard you, but I disagree with what you’re doing and your actions do not meet my behavioral standards…so, either change what you’re doing, or face the consequences”.
That doesn’t “shut down dialogue”, that defines limits. And, if you want to keep order in the Church, your family or any other organization, that’s where you should begin.
Just because others have a gift for explaining their behaviors, it does not make them “right”.
And I don’t care how good a theologian ++Williams is, I’ve never heard him or anyone else debunk the definition of “porneia” with success. So, it doesn’t matter what you WANT to do or what you can or can’t control, there is a Biblical standard here to be upheld.
Not to mention I would fully agree with the articulate Matt Kennedy+: “I’ll tolerate occasional heretics; I cannot tolerate a heretic church”…you’ve got that right.
And Biblical standards are not mutable based on “how we all feel”.
So, quit trying to toss the Scriptures in this Church and start yourself a church that is not based in the teachings of the Christian Bible. And, if the latter makes you “wacko” or “fringe” then I guess you’ll just have to wear that T-shirt and jettison what you believe is your current “legitimacy”. Everyone already sees these machinations for what they are, and if the agenda was “right”, there would be no need for machinations in the first place.