“Some manner must be found for Anglicans to confess the faith together.”
–Bishop Michale Nazir-Ali, speaking at Mere Anglicanism a moment ago
“Some manner must be found for Anglicans to confess the faith together.”
–Bishop Michale Nazir-Ali, speaking at Mere Anglicanism a moment ago
This assumes a commonality that simply does not exist between the faith of those that call sin “blessed” and the Faith of those that hold to the traditional catholic beliefs of Christianity.
It ‘hangs on’ how you define Anglican. If a person/parish/diocese/national church has declaratively acted in a manner contrary to the to the ‘sense’ of the numerical majority of the Communion, then it has left the Communion.
And the ‘sense’ of the numerical majority of the Anglican Communion is one of adherence to “…the Faith once given….”
Thank you for that accurate comment, #1.
And sin is supposed to be blessed as a response to a “changing culture”…what a load of garbage.
Sick and Tired,
I doubt if +Michael had what you seem to think he had in mind when he said that. I assume he was speaking more to finding a common creedal basis for the “three streams” of Anglicanism.
I think the overwhelming and sustained majority of the TEC either genuinely support their leadership or don’t care about what the Biblical members/ex-members care about. If so, the question is how best to put our house in order. Hopefully, that is where God will lead us.
No. 5, I have met very few, if any, people in the Episcopal Church that I could readily sort into “Biblical Member” or “Other than Biblical Member” stacks. As much as one can tell about others, they all seem “Biblical” in some sense. Have you had a contrary experience?
We can only assume his context for now but nowing a little of the man, which most do, my comment would be that we need to find a way of expression for all the gifts given by God for ministry in a common way. This is not easy and my first acknowlegement would be that grace and strength would be a necessary and primary key.
1Cr 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
To live this out in a John 17 kind of Church requires much love, grace, and strength, but we have that! Or, we have division.
Nothing I represent above is to “bless sin” or even allow it.
Don
RE: “I think the overwhelming and sustained majority of the TEC either genuinely support their leadership or don’t care about what the Biblical members/ex-members care about.”
Hi Old Guy — I think I disagree here. While it’s fairly easy to sort out who in TEC actually gives a hoot about the reality that God has revealed His will in Holy Scripture, I think the chunk of folks you are missing are the folks who are largely parochial, uninformed, and passive. That is a common category in all organizations — as for instance, in our far far larger country. There are those who genuinely recognize and care about the fact that we are a Constitutional Republic, those who defy and despise the Constitution and wish to overthrow or deconstruct it using all of their political power, and those who are parochial, uninformed, and passive.
In TEC, I would guess that the around 3-5% are in that latter category — the scofflaw, deconstructionist, revisionist activist political apparatchiks. Unfortunately they are the ones who are in charge of all of the major institutions and ruling powers of TEC [remember — the huge chunks of people who are uninformed and passive actually do matter, in so far as they cede the power to those who do care intensely.]
I still maintain that ultimately 3-5% of an organization cannot effectively rule an organization in which the majority do not support the tiny minority’s actions. Ultimately — and I think we are slowly seeing that unfold before our eyes — the organization will fail and be gutted of power, credibility, and money.