Our faith traditions teach us that all people are children of God, deserving of love, dignity and equal treatment, and we, the undersigned therefore believe that gay and lesbian New Yorkers in committed, loving relationships should be able to protect each other with the critical safety-net provided by civil marriage. The performing of marriage ceremonies is one of the most important facets of our work as ministers and rabbis. We take this work extremely seriously and are grateful to have “the power vested in us” by the State of New York as we bring couples together in marriage through our civil and religious laws.
“Bishop Provenzano has lent his support and signature” to a statement that begins with this as the rationale for what followed in the statement: [i]”Our faith traditions teach us that all people are children of God, deserving of love, dignity and equal treatment,” [/i]. But this is not what Christians believe.
The Bible teaches us that “Yet to all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”[John 1:12]. For a Christian the opening statement should be: “Our Bible teaches us that [i]only[/i] those who [i]receive Jesus and believe in His name[/i] have the right to become children of God.”
And there is nothing that says that as children of God we should expect from the world “love, dignity and equal treatment.” As a matter of fact, the opposite is true! Jesus told His disciples that “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”[Matthew 13:13], and “”If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first… If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” [John 15:18,20].
Would anyone care to speculate what “committed” means in this context? A life-long commitment? Sexual fidelity – that is, no “open” relationships?
Then, one would ask where in Holy Scripture or Holy Tradition is there precedent for “loving, committed gay and lesbian couples to be married”?
Obviously, Scripture explicitly forbids homosexual practice.
Gag me. The same, tired, old arguments.
+Provenzano might better spend his time giving his clergy a remedial course on Traditional Marriage, given that Marriages in the diocese declined for 2002 through 2009 by 48.2 percent. Also, Infant Baptisms declined by 32.9 percent and ASA by 21.5 percent. I wonder if vestries ever realize how much less sacramental “work” their priests are being required to perform? Statmann
Statmann continues to cut his wide and divisive swathe through the threads of T19.
Once all the same sex marriages are finally put in to effect in the Long Island Episcopal diocese, the floodgates will open and liberal, religiously-inclined persons will pour through the gates into TECusa.
And then where will the neanderthal, bigoted Statmann be???
On the other side of the lawn. Statmann
#1, Moheb, you are so right!
All too many church goers make that statement–all people are children of God, deserving of love, dignity and equal treatment–and it becomes obvious from this bishop’s statement that even church leaders “believe” it. But the Bible is clear: NO ONE becomes a child of God until he agrees with God about Jesus, that He is the Christ, the Redeemer of individuals.
With bishops proclaiming such falicies is it any surprise TEC is in the trouble it is!