Dear Graham, JPM and Malcom+
Regarding your comments above, Archbishop Peter Akinola will like you and others so inclined to know that he has not been in conversation written or otherwise with Dr Poon concerning GAFCON.
I however believe Dr. Poon knows how to reach the Archbishop if he wants to.
You have just got to love it:
[blockquote]I however believe Dr. Poon knows how to reach the Archbishop if he wants to.[/blockquote]
May the good Lord continue to bless ABp Akinola!
golly, the tone on all sides really is getting more divorce-like by the day. Neither sound particularly salubrious Christian company. Caveat emptor.
Right after the Windsor Report came out, I predicted that many Anglicans in the US and worldwide would choose between the emerging reasserter and reappraiser communions based, not so much on doctrinal purity, as on which seemed to be exhibiting a more Christ-like attitude. It now appears that the same is true in choosing between the proliferating reasserter factions.
This is another distraction. Dr. Poon never said who sent him the intimidating e-mail. The Church Times is making alot ofunfounded conclusions based on absolutely zero evidence
Dr. Poon coyly never said who sent him the e-mail, but he provided “evidence” from which others might try to infer (rightly or wrongly) who it was. This is just pure politics, and it’s unfortunate that it even happened and that it’s being treated as news.
I think Craig Goodrich said it better that I ever could with [url=http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/8802/#166195]this comment on SF[/url]
[blockquote] In response to a blog posting by Dr+ Poon, a post which itself may not have been the ideal way to express concerns in the first place, an [b]unknown[/b] Primate sent a private note to Dr+ P in which he expressed himself more forcefully than is normal in public. Dr+ P for [b]unknown[/b] reasons posted the letter along with his own comments, and then for equally [b]unknown[/b] reasons (he may have thought better of it, it may have been suggested by a colleague, the sender may have corresponded further, ??) removed it. The identity of the Primate remains [b]unknown[/b], indeed whether or not the note was genuine or a forgery is [b]unknown[/b], and so on. We can speculate endlessly and utterly fruitlessly about all this; the only valuable information we can glean from the event has to do with a) the inadvisability of either writing or posting anything when you’re mad as Hell, and b) the need for continuous and extensive consultation within the orthodox in the Communion. Neither of these conclusions is exactly earthshaking.
So let’s put all this to rest and go off-topic again. Will 2008 be yet another year of unmitigated disaster for the Cubs? [/blockquote]
The whole event reflects very badly on Dr Poon, in much the same way as Dr Schori who spoke badly with her McCarthyesque reference to gay partnered bishops in the Anglican Communion. Clerics should know enough to speak the truth or to shut up. Half-truths, smears and calumnies do not serve the cause of Christ.
Put up or SHUT UP.
[i] This elf suggests a little more generosity of spirit concerning Dr. Poon. [/i]
Dr. Poon is a thoughtful Anglican and raises some good questions. Consider this: “The present does not merely call for a refreshed study of the methods of interpreting scripture…To obey Christ today, Global South churches need to submit themselves to the Scripture in a more radical manner. … The crisis is not out there in the West, but at the home front. The challenge before the churches is in translating their formal confession of the authority of the Scripture into practice: What does it mean in concrete terms for Christian communities to live under the authority of God’s Word?”
Well done ++Akinola, Mr Poon should know if you don’t have the guts to say who was the Primate, was better to have kept his mouth shut.
I said that in the post above bicause I did once the same mistake at work, and because of that I lost the trust of my colegues. Never do that. Like Mr Poon I liked to be on the fence, I tell you it is not a good idea.