Dr. Packer opened his remarks with a statement explaining why this issue is of such great importance in the Anglican Church today. “In brief,” he said, “because it involves the denial of something that’s integral to the Christian Gospel.
“That is, whereas the Bible says that same-sex unions are off limits as far as God is concerned, and that the Gospel requires any who have been involved in them to repent of that involvement and to abandon it, this point of view against which we are standing, treats gay unions…as a form of holiness, and encourages, affirms and blesses them, rather than saying, as we believe the Gospel requires us to say, that this is the wrong track.”
“You are required to abandon it and we, in the Christian fellowship, will help you to”¦walk chaste, not yield to your besetting temptations,” he continued. “And that is God’s way for you. We are obliged by the Gospel to say that because the apostle Paul, proclaiming the Gospel to the Corinthians, says explicitly that they mustn’t be deceived”¦and those living in homosexual relationships will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
“In other words, they don’t qualify for Christ’s salvation in terms of the Gospel that God has revealed.”
Dr. Packer asserted that the blessing of same-sex unions is a direct contradiction of Scripture and there can be no compromise on the issue.
I agree with Dr. Packer’s views regarding Scripture and his views regarding Salvation, sin and repentance.
If I were to be ‘politically correct’ and ‘go along with’ the views of the revisionists regarding sexuality, I would be contibuting to the sinfullness of others and endangering my own Salvation in order to support a secular and non-Scriptural movement within ECUSA.
I do think there is an issue of besetting temptations here and hence an absence of perfect free will. With that in mind, I am reluctant to condemn. I would venture that condemnation comes to those who sin repeatedly in perfect free will and in perfect defiance to God, absent weakness of the flesh. The problem for me has always been that the church is becoming an enabler. It is saying that there is too much bother struggling against sin and the guilt that comes with it and the church is offering a kind of easy out by just re-defining sin away. The fact is that none of us are worthy to be saved and none of us ever will be. We are all wretched men and women like Paul was. Sin lives in us and we need a savior. God knows this and made provision for it.
#2, you hit the nail on the head. But reluctance to condemn is different from agreeing with elevation of sin to holiness, which is what our TEC has done. We cannot agree with that and we must condemn that elevation. Otherwise, as Dr. Packer says, our own souls are in danger.
Only Dr. Packer dares to speak the truth.
Without the Scriptures there is no witness to God’s actions in bringing His creation to redemption. Without the Scriptures we do not know of Jesus, His death on the cross, His resurrection, or His promise to prepare a place for us with Him.
Without the Scriptures the collection of purported spokesmen for theology who control our seminaries, author our prayer books, establish our liturgies, and determine the course of the alleged Anglican Church operate in a great vacuum.
One can witness this vacuum in the public appearances of Bishop Chane, Bishop of Washington. Bishop Chane has denounced those of us who are sure of our salvation as demonic. One can witness this vacuum in the public appearances of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who apparently has no verifiable opinions on anything other than the Millenium Development Goals.
A God Who would not communicate with His creation in simple, intelligible, tangible form is logically impossible. Such a Creator is either non-existent or evil.
And The God Who Is There (Francis Schaeffer) has indeed given us, by inspiration, an intelligible and tangible communication, and part of that communication is that the standard for all time is one man, one woman, for life; further, any other use of sexuality falls short.
Sin is sin, none greater than the other, in the eyes of God. Just because I may have “besetting temptations” does not forgive the commision of sin, by giving in to those “besetting temptations”. All sin leads to death, and the more frequent the commission of sin, the greater the temptation will be in the future.
We have numerous examples in human experience that confirm the process of corruption of our spirit, leading to greater and more painful sin. Adulterers, drug addicts, and serial killers as an example share a common experiece of corruption. The initial perversion of spirit may be small and seem insignificant, yet over time if the sufferer doesn’t repent and commit himself to resist his’her temptations a progression of sin accumulate lick a ton of bricks.