Thursday, May 31, 2007

Fascinating article on the Episcopal Church

Our Sunday Visitor: Episcopal Church faces ‘significant pruning’ over doctrine, bishop says
This is a very telling interview from the emerging leader of the "Anglican Communion Network" that seeks to align with conservative Christians. How similar are we to this? From the interview:
It’s rather like a father in a family who confronts a teenager who’s acting out. And what the other members of the family say is, “Dad, don’t be so hard, you’re dividing our family.” It’s a bizarre argument, but it appeals to the modern heart and mind because it gives the modern heart and mind precisely what it wants.
That is to say, “We ought to be able to do what we want to do.” And the modern Church has no doctrine of sin and no sense of boundaries. So, I divide the church by simply saying: “Well, sin is what human beings are wired to do and from which they’ve been delivered, and the father actually has boundaries, rules and a way he wants us to live because he’s designed and called us to live that way. It’s what’s best for us.”


No sense of boundaries is just what I see locally. It's turning a blind eye to sin, indiscretions and not holding our priests and laypeople to a higher accountability. I realize there is a larger scope to this but it is not I who am "the troublemaker". It is the creative liturgists, the casual Catholics, people who believe everyone one is going to heaven because God is a God of love. That is not truth nor is it what Christ taught. It is just another form of eisegesis in a more Catholic genre. I recently read somewhere that the CHURCH determines who is Catholic and who is not, not the other way around. This is as it should be and thankfully, we see many examples of those, who by word or deed, cannot be considered Catholic because the Church teaches these elements are contrary to faith(abortion, contraception, homosexuality, etc). Here is another excerpt I found interesting:
The only way to unity is unity in Christ, and the nearer you get to what Christ teaches the nearer you get to each other. The farther you get from what Christ teaches, the farther you get from each other.

So, the real troublemakers are those making it up as they go. The Church, started by Christ, has given us the blueprint and clearly defined foundations for salvation. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church continues by grace to stand firm against modern inventions. It is our job to pray that continues.

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