Saturday, October 6, 2007

What's Are the Issues?

The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) just met. CAPA includes most of the world's Anglicans in the largest and fastest growing provinces.

The Primates (presiding bishops) of CAPA have issued a statement, which you can read in full at TitusOneNine. Paragraph Five of that document is a perfect summary of the real issues facing the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church. It's not about "the rights of nice gay people" and all the other smoke that is being blown. While people are distracted by that kind of argument, here's what's really at stake:

5. We are convinced that what is at stake in this crisis is the very nature of Anglicanism – to understand it simply in terms of the need for greater inclusivity in the face of changing sexual ethics is a grave mistake. It is not just about sexuality but also about the nature of Christ, the truth of the Gospel and the authority of the Bible. We see a trend that seems to ignore the careful balance of reformed catholicity and missionary endeavor that is our true heritage and replace it with a religion of cultural conformity that offers no transforming power and no eternal hope.

We need to keep warning people. While the Episcopal Church exploits the current cultural sympathy for homosexuals to distract people, it is busy denying that Jesus is our Savior, that the Christian message is more than just myth and symbolism, and that the Bible is the source of authority for Christian teaching. The Episcopal Church wants you to be known as a "nice", culturally approved, politically correct person in this life. It does not care about (and might not even believe in) your hope to share eternity with God.

2 comments:

Alice C. Linsley said...

You have certainly stated the problem. Those who care or have ears to hear your warning have probably already left TEC. While I am sympathetic toward those being manipulated by TEC's hierarchs, it is time to take care of yourself and your family, Father Tim. Let the dead bury the dead.

Glad CAPA is speaking out too.

cp said...

I want to second that there are many folks out there holding up the rector of Good Shepherd and his family in prayer around these parts. Including yours truly.