Saturday, August 1, 2009

Baptismal Promises, Biblical Testimony all wrong, says Episcopal leader

h/t Karen Boyle for sending this along after spotting it at Virtue On Line.

The PB does not say anything outside of the Christian mainstream at first. Even the Apostle Paul ponders the access of moral non-Christians to God, and leaves room for it.

But then, at about the 2:18 mark, the PB gets very specific in rejecting personal affirmation of Jesus as the Christian "mechanism" (her word) of salvation.

This throws out the specific language of the Episcopal Church's own current Book of Common Prayer, and the Biblical teaching in Romans 10:9, "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

She accuses those who believe this word of ignoring grace to concentrate on works - but her version of "being the best Christian I can be" (again, her words) comes down to supporting the right political causes without reference to Jesus as anything more than a symbolic prop to one's own agenda and actions.

The applause at the end shows why the Episcopal Church is the most rapidly aging and declining denomination in the U.S. Its members have long styled themselves "the thinking person's church" and refused sound Biblical teaching or even the clear language of their Prayer Book while swallowing and repeating cultural slogans.

We made our own mess and are suffering its consequences.

1 comment:

Jeffersonian said...

but her version of "being the best Christian I can be" (again, her words) comes down to supporting the right political causes without reference to Jesus as anything more than a symbolic prop to one's own agenda and actions.

So, so true. Schori uses Jesus as a drunkard uses a lamp pole: For support and not illumination. She's a heretic, pure and simple.