Episcopal Church 77th General Convention News Thread

As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord, and our bishop (Bishop Lawrence).

 

I just found a very interesting evaluation of Resolution A049 on the Anglican Communion Institute, Inc. website: Same Sex Blessings: What Did General Convention Do? Written by: The Reverend Canon Professor Christopher Seitz & Mark McCall, Esq. Friday, July 20th, 2012

"We conclude: taken as a whole, Resolution A049 is not just a legal nullity and theologically incoherent, although it is that. It is also profoundly unconstitutional in that it purports to do something General Convention is not authorized to do and encourages clergy to violate the canons, the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer and their vow to conform to the worship of the Church."

Bishop James M. Stanton of Dallas is quoted in the article:
"God will do so and so. We are only authorized, however, to bless what God, in fact, blesses. And when we use these words, we had better have a clear warrant from Scripture or the theological tradition of the Church to back us up. No individual is competent to decide what God blesses, and no congregation or denomination is competent to do so either. Otherwise, we are merely guessing at best, and misleading people at worst."

Very interesting. . .

Anna

 

Oh wow. Great find.

 

Anna, thanks for posting this. It's interesting that Resolution A049 clearly violates the constitution and the Prayer Book and yet it passed fairly easily. I do got to give credit a the handful of liberal bishops and clergy who did, in fact, oppose the resolution for these reasons.

Bishop Stanton is absolutely correct, no liberal, conservative, or moderate can say with absolute certainty that God does or does not bless committed same sex relationships. Applying tradition, reason, and the scriptures, it becomes quite clear that God does bless heterosexual unions. Bishop Stanton contends that the burden of proof is on the revisionists to show that tradition, scripture, and reason confirms that God blesses same sex relationships and he is absolutely correct. Like the Bishop said, TEC is basically guessing what God's will is on these matters and at worst they are misleading people.

 

I think I would say that God's Word reveals to us what he blesses and does not bless, and based on his Word we can say that he does not bless such unions.

But you're right, this is a case of people declaring new revelations or evolving theologies based on guesses about God's will. They're presenting these things as his will when they have no authority to do so. Scarier still, they don't care about any dissenting viewpoint whatsoever. What they do is deceptive to the Church, and it is spiritually dangerous for the teachers who are no longer proclaiming the Faith once delivered. And it is amazing that we live in a time where believing the clear teachings of the Bible can apparently make you persona non grata in many dioceses.

 

Sean and Adam,
I appreciate your comments.

There is a strong force behind this resolution. What is to become of TEC if Scripture, Tradition, and Reason are ignored, as well as any legal/constitutional issues? Sometimes it seems hopeless. Though, perhaps we are at a point where the real fight begins. Orthodox Anglicans are holding their ground, determined to stay and fight for the Gospel.

 

I agree completely. What I was trying to say, and perhaps said a bit poorly, is that we must apply the Anglican test of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason to come to a conclusion on these difficult social and theological issues facing the church. I can't say with 100% certainty who is blessed and who isn't, but applying the test of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason, one can reasonably conclude that only heterosexual unions are what God blesses. The burden of proof is on the revisionists and they certainly have an uphill battle!!