[OneHope]

I enjoy haunting the Anglican blogs on the internet and I notice that the Episcopal Church is holding a General Convention in June where they may have the opportunity to elect a pro-homosexuality primate and another openly homosexual bishop (for the diocese of California). A lot of people are saying that this if this happens, this could be the move that causes the split in the Anglican Communion.

Do you think that's an accurate prediction?

[Reedolo]

Originally Posted by OneHope

I enjoy haunting the Anglican blogs on the internet and I notice that the Episcopal Church is holding a General Convention in June where they may have the opportunity to elect a pro-homosexuality primate and another openly homosexual bishop (for the diocese of California). A lot of people are saying that this if this happens, this could be the move that causes the split in the Anglican Communion.

Do you think that's an accurate prediction?

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the episcopal church broke away from the Anglican communion and just became the American Episcopal Church or something. *shrug*. I don't really care, I'm not Anglican. I'm sure it would make the gay people happy.

[catholicpriest]

Originally Posted by OneHope

I enjoy haunting the Anglican blogs on the internet and I notice that the Episcopal Church is holding a General Convention in June where they may have the opportunity to elect a pro-homosexuality primate and another openly homosexual bishop (for the diocese of California). A lot of people are saying that this if this happens, this could be the move that causes the split in the Anglican Communion.

Do you think that's an accurate prediction?

I think it will definitely cause a split. The more conservative Episcopalians are already talking about a split.

Living in Rhode Island, V. Gene Robinson (the actively gay bishop of New Hampshire) gets a lot of press down here. What I would like to know is this:

How is the Episcopal Church in America any different from the surrounding culture? Is there any evil that they are willing to speak out against? The Church is supposed to be the voice of the Prophet, calling society back to God. How can the Episcopal Church do this when they have caved in on every major social issue of our time (except maybe abortion). I don't know about abortion though. Where does the Episcopal Church stand on abortion?
I don't mean to offend conservative Episcopalians. I feel for you, I really do. We've got our own problems in the Catholic Church with disenting theologians who are leading people astray. So, my questions are really for the liberal Episcopalians, but feel free to comment if you are a conservative.

[OneHope]

Originally Posted by catholicpriest

How is the Episcopal Church in America any different from the surrounding culture? Is there any evil that they are willing to speak out against? The Church is supposed to be the voice of the Prophet, calling society back to God. How can the Episcopal Church do this when they have caved in on every major social issue of our time (except maybe abortion). I don't know about abortion though. Where does the Episcopal Church stand on abortion?
I don't mean to offend conservative Episcopalians. I feel for you, I really do. We've got our own problems in the Catholic Church with disenting theologians who are leading people astray. So, my questions are really for the liberal Episcopalians, but feel free to comment if you are a conservative.

I can't really speak for the the Episcopal Church because I live in Canada but our fates our pretty much tied together.

Basically, in North America you have two different churches under one roof. Both seek to be loving, but both have a different view of love. The first view of love is one of acceptance and affirmation and the second view of love is one of acceptance and transformation. If you don't believe in an active God then the first definition of love is the reasonable one because transformation is useless if you can be happy now. However, if you believe in an active God then it would be worse for that person if we affirmed their sinful lifestyle.

Unfortunatly, many Anglicans no longer believe in an active God. They still believe in helping people who are poor, abused, etc. but church for them has become a sort of charity club. Church for them has become solely about empowering humans to be better people.

My church is very conservative but we have a liberal assistant priest (one of three assistant priests). This past sunday he preached and he said that "Christ tried to bring justice and peace to the world but they killed him for it" as if Christ were an equivalent of Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. He missed the fact that the grace that Christ brought is not justice at all but injustice as justice says that we deserve death but grace gives us life which we do not deserve.

However, eventhough you have all this you have many traditional Anglicans who still believe in an active and transforming God. Because of this contrast it makes that belief even stronger. We also have many good, smart and faithful priests on our side like J.I. Packer and John Stott.

If you want to find out more about the conservative movement then Google: "Anglican Essentials Network" or "Anglican Planet".

[catholicpriest]

Originally Posted by OneHope

I can't really speak for the the Episcopal Church because I live in Canada but our fates our pretty much tied together.

Basically, in North America you have two different churches under one roof. Both seek to be loving, but both have a different view of love. The first view of love is one of acceptance and affirmation and the second view of love is one of acceptance and transformation. If you don't believe in an active God then the first definition of love is the reasonable one because transformation is useless if you can be happy now. However, if you believe in an active God then it would be worse for that person if we affirmed their sinful lifestyle.

Unfortunatly, many Anglicans no longer believe in an active God. They still believe in helping people who are poor, abused, etc. but church for them has become a sort of charity club. Church for them has become solely about empowering humans to be better people.

My church is very conservative but we have a liberal assistant priest (one of three assistant priests). This past sunday he preached and he said that "Christ tried to bring justice and peace to the world but they killed him for it" as if Christ were an equivalent of Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. He missed the fact that the grace that Christ brought is not justice at all but injustice as justice says that we deserve death but grace gives us life which we do not deserve.

However, eventhough you have all this you have many traditional Anglicans who still believe in an active and transforming God. Because of this contrast it makes that belief even stronger. We also have many good, smart and faithful priests on our side like J.I. Packer and John Stott.

If you want to find out more about the conservative movement then Google: "Anglican Essentials Network" or "Anglican Planet".

I've read J.I. Packer's, Knowing God, and, Knowing Christ, and found both to be excellent books. Of course, C.S. Lewis was also an Anglican that I avidly read. So, as far as essential theology goes, I see conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans to be very good, and even better than many of our own Catholic theologians. My first year in seminary I took an Old Testament course at Providence College that was taught by an Episcopal priest, Fr. David Lewis Stokes. However, Fr. Stokes has since left the Episcopal Church and was given special dispensation to be ordained as a Catholic priest. Nevertheless, he was Episcopal when he was my teacher, and I found him to be very solid. I also saw him wrestle in his personal spiritual life with his decision to leave the Episcopalian Church for the Catholic. So, I can only sympathize with traditional Episcopalians who see their Church being undermined by what can only be described as Satanic influences.

Did you read about the vote for the new Episcopal Bishop of California? Now that was encouraging! Three openly homosexual candidates for bishop, and none of them received more than a handful of votes - in whacky California nonetheless! Still, it is kind of disturbing that there were any openly homosexual candidates for bishop, much less three of them. And I assume that these three priests are still ministering in their parishes as open homosexuals. So, that's still a concern, but whew! It looks like the Episcopal Church in California took a pretty strong stand. I mean, Andrus really won in a landslide, so that's a good sign.

[OneHope]

That's good about the Californian bishop.

Part of me would like to see the church split. If the church were to split then we wouldn't have to spend as much time and effort trying to keep it together. We would have a liberal church which would end up being just like a charity club and you would have an Anglicanism defined by Christian orthodoxy concerned with fulfilling the great commission, feeding the hungry and clothing the poor.

[TheProdigalModern]

Originally Posted by OneHope

Part of me would like to see the church split. If the church were to split then we wouldn't have to spend as much time and effort trying to keep it together. We would have a liberal church which would end up being just like a charity club and you would have an Anglicanism defined by Christian orthodoxy concerned with fulfilling the great commission, feeding the hungry and clothing the poor.

I had one priest tell me to my face that he saw no way of avoiding schism. And this was a guy who is a serious believer in the Anglican ideas of compromise.

[ICTHUS]

Originally Posted by Reedolo

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the episcopal church broke away from the Anglican communion and just became the American Episcopal Church or something. *shrug*. I don't really care, I'm not Anglican. I'm sure it would make the gay people happy.

Does it bother you that you're about one of the rudest posters I know on CGR currently? Seriously. You were an ass to KFBobInsanesMom (Renee), whom I consider a friend. You've no doubt been likewise in debates elsewhere on CGR. Adjust your attitude, and get the chip off your shoulder.