Homosexuality and Anglicans

I have previously made reference to A Restless Faith and the erroneous conclusion the writer reaches with respect to the same-sex marriage debate and the matter of homosexuality in general.

I have also remarked that the logic used by that writer to arrive at his conclusion is valid. It is just that his erroneous assumption to distrust the biblical account of the global flood in the time of Noah permits his otherwise correct logical process to lead him to further error on the matter of homosexuality.

A little background checking reveals that writer to have connections with the former Rector of St Saviour's Anglican Church, Redfern, now Bishop of Gippsland, Victoria, who created a furore in Anglican (or Episcopalian) circles in Australia earlier this year in ordaining a man living in a homosexual relationship.

If you care to read the basis of that decision, take a look at his Synod address.

You will note his lifting of two portions of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:18, 20) without considering them in the context of the whole Bible. That is a basic error.

What is interesting in connection with the Keith Mascord blog is that the Bishop of Gippsland compounds his own error in a similar way to Keith Mascord - by misinterpreting Scripture, science and history. I quote the Bishop of Gippsland:

"We all acknowledge that the church can never read the Bible in the same way once it acknowledged that Galileo was right. The world is round, not flat, despite what those who first penned the words of the Bible thought and assumed. It took the church a long time to acknowledge this, and in the name of orthodoxy, it treated Galileo rather shabbily along the way.

Here lies an exegetical parallel for our present purpose. Because of recent new understanding, we now all know that same-sex attracted people are not heterosexual people who have made a perverse choice about how they express their sexuality. They simply are what they are. We might like to argue about whether this is how life should or should not be, but that will not change the way it is. And we have to respond to what is."

It amazes me that someone with so little knowledge of the Bible, science and history could be appointed Bishop of Gippsland and I pity the poor parishioners and some clergy for who they have supposedly having pastoral oversight of them. A fair record of events concerning Galileo can be found here and an historically accurate assessment of the disconnection of the Galileo controversy and "flat earth" allegations can be found here.

To those in the Church who say the debate over Origins is not an important issue I want you to see just where an erroneous understanding of Scripture, science and history leads you. And don't go stroking your chest saying you are arguing against people such as John McIntyre, Bishop of Gippsland and Keith Mascord, former lecturer at Moore Theological College on the subject of homosexuality. You assert those two men are being influenced by the thinking of the world on the matter instead of Scripture yet you hypocrites are being influenced by the world on the matter of Origins instead of Scripture.

Those two men are at least consistent in their error. You are inconsistent!

Sam Drucker