A small oasis of sanity in the vast desert of ACoC sexual neuroses.
Read it all in the Journal:
As the Anglican Church of Canada prepares for a controversial vote on whether or not to change its laws to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples, the diocese of the Arctic has sent a memorial to General Synod stating its commitment to maintaining the status quo.
The memorial, passed at the Arctic’s 2016 diocesan synod in May, also notes that the diocese seeks to “preserve the unity of the church,” and expresses a “sincere hope that [the diocese] can remain in fellowship and ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada, while standing with the larger Anglican Communion.”
Holy Matrimony “is a creation ordinance which is restricted to, and defined as, a covenant between a man and a woman,” the memorial says. “We seek to protect and promote this sacrament for the strengthening of the family, the stability of society, the unity of God’s church, and the common good.”
[….]
The diocese has been outspoken on matters of human sexuality in the past. In 2005, the Arctic’s diocesan synod amended its canon on the order and eligibility for licensing and banned employment of anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of heterosexual marriage, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and those who willingly engage in sexual activities with a minor.
At the time, then Arctic Bishop Andrew Atagotaaluk and Bishop Larry Robertson (then suffragan of Mackenzie and Kitikmeot) explained that the law was passed to ensure diocesan employees maintained a lifestyle congruent with the diocese’s understanding of biblical sexual ethics.
While the memorial states that the diocese is “committed to human flourishing, equal opportunities, dignity and justice for all,” it is not clear whether this commitment to “equal opportunities” indicates a change in official diocesan hiring practices.
It is indeed a blessing to notice that at least one diocese within the ACoC remains true to the Gospel. Should the General Synod vote in favour of changing the marriage canon I believe this diocese should align itself with the Anglican Network in Canada and distance itself from the apostates that now virtually rule the ACoC. Our prayers will remain with this diocese.
The first principle in human flourishing surely must be to be saved from perishing.
To be saved puts a person on a grace-trajectory of renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions.
The true North strong and free.
The rest of the world is busy redefining marriage in defiance of Jesus’s definition “therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one” and in defiance of science, which assures us that sex between a man and a woman is materially entirely different from any other form of sex, and in defiance of history which tells us that all our family trees are overwhelmingly made up of male-female pairings.