John Clarke, the archdeacon of Prince Edward Island region believes that because the vote to approve same-sex marriage passed at general synod, its passing must be God’s will and the Holy Spirit must have guided the members of the synod to vote as they did.
That means God has been misleading every church synod for the last couple of millennia; he is still misleading the Roman Catholic church, the rascal.
I suppose it’s possible that, having thought one way for thousands of years, God has changed his mind and now thinks the opposite, convinced, perhaps, by the pious, saintly behaviour of those participating in gay Pride marches. Or maybe he just wants to be more relevant.
From here:
There are those who would argue that the church is not a democracy, but the Body of Christ in the world, with Jesus Christ as head. True; however, neither is our church a dictatorship. We have put into place reasonable and fair rules to help us collectively discern the will of God in the life of our church. There is no one person ruling the church. It is our collective responsibility to use Scripture, tradition and reason to help discern the will of God in our lives today. We have no option but to take seriously the idea that God’s Holy Spirit might be calling the church to a new thing—a new thing that is reflected in the overwhelming majority of prayerful, careful members who voted yes on the resolution to change the marriage canon.
Since God has clearly spoken, those who oppose homosexual marriage should grit their teeth, shut up and stop disrupting the unity of the church:
It is inappropriate, at this point, for people to oppose the action of General Synod regarding same-sex marriages. The responsibility now lies with those who voted “no” to honestly consider if, in fact, the Holy Spirit is leading our church in a new direction.
The odd thing about all this is that liberals have spent decades sneering at orthodox Christians – fundamentalists or fundies as they are fondly known amongst the dog collar elite – for claiming to hear from God. Now, all of a sudden, it is liberals who have a direct line to God – well, to some sort of god.
Clergy and lay members of General Synod tend to be more liberal than the average laity in our pews. Their votes did not concern me. But, I am more concerned by the fact that there were only 13 Bishops who voted against the first reading of the motion in July. Unfortunately, Goodman, Jackson, Wilkinson, Garnsworthy, Read, Wright, and other conservative Bishops are no longer with us.
And if the vote had teetered in the other direction — what would that have indicated?
A church can either “have it”, or be “with it”. The ACoC has chosen the latter course.
And if, after ‘prayerful consideration’, we conclude that the Holy Spirit is not, in fact, ‘leading us in a new direction’? What then? Does Clarke have any advice for us? (Other than to shut up, I mean.)
“… overwhelming majority…?”
The words of this apostate simply prove the situation is NOT liberalism versus conservatism but apostasy versus orthodoxy. To be a genuine and true Christian church it MUST fully accept the authority of Scripture and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. John Clarke should do the honourable thing and resign from his position and so should all clergy that support the idea that God’s Word is subject to a majority vote.
As I have state on previous comments orthodox Christians within the ACoC should immediately cease and desist from making ANY contributions to this currently apostate so-called church.
“There is no one person ruling the Church”:
No. According to The Living WORD there are Three:
“The Father, The WORD, and The Holy Ghost”
United and Unanimous, speaking solely in The WORD + I & II John + John 17:17.
Summoning the anti-Scriptural authority of reason and tradition, “the witness of men” (I:5:9a;10), has meant that this Marriage made in Heaven is getting a little crowded!
Yes, indeed there are Three ruling the true and genuine Christian Church, The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost. Tragically the ACoC and the apostate bishops and clergy seem to think their word and decisions at synod – many of which the motions are designed to bring about the wishes of the apostates – take precedence over THE WORD. The current situation is NOT that God has spoken but rather that Satan has infiltrated the minds of the apostates and the results are obvious.
I’m just wondering what the readers of this blog think of other doctrinal changes in Church history.
Which ones, specifically. Then we can discuss.
Rules governing loans (what we now think of as usury, which seems to have been a somewhat looser concept a while back).
Slavery as a social institution.
Marriage and divorce.
I’m not convinced I want to have a discussion as such about this though, particularly if the discussion eventually hinges on the interpretation that they’re haven’t been any doctrinal changes, only doctrinal developments. Hell, the fact that the ACC endlessly discusses things is a recurring topic of derision on this blog.
It looks like some people need grief counseling
Well, I suspect we’re coming at this from different perspectives, Sophie, but I agree on the grief counseling.
I think there are many, many people who have watched a denomination they loved and gave much to (in time, talent, treasure, etc.) over many years become something that they no longer feel they can in good conscience belong to. It is very much like grieving a death.
So I can see that there are people commenting here who are in all of the various stages associated with grieving: some are angry, some are moving on. Perhaps for those who are angriest, it is because their sense of loss runs so deep. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Anger is the fluid that love bleeds when you cut it.”