Christianity isn’t safe.
Early Christians had to look forward to an early unpleasant departure from this vale of tears, a fate that is still in store for many persecuted Christians today. St. Paul was: beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, robbed, imprisoned, hungry, thirsty, betrayed, nearly drowned and five times received forty lashes.
If the early church had concentrated its efforts on becoming safe, I don’t suppose much would have come of it; after all, Aslan is not a tame Lion.
Nevertheless, the Diocese of Niagara is a safe place – for everyone except orthodox Christians.
From here:
Safe Church initiatives within the Diocese of Niagara are dedicated to ensuring that the church is a safe and holy place for all people at all times.
We affirm the dignity and worth of all persons, young or old, male or female, rich or poor.
To that end, our protocols apply to all of the people of the Diocese of Niagara in all of our faith communities, no matter what ministry they partake in, be it volunteer, paid, lay or ordained.
[….]
Truly, the Spirit moves in our midst as we come to terms with what it means to be the Christian Church in the days of #MeToo and #ChurchToo.
A true Christian church demands FULL and COMPLETE recognition of the authority of the Scriptures. Tragically the Diocese of Niagara under its previous and present apostate so-called bishops worship that detestable ‘god of political expediency’ and by doing so clearly denounce the vows made initially at their ordination and again at their fraudulent consecration.
“Truly the Spirit moves…” Perhaps the Spirit; the true Holy Spirit, is moving out while the spirit of the age moves in. (Ezekiel 10)
I have just posted this on a couple of sites:
We need to be fully aware that if the bizarre notion that people of the same sex can be married becomes embodied in a change to the Marriage Canon in our denomination, the ACoC will have departed not just from reason but from the Church Catholic. The cause will be complex, but will certainly include the fact that a majority both clerical and lay have voted out of a profound philosophical, theological and biblical naivety. I have been heavily involved in dealing with this terrible evil since it was not even a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand in Anglicanism: in this country it first manifested itself in the MCC and the UCC, and as President of the Council of Christian Churches of Greater Vancouver I was forced to become a public leader in opposition to it. On top of that very stressful and exhausting task, equipped as I was with advanced biblical and theological qualifications, I felt obliged to look into the Christian position in great depth.
In my Diocese, the uniform pattern has been that the proponents of falsehood have been at least one jump ahead of the opponents at every stage. This has been true of both parts of the question, first what is the fact of the matter, and secondly what are we to do about it politically. The Christian reactions and initiatives have been characterised by Too Little, Too Late. I believe that this still holds. People will vote at GS this summer, other things being equal, who believe some or all of the following falsehoods: That the Holy Scriptures are ambiguous about same-sex physical intimacy; that we may not know what were the convictions and practice of the Lord Jesus; that the phenomenon was different in the ancient world; that the behaviour of those with same-sex leanings is genetically pre-determined; that Christian love requires us to ‘bless’ same-sex ‘unions’; that people of the same sex can consummate sexually; and that all love may legitimately find an intimate physical expression. As I wrote in my Brief to the Commission: It is important to note that none of these positions is held by serious biblical and theological professionals: for instance, even those very few scholars who hold that the Scriptures are mistaken acknowledge that they are wholly adverse to same-sex practice. For none of these positions has the case ever been made outside advocacy scholarship, for the very sound reason that such a case cannot be made, and the most positive thing that may be said of such views is that they are less than informed. That busy bishops and other leaders unequipped with the tools of the trade have not tested them is venial. What is less excusable is that our Church has not until now asked any of the tiny handful who are so equipped to contribute.
In the tiny window of opportunity which remains, all thinking and prayerful Anglicans will I pray avail themselves, both for themselves and for those who vote, of some/all items in this basic information kit:–
1. https://www.amazon.ca/Bible-Homosexual-Practice-Texts-Hermeneutics-ebook/dp/B0071OSK6O
2. https://www.amazon.ca/Homosexuality-Bible-Dan-Via/dp/080063618X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
3. https://www.amazon.ca/Holy-Homosex-Priscilla-D-M-Turner/dp/1482347865
4. https://www.amazon.ca/Love-How-Deep-Three-Souls/dp/1775106225/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1331946835&sr=8-2
5. There is at least one highly relevant sermon in this volume: https://www.amazon.ca/We-Believe-Understanding-Nicene-Creed/dp/1775106233/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=we+believe+nicene&qid=1552265227&s=gateway&sr=8-1
And pray.
In the first magisterial book I am quoted; of the other four I am a contributor/editor/part-author/author. To any sincere person, I will send a .pdf or a Kindle of items 3, 4 and 5 whose copyrights I own. These files may be distributed freely. I’m not concerned with making money from my writing.
Relevant short papers are:–
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-neighbour-yourself-luke-1027-dr-priscilla-turner-1/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141124013550-135532881-the-sheep-and-the-goats-who-are-they/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rom-1-dr-priscilla-turner/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rom-12-dr-priscilla-turner/
While education is not the whole key to our desperate situation, ignorance is not our friend. “Say not the struggle nought availeth”, as my late great friend, contemporary and comrade-in-arms David F. Wright and I used to say to one another.
Πρίσκα
Poetry. I looked it up, and so confirmed some small measure of my participation in the grand life of western civilization, in knowing that another line of the poem was: “But westward look, the land is bright.” Still, it’s apt, perhaps not in the final outcome, but that as we join the struggle, as we participate in proclaiming orthodox faith to a church seemingly determined to go it’s own way, we stand with Jesus in proclaiming truth, and attempting to exalt Christ above all things.
New for me: the phrase ” advocacy scholarship” That’s helpful. I remember reading an EGALE pamphlet that purported to explain how Scripture didn’t quite get it right, and that all the six hammer verses didn’t mean what they plainly meant…
I wish that the westward prospect was brighter than it’s been for several decades now … But seriously, thanks for the encouragement. Please do all that you can now, including prayer and study. “We shall overcome!”