LEGITIMIZING HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS... REVISIONIST BISHOPS BLAST ORTHODOX

Weekly Digest / Commentary

"Much of the sexuality debate revolves around human demands about what God allegedly must do if God is to be considered loving and just, rather than accepting with open hearts the singular way God has provided for acceptable sexual expression." — Presbyterian biblical scholar Robert A. J. Gagnon in Theology Matters

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It was another week in which the Episcopal Church's revisionist bishops showed their hand in beating up on orthodox rectors and continuing their in-your-face acts against the predominantly orthodox Anglican Communion pushing pansexuality and much more.

If the Global South ever wanted overwhelming evidence that the Episcopal Church does not plan to change course, they need only go to www.virtuosityonline.org and hit the ARCHIVES link and read to their hearts content, or perhaps discontent.

"In the whole messy business of legitimizing sodomite relationships comes the question of why not legitimize threesomes and foursomes? What about bisexuals, who are attracted to both genders? And why not abolish marriage altogether?"

Thus spake Marvin Ellison, ethics professor at the United Church of Christ's Bangor (Maine) Theological Seminary, in "Same-Sex Marriage? A Christian Ethical Analysis." Professor Ellison is a non-orthodox gay theologian, so his comments come with added irony.

"Besides pondering marriage for bisexuals, he protests that the narrowly 'bipolar' definition of marriage excludes 'intersexuality, transgenderism, transsexuality and other sexualities.' Like other gay writers, Ellison wonders whether government should abolish marriage altogether rather than redefine it to include gays.

Of course there is no end to this sexual absurdity, and the Episcopal Church is right in the forefront of the sexual revolution with its fawning desire to please lesbitransgays: misplaced compassion knows no abatement.

When I asked an Episcopal orthodox psychiatrist how he dealt with people who came into his practice he said simply that you start with whatever behavior they are addicted to and work on them to stop. If you are an alcoholic go to AA, if a homosexual go to HA. Do whatever it takes to stop the bad behavior, then backtrack into the whys and wherefores. Medication can help in cases like depression, but most psychiatrists defer the whys and wherefore about depression to therapists and counselors, but they can prescribe drugs for immediate relief where therapists cannot. The key word is STOP; in these two cases excessive alcohol and bad (read wrong) sex can kill you. Two very good reasons to stop.

The Episcopal Church, on the other hand, because of its misguided and misplaced compassion affirms bad behaviors because it doesn't want to appear uninclusive, little realizing that they could be signing a person's death warrant.

Take the actions of the Rehab Sisters in the DIOCESE OF OREGON this week who were awarded a Pentecost Offering for their work among prostitutes. The Council awarded $1,750 to these Sisters, an outreach ministry to Portland's prostitutes.

This group invites women from the street into the Columba Center (Saints Peter and Paul) where they can eat, talk, and find other forms of support while learning about the welcoming aspects of the church. According to the Rev. Sara Fischer, Grace Memorial, they are offered the kind of hospitality "we hope we would be offered if we were on the street," says Fischer. "We provide a clean, safe place for food, coffee, health items, and respectful, no-strings attached conversation." Translation: Come as you are stay as you are.

So what this says is that the Rehab Sisters, in order to appear non-confrontational and non-judgmental, never offer them the greatest news of all - a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ. That apparently is off-limits. So in order not to appear "fundamentalist" this Episcopal parish is acting like a non-profit charity or Kiwanis Club. No gospel, no Good News just Food and Clothing News and that omnipresent all-knowing "listening" much beloved by our Presiding Bishop. The women are affirmed in their womanhood, if not their lifestyle and back on the streets they go. The notion of Jesus saying "neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more", is lost on the Rehab Sisters.