Posted by David Virtue at VirtueOnline on 2008/9/26 15:10:00:
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis" - Dante
"The egregious misapplication of God's approval from Jesus to us denies any need for repentance, justification, sanctification, atonement, incarnation or salvation. It blesses our sinful condition and eliminates any need for forgiveness. This misapplication panders to our native self-righteousness. Such self-approval leaves us bereft of any hope of redemption. A church leader who teaches such a substitute for Christianity is without the biblical and creedal authority to depose Bishop Robert Duncan. The kindest thing that can be said of Jefferts Schori and the clergy, who went along with this travesty, is that they are innocent of any knowledge of the contradiction that their views have with the creedal vows they regularly assert.". - Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison, Bishop of SC (ret.)
'By faith alone'. Three times in one paragraph, Paul underlines the necessity of faith" through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Rom. 3:22); through faith in his blood (25) or, more probably, 'by his blood, to be received by faith' (RSV); and God justifies those who have faith in Jesus (26). Indeed, justification is 'by faith alone', sola fide, one of the great watchwords of the Reformation. True, the word 'alone' does not occur in Paul's text of verse 28, where Luther added it. It is not altogether surprising, therefore, that the Roman Catholic Church accused Luther of perverting the text of Holy Scripture. But Luther was following Origen and other early Church Fathers, who had similarly introduced the word 'alone'. A true instinct led them to do so. Far from falsifying or distorting Paul's meaning, they were clarifying and emphasizing it. It was similar with John Wesley, who wrote that he felt he 'did trust in Christ, in Christ alone, for salvation'. Justification is by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone. --- From "The Message of Romans" (The Bible Speaks Today)
The sin of unbelief. Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored. Its sinfulness lies in the fact that it contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to him. --- From "The Letters of John" (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)
The gift of faith. We must never think of salvation as a kind of transaction between God and us in which he contributes grace and we contribute faith. For we were dead, and had to be quickened before we could believe. No, Christ's apostles clearly teach elsewhere that saving faith too is God's gracious gift.--- From "The Message of Ephesians" from The Bible Speaks Today)
Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
9/26/2008
"No comment," said a defiant Lambeth Palace spokesman on the deposition of the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh. This week the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams was in Lourdes looking for a miracle, no doubt hoping and praying for a way forward for the Anglican Communion, perhaps even hoping that Our Lady can offer him a salvific plan to save the Anglican Communion from the egregious behavior of the American Episcopal Church.
His silence about the "deposition" of a godly orthodox bishop demonstrates an appalling lack of leadership and abdication of responsibility in the face of one of the worst acts of ecclesiastical betrayal in contemporary Anglican history.
Ironically, Williams and John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, have nothing to say about this act of ecclesiastical treachery, but have plenty to say about the financial meltdown going on in the US! Sentamu is in New York playing up Millennium Development Goals and won't say a word to Jefferts Schori about her flagrantly abusive power play to get rid of a bishop. From one end of the globe to the other, the outrage at this sham "deposition" has been swift and condemnatory.
The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali said in an interview with The Times that the time has now come for Dr Williams to create a new province for conservatives in the US.
Six senior Church of England bishops came out in support of deposed US bishop Duncan, declaring themselves "deeply saddened and shocked."
The Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, the Bishops of Blackburn, Chester, Chichester, Exeter and Rochester joined in declaring their belief that the deposed Bishop of Pittsburgh remains "a bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion."
Another senior bishop, a former primate of the Southern Cone province in Latin America, also wrote an open letter to Dr Williams demanding the immediate suspension of The Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion and for the recognition of a new conservative province.
Still Williams said nothing.
It was the Primate of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi who came out with the strongest statement of all. "We continue to recognize you (Duncan) as a Bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion, and we whole-heartedly support the action of Archbishop Greg Venables and the House of Bishops of the Province of the Southern Cone to receive you into their House of Bishops. We continue in full communion with you and we do not recognize the action of the TEC House of Bishops to depose you."
Then he went a step further and said this, "This vote reveals how spiritually lost TEC is and why North America needs a new Province that authentically represents historic and Biblical Anglicanism. The Instruments of the Anglican Communion could have averted this crisis. Instead, institutional inertia is preferred, and meanwhile, the tear in the fabric of our communion is now deeper and wider, the mission of the church suffers, and many people miss out on hearing the good news that a Saviour has come. "I look forward to the day when you are not only the Moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, but when we can also welcome you to the table of Primates as the Archbishop of a new, Biblically faithful Province in North America." Slam dunk.
There is an exquisite irony in the "deposition" of Bishop Duncan. The mostly liberal and revisionist HOB who couldn't wait to deep six one of its own ("prayerfully" of course as Mrs. Jefferts Schori stated) is now faced with a crisis as to who will fill Bishop Duncan's shoes as the see of Pittsburgh is technically "vacant" or at least Dr. Louie Crew thinks so.
Since the Episcopal Church is a hierarchical church, as we are so frequently told by the heavy hitters at 815 Second Avenue, then presumably the diocese will be run from the headquarters of the Episcopal Church by someone appointed by Jefferts Schori, the Executive Council, or the HOB. That someone could even be Jefferts Schori herself!
Nope. The diocese is going to be run by Pittsburgh's Diocesan Standing Committee, clergy and parishioners of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. That's some hierarchy. Were this the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope or a Cardinal would have a new bishop in the office on Monday. Not here. According to a press release, the diocesan convention will go forward as planned in "an orderly and grace-filled manner" on October 4.
The Episcopal Church's own documents show that the vote to "depose" Bishop Duncan fell far short of the majority required by TEC's canons. Mark Mccall's story, Do Bishops Deserve Due Process should be read as a reminder that they do. Click here. http://tinyurl.com/3pphel Allan Haley's argument Why the Vote was Wrong is also must reading: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9054
One person who has fond memories of Bishop Duncan is Fr. Jerry Kramer of the Church of the Annunciation in Broadmore, New Orleans. In an e-mail to VOL, he said the Pittsburgh bishop raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Annunciation, post Katrina. "Without him we would likely have closed," he told VOL. We have not heard the end of this debacle. Watch for more fall out from this supreme act of stupidity. VOL has posted a number of stories in today's digest covering this ongoing saga.
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