You know the real problem with PB Schori’s sermon in Curaçao? It was so badly reasoned that it obscured the communion-reconciling reality that there are people who take the bible seriously and come to the conclusion that gay sex can be blessed. That seems to be Jordan Hylden’s take away in this strangely reasoned but revealing article in First Things. Here’s the money quote:
Arius was a sincere man who took the bible seriously. So was Sabellius. So was Pelagius. Many heretics are quite serious about the bible. But they seriously and sincerely distort the truth of the bible and thereby obscure the revelation of God in Jesus Christ presenting a false Christ who cannot save.
Our present day heretics, Dr. Ellen Davis included (who is, by the way, a very nice lady), present a Jesus who affirms gay sex. The Jesus who rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and who inspired and superintended the writing of the New Testament through his chosen apostles says that those who engage in gay sex apart from repentance will not enter the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor 6:9-10). These are two antithetical Jesus’ who proclaim two conflicting gospels. And if we are to believe our New Testaments then we cannot escape the fact that eternal life is at stake. This is not like Anglo Catholics and Evangelicals arguing about vestments and candles. This is not, as Mr. Hylden seems to believe, a clash that might one day in the future be categorized alongside the question of dancing, rated R movies and whether or not Christians ought to drink wine. This is about defending and holding to the undiluted gospel of Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again to save sinners. There will be and can be no “detente”, no reconciliation, no mutual understanding, no compromise, no cooperation, until those who distort the gospel and lead the Lord’s little ones into soul destroying sin publicly repent and recant and turn in their collars.
If conservative Anglicans are ever to come to a détente with liberals over the issue of homosexuality—perhaps not to agree with them, but at least to come to terms with them—it would have to involve understanding that revisionists on this issue have genuinely grappled with the authoritative text of Holy Scripture. Their persistent concern is that liberals do not do this, but rather regard Scripture as outdated and no longer authoritative for Christian faith and life in the modern world. Conservatives often fear that liberals simply pick and choose the bits of the Bible they like, and leave the rest behind.
Now, one might come to the conclusion after grappling with the authoritative biblical text that same-sex blessings may be warranted. The noted Episcopal biblical scholar Ellen Davis is one such figure, arguing in the summer 2008 issue of the Anglican Theological Review that it’s quite possible for conservatives and liberals to disagree on the matter, precisely while working from the assumption that “no individual or church community can in good faith reach a position on this issue without reckoning seriously with Scripture.” One might disagree with Davis that Scripture is as indeterminate on the issue as she thinks; she herself acknowledges that her Duke colleague Richard Hays would think so, along with many figures in the Anglican world, such as former Ugandan archbishop Henry Luke Orombi in the pages of First Things. But most Anglicans are likely to agree that Davis is a careful reader of Holy Scripture, someone who works very hard to listen for the Word of God in its pages. For several years now, she has traveled regularly to teach the Bible to seminary students of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan. In her teaching, Davis’ Sudanese students can recognize someone who seeks to be faithfully obedient to the Scriptures, even if they disagree with her on the shape of that obedience…read moreMr. Hylden seems to be laboring under the impression that Anglican conservatives just need to be assured that those who want to bless homosexual behavior sincerely believe that the bible does not forbid it. Once we know that they approach the bible with sincerity then the way will be cleared for Communion unity. What a revealing thought. It further convinces me that open evangelicals, Covenant types, and ‘conservative’ centrists like Mr. Hylden will never understand why we refuse to link hands round the table with revisionist activists pushing for the normalization of homosexual sex. It’s not “just” that those who do so don’t take scripture seriously. It’s that they’re interpretation of scripture distorts the Person of Christ and his Work to such an extent that the gospel they proclaim is another Gospel altogether.
Arius was a sincere man who took the bible seriously. So was Sabellius. So was Pelagius. Many heretics are quite serious about the bible. But they seriously and sincerely distort the truth of the bible and thereby obscure the revelation of God in Jesus Christ presenting a false Christ who cannot save.
Our present day heretics, Dr. Ellen Davis included (who is, by the way, a very nice lady), present a Jesus who affirms gay sex. The Jesus who rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and who inspired and superintended the writing of the New Testament through his chosen apostles says that those who engage in gay sex apart from repentance will not enter the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor 6:9-10). These are two antithetical Jesus’ who proclaim two conflicting gospels. And if we are to believe our New Testaments then we cannot escape the fact that eternal life is at stake. This is not like Anglo Catholics and Evangelicals arguing about vestments and candles. This is not, as Mr. Hylden seems to believe, a clash that might one day in the future be categorized alongside the question of dancing, rated R movies and whether or not Christians ought to drink wine. This is about defending and holding to the undiluted gospel of Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again to save sinners. There will be and can be no “detente”, no reconciliation, no mutual understanding, no compromise, no cooperation, until those who distort the gospel and lead the Lord’s little ones into soul destroying sin publicly repent and recant and turn in their collars.
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