Black comedy with a round white collar
Mainlineitis- the notion that the most important business of the Church is the preservation of the institution, and that the teachings of Scripture are negotiable if giving them up will advance that end- is a phenomenon I became all too familiar with during my years in the ELCA.
Not surprisingly, the Episcopal Church, with which the ELCA is in full communion- having passed a remarkable week in which it declared the New Testament to be anti-Semitic, defied Scripture by electing a female presiding "bishop," and then had the new High Priestess declare that both Testaments are mistaken, and homosexuality is not a sin after all- has concluded its meeting with an appeal by the Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold, the outgoing Presiding Bishop, not to faithfulness, but to diplomacy.
Urging delegates to consider not electing any more gay bishops because it might endanger fellowship with more faithful Anglicans elsewhere in the world, Griswold said, "Unless there is a clear perception on the part of our Anglican brothers and sisters that they have been taken seriously in their concerns, it will be impossible to have any genuine conversation."
It speaks volumes about mainlineitis that for Griswold, as for the ELCA hierarchy, the Faith is not something to be confessed, but negotiated.
Meanwhile, the new High Priestess, Katharine Jefferts Schori, referred in a sermon to "our mother Jesus."
Earlier in the week, another mainline denomination with which the ELCA is somehow in full communion, despite its denial of the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion- the Presbyterian Church (USA)- committed apostasy when it approved the substitution of "gender inclusive" language for the triune Name of God in worship.
All in all, it hasn't been a good week for divine revelation among those denominations afflicted with mainlineitis.
Not surprisingly, the Episcopal Church, with which the ELCA is in full communion- having passed a remarkable week in which it declared the New Testament to be anti-Semitic, defied Scripture by electing a female presiding "bishop," and then had the new High Priestess declare that both Testaments are mistaken, and homosexuality is not a sin after all- has concluded its meeting with an appeal by the Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold, the outgoing Presiding Bishop, not to faithfulness, but to diplomacy.
Urging delegates to consider not electing any more gay bishops because it might endanger fellowship with more faithful Anglicans elsewhere in the world, Griswold said, "Unless there is a clear perception on the part of our Anglican brothers and sisters that they have been taken seriously in their concerns, it will be impossible to have any genuine conversation."
It speaks volumes about mainlineitis that for Griswold, as for the ELCA hierarchy, the Faith is not something to be confessed, but negotiated.
Meanwhile, the new High Priestess, Katharine Jefferts Schori, referred in a sermon to "our mother Jesus."
Earlier in the week, another mainline denomination with which the ELCA is somehow in full communion, despite its denial of the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion- the Presbyterian Church (USA)- committed apostasy when it approved the substitution of "gender inclusive" language for the triune Name of God in worship.
All in all, it hasn't been a good week for divine revelation among those denominations afflicted with mainlineitis.
Comments
We have a final authority over issues of faith and morals: the Bible. And the Bible is perfectly clear. The problem isn't some defect in the Bible. The problem is that human beings- be they Roman Catholic popes, Gnostic heretics, or the Anglican communion- choose to disregard the authority of the Bible and assert their own, as false teachers have been doing ever since the Ascension. How, after all, can a church be apostolic when it refuses to listen to the apostles?
It is, indeed, deja vu all over again.Time to return to the faith once delivered to the saints, as clearly laid down in the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures.
Re-read the definition of mainlineitis, tiber. Roman Catholicism defines it.