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5.13.2006    |    "practices of discrimination."
This is what the Archbishop of Southern Africa has called objections to the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop. As a successor for the much-loved lefty, Desmond Tutu ("Fidel, love your ways..."), this moke is confusing biblical fidelity with racial discrimination. From the laudatory (natch) story in today's WaPo, we get the by-now tired comparison:
Twelve years ago, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu successfully fought for the end of legalized racism in apartheid South Africa. Now, his successor, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, has turned his sights on his own church and says the time has come to abandon its "practices of discrimination."
Ndungane is bitterly opposed by many, if not most, senior Anglicans in Africa. They, apparently, haven't thrown out their Bibles, or dismissed clear statements on homosexual behavior:
Romans 1:27:...and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1 Corinthians 6:9: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality...
Christians should not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race. In the public square, Christians must also not seek to impose, by force, their views on nonbelievers. But we must never give up trying to impose, by reason and by our acts, our views of morality and of the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.

To applaud the appointment of one who flagrantly violates Scripture to bishop is, itself, sinful. As Paul also writes, in 1 Timothy 3:2, "an overseer [bishop] must be above reproach." I sincerely doubt that St. Paul would have considered an active homosexual to "be above reproach."

Neither, then, should we. So, we must ask the likes of Ndungane, What is the foundation, exactly, for a church that denies black-letter scripture? Such a church is built on sand, and should not claim the label of Christian.

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About this site and the author

Welcome. My name is John Luke Rich, (very) struggling Christian. The focus here is Christianity in its many varieties, its fussing and feuding, how it impacts our lives and our society, with detours to consider it with other faiths (or lack thereof).

Call this blog my way of evangelizing on the internet.

Putting it differently, we're only here on this earth a short time. It's the rest of eternity that we should be most concerned about. Call it the care and feeding of our souls.

I was born Jewish, and born again in Christ Jesus over thirty years ago. First as a Roman Catholic; now a Calvinist by persuasion and a Baptist by denomination. But I'm hardly a poster boy for doctrinal rigidity.

I believe that Scripture is the rock on which all Christian churches must stand -- or sink if they are not so grounded. I believe that we are saved by faith, but hardly in a vacuum. That faith is a gift from God, through no agency on our part -- although we sometimes turn a deaf ear and choose to ignore God's knocking on the door.

To be Christian is to evangelize. Those who think it not their part to evangelize perhaps haven't truly understood what our Lord told us in Matthew 28. We must preach the Gospel as best we are able. Using words if necessary.

Though my faith waxes and wanes, it never seems to go away. Sometimes I wish it would, to give me some peace of mind. But then, Jesus never said that walking with Him was going to be easy...

Final note: I also blog as Jack Rich on cultural, political and other things over at Wrong Side of the Tracks

Thanks for stopping by.