Letters
from 22 to 29 February 2004
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Goats and
God's domain
THE
PRESEIDENT AND SOME MEMBERS of
[the US] Congress are planning on treading where wise men of
old dared not go. To legislate who can be loved and who can
love.
This Dominion has from creation belonged to God and God alone.
As a follower of Jesus I must warn all persons of faith that
this is blasphemy against
God’s Holy Spirit — the unforgivable sin.
Historically,
marriage was a means of barter. My daughter (a woman) for your goats,
oxen, and some grain. It was a means of institutional slavery. This was
the basis of marriage. Some modifications have been made, but still many
view it as a modern slavery. The husband (a man) has dominion over his
wife (a woman). Many conservative Christians still hold to those views.
When it comes
to love and loving that is God’s domain. God is Love. Now people, who
want to continue in God’s salvation and good grace had better watch what
they say and what they do because God is not a respecter of persons and
God will not be mocked. Don’t quote Bible verses to God because any book,
any legal authority, any court do not bind God, not anything touching
the earth effects God’s love for ALL God’s children. Argued against this
and you stand holding a hammer and nails at Jesus’ cross to crucify him
again today.
The
Holy Sprit is God with us today. Just remember: 'Whom God has
joined together
— humankind had best put aside'.
My God have
mercy on The United States of America for its arrogance to even think
of assuming God’s responsibilities.
William A.
Flint
St Columb's Episcopal Church
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
williamflint@mac.com
24 February 2004
Words mean
what I want them to
I
JUST GOT CAUGHT UP ON MY AO READING and
as an Anglican blogger, I've gotta take issue with your characterization
of blogs.
First, most
blogs do not want to "grow up" into "real websites." We're quite happy
with being what we are. As most websites are public relations outposts
of some group or company and we seek to be ourselves in the online world
as much as we are in the physical world, there's little desire for most
of us to turn our sites into portals of someone else's agenda.
Second, it's
easy to find blogs that you want to read, if you know how to go about
doing this sort of thing. Find a blog you like. Start checking out the
links that the blogger finds interesting or important. Read those. Choose
to read some regularly and reject reading others. Continue following
links. Repeat the above steps. It's just like the rest of the web. The
point isn't to read it all; the point, for me at least, remains to find
interesting people with thoughts (which I may agree with or not) that
provoke my own thoughts and my own journey through life. Which is coincidentally
the reason that I'm an academic.
Third, (and
I say this with a wry smile of humor) "first remove the plank from your
own eye before removing the speck from your brother's eye." AO is essentially
a blog. It's the thoughts of what your team thinks (so it's a group blog,
in essence), compiled together with links that you find interesting,
important, and relevant. It's also got longer extended pieces on what
you think Anglicanism is. (And, although I largely agree with what you
all write, it's perspectival in the way that you consider the week before
the blogging piece, in your writing on Underhill and Blake.) You link
to sources of news (which many of us bloggers do, too), you make an effort
to be interactive and have a continuing conversation with a regular core
of readers. Just because you don't call yourself a blog doesn't mean
you are not. I — and others probably — tend to think of you as
a blog, and you seem more like one than not.
Yeah, blogs
have the problems that you mention. But so does the rest of the Internet
and most human endeavors. Don't judge blogs by bad examples of Christian
Atkins dieters (by the way, what will they do in Lent, when traditionally
one gives up meat? *grin*). Judge them by the best examples of what they
can be.
And read my
blog! *wry grin*
Nathan Paxton
Trinity Church, Copley, Boston and the SSJE monastery
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
25 February 2004
Selective
principles?
SORRY
TO LEARN THROUGH Rowan
Williams' charge to Eames Commission that by implication, Gay
and Lesbian Anglican Christians along
with their supporting families and friends, might be considered
an 'embarrassment' or are being considered in terms of 'evangelistic
difficulties'.
I
hope and pray that general Christian Gospel principles will take
precedence
and prevail over any highly selective, distorted and/or disputed
Pauline ones.
I
am thankful
that the Anglican part of the Christian community in New Westminster
and New Hampshire have decided to 'draw boundaries' that are
inclusive 'to proclaim the gospel of Jesus' to all.
Martin
Murray
(mainland PRC where there is no legal Anglican Church)
Shenyang, Liaoning, People's Republic of China
martinmurrayeducation@hotmail.com
23 February 2004
Earlier
letters
We launched our
'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All of our letters are
in our archives.
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