I recently watched a movie about Richard Nixon and in one scene the President
is talking to a group of college students. One asked him why don't you stop the
war? Then she made a statement that horrified President Nixon: 'You can't. It
is a beast and it is out-of-control. You couldn't stop it even if you wanted
to'.
President Nixon inherited the Vietnam War from previous administrations. President
Bush created the War on Terror himself. We still don't know whom we are fighting
against, who is the enemy. We don't even know who our friends are in this war.
How can you gauge whether we are winning or losing in a war with no borders.
How do you know the truth when all you hear our lies?
The invocation of a God of righteousness and warrior against evil the President
is presenting to the country really doesn't play well in the world. In addition
the 'be afraid, be very afraid' message that continues to be shouted at citizens
of the United States every time the terror alert color changes is growing old
to our ears.
Whatever the reasons
are our young men and women in uniform are being put in harms way and abused
by the political powers that be truthfully are, we we haven't heard them
to date. We haven't heard the whole truth about September 11. We will never
know the truth. I pray everyday that God will deliver us from evil, both
in this country and in the world. I have learned the only One worthy of absolute
trust in this life is God.
When one speaks of God in today's world, whose God are they talking about? God
is not defined by humankind, but is totally and completely independent from us.
God's ways are not own ways. By whatever name one calls God, God's eternal nature
is always Love.
William A. Flint
St. Columb's Episcopal Church
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
williamflint@mac.com
10 May 2004
Please
allow me to let you know that I am not a 'conservative', 'separationist',
or 'dissident'.
I am a frustrated member of the Episcopal Church in the USA who is heartbroken
by the unthoughtful, unbiblical, and unbelievable actions taken by ECUSA
at its national convention.
Regarding the listing
under Worth Noting on 'What's New This Week'
[May 9] concerning 'reformation': the synopsis includes a quote that
alleges that the position of orthodox laity, clergy, and bishops in ECUSA
is, in effect, telling homosexual people that God doesn't love them unless
they change to what we feel is acceptable. This is absolutely, totally and
completely a falsehood. God loves each and every one of us — every
murderer, every thief, every glutton, every coveter — every sinner
of any kind. No one has suggested that God does
not love people, Christian or otherwise, who are homosexual. In fact, we
orthodox Episcopalians also love them (and every other sinner, meaning
all of us). Whoever has made that assertion is either woefully ignorant
of the mindset of orthodox members or is purposely perpetrating a lie.
What we do believe
is that God, who loves the sinner, hates the sin and only the sin. No one
is asking homosexual Christians to change who they are; we are only asking
that, if they want to be in positions of authority within the Church, they
repent of sinful behavior, as we all do (or at least need to and should
do) on a daily basis. As a point of information, 'repentance' doesn't
mean just being sorry for sinful behavior; the word also encompasses the idea
of changing that behavior or at the very least trying to change
the behavior. It's when one in position of church authority chooses to continue
sinning in the same manner and even celebrates the behavior that those of us
who are traditional or orthodox find that we must take a stand.
V. Gene Robinson is
an openly practicing homosexual man who is living in a non-married relationship
with his male partner. He is unrepentant of sin as described very clearly
in the Bible (read about Sodom and Gomorrah), even celebrates and revels
in these behaviors. I do not feel he should be lauded, celebrated, and elevated
to a leadership position with openly unrepentant behavior. I feel that this
also applies to an openly unrepentant glutton, openly unrepentant murderer,
openly unrepentant thief, etc. It's not about the sinner, it's about the
sin.
My beliefs regarding
same-sex marriages or unions are similar. The Bible clearly states that marriage
is between and man and a woman. Even Jesus says, in Matthew 19:5 and Mark
10:7, that a man leaves his father and mother and a woman leaves her home
and the two are united into one. Time, culture, and prevailing societal norms
do not change that truth as spoken by Jesus. Homosexuality has always existed.
There were undoubtedly closeted homosexual people all around Jesus Christ as
he ministered. Don't you think he would have listed any exceptions to his statement
above if there were any?
I believe that if
a poll were taken of the parishioners in the pews in
the Episcopal Church in the USA, a strong majority of members would indicate
they feel as I do. However, we have not been given a voice or a choice in
the current situation. Everything has been decided by the clergy, bishops,
and only a handful of lay delegates thrust into the politically charged
(and I might add intimidating) atmosphere of the national convention. I strongly
feel that each and every 'pew
filler' should have input.
Please help us all
to reach reconciliation and unity by printing both sides to this sad story
and not allowing someone with 'an agenda' to spread
falsehoods that do nothing but further deepen the rift caused by ECUSA leadership.
Thank you.
In His love for all of us,
Allison Metcalf
Grace Episcopal Church
Ocala, Florida, USA
16 May 2004
