Monday, June 12, 2006

GOLD: Kingdom Blogging (12 June 2006)

A plethora of relevant and psuedo-relevant items from servants of the Kingdom of God.

CHURCH DECAY

The American Baptists, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, and the Methodists are falling apart ... the most egregious decay is seen in the Episcopal Church USA - here are a few posts recently found at Virtue Online ...

As Eye See It - Can the Episcopal Church Survive? - by Hans Zeiger
The Episcopal Church in America is dying. A recent Gallup poll shows that Episcopals have the lowest weekly church attendance rate of any Christian denomination; only one in three Episcopalians go to church every week. Only the non-religious and Jews register lower religious service attendance than Episcopalians.

Gallup interviewed 11,000 adult Americans between 2002 and 2005 to find that 44 percent of Americans attend church weekly or almost weekly. Episcopals are not only far below the national average, they are far below the average for mainline Protestant denominations. More ...
As Eye See It - Heresy and Schism - by Robinson Cavalcanti
In recent years, as the growing doctrinal and ethical crisis has made painful inroads into Christendom (and the Anglican Communion in particular), a public debate has emerged over which is "better" or "worse": heresy or schism?

The very existence and terms of the debate itself reveal the tragic nature of the moment in which the Church finds herself. Both heresies and schisms are negative, damaging and utlimately destructive.

The Church of Jesus Christ came into being for truth and unity. Heresies and schisms amount to a blunt negation of the very principles which the Lord held in His heart. They are, evidently, expressions of sin. Viewed from this angle, the debate over which is "the lesser evil" serves only to demonstrate the reality of the abyss we've come to. More ...
LONDON: Anglicans look south for unity in diversity
Our correspondent asks the Archbishop of South Asia how a communion facing crisis can survive SECRET meetings ... on which the key players refuse to comment.

Old rivalries are festering and certainties crumbling as emerging powers challenge the established order. Injuries, real and imagined, are scrutinised in desperate attempts to gauge their future impact.

As the ... politics reach fever pitch, tension continues to mount in the build-up to the crucial game, with all its implications for England. Or at least, for the Church of England.

This is of course not the World Cup, but the struggle over homosexuality that threatens to split the Anglican Communion.

The future of the Communion could be decided at the general convention of the US church next week. Unity will stand or fall on whether the Episcopal Church of the US agrees a moratorium on gay consecrations called for by the Windsor report. The trophy at stake is the very soul of Anglicanism, with the losers destined to live out their ecclesiastical existence as an obscure sect. More ...
Vatican official to Anglicans: Women bishops would destroy unity
A Vatican cardinal has warned the Church of England that a move to ordain women as bishops would destroy any chance of full unity with the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that if the Church of England adopted such a resolution the "shared partaking of the one Lord's table, which we long for so earnestly, would disappear into the far and ultimately unreachable distance."

"Instead of moving toward one another, we would simply coexist alongside each other," he said. More ...
All the vain things that charm me most . . .
After sixty-six years of life, most of them seeking to follow Jesus Christ through my church - The Episcopal Church - I am now convinced that a majority of the leadership of my church has abandoned the apostolic teachings - particularly regarding biblical witness to Christian moral behavior - that Bishops are charged with protecting and promulgating. More ...
As anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear can tell, the Anglican Communion is in a world of hurt. Pray for the believers trapped in that dungeon.


CHURCH HEALTH

In all fairness, from the same Anglican News/Blog site comes some good news ...

PRINCETON: 50 Distinguished Scholars Issue Landmark Principles on Marriage
More than 50 Distinguished Scholars Issue Landmark Principles on the Importance of Marriage and the Public Good Scholars argue "the case for marriage can be made and won at the level of reason" [...]

Marriage as the union of a man and a woman is profoundly in the public interest and should be reaffirmed, not redefined, says a landmark scholarly document published today.

Signed by more than fifty distinguished scholars nationwide, Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles, published by the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, NJ, makes a deeply intellectual case for marriage as the foundational institution of society. Although respecting the role of religion in most marriages, the scholars make the case for traditional marriage on the basis of sociological evidence of its social value. More ...
Born From Above
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again [or born from above]."

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:3-5)

What is this new birth? It is a spiritual birth not a physical birth. It is a birth that is as mysterious, and as uncontrollable as the wind. "The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
Sounds like a baptist witnessing to his neighbor, eh?

LONDON: British vicar takes the Alpha course to Iraq
A British priest is teaching an evangelical course in the heart of Baghdad, introducing Iraqi Muslims to Christianity.

Canon Andrew White has converted a number of Muslims using the Alpha course despite the threat of a religious backlash in one of the world's most dangerous cities. [...]

In the past year people have been killed at the entrance to St George's, which has now been barricaded by concrete. A number of the lay leaders have been murdered.

White offers 10-week Alpha courses to both Muslims and westerners living in the city. He emphasises that the aim of the courses is not to convert nonbelievers, though eight out 20 Iraqis who attended the course have become Christians. He recently conducted a baptism in Saddam's former private swimming pool. More ...
LONDON: I've found God, says man who cracked the genome
The scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome is to publish a book explaining why he now believes in the existence of God and is convinced that miracles are real.

Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, claims there is a rational basis for a creator and that scientific discoveries bring man "closer to God".

His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. "One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war," said Collins, 56. More ...

PREACHING

And a good Sunday sermon from my blogging buddy Charles Wallace at from the pulpit ...

From the Pulpit: God is in Control (Mark 4:35-41)
Introduction

In this passage of Scripture, Jesus shows his power and sovereignty over creation by calming the storm that worried the disciples. Just as in the days of the disciples, Jesus has the power to calm the storms of our lives as well. He is sovereign and is completely in control of our lives. How is Jesus in control of our lives? He is in control in three ways:
1. God is in control of our lives in that he allows our troubles (v.35-36)
2. God is in control of our lives in that he understands our troubles (v.37-38)
3. God is in control of our lives in that he calms our troubles (v.39-41)
Conclusion
I’m sure everyone in this room is experiencing a trouble or a trial of some kind. I ask you tonight to lay that burden at the feet of Christ. Call out his name and He will hear you.
Get the full sermon here.


PRO-LIFE

A-Team links to Abortion's Dead Poets Society, a really worthwhile post (be sure to read the comments at both sites) ...

Crossing the Bar: A-Team
Kathleen Parker writes an excellent article on Abortion's Dead Poets Society, which includes figures such as Lord Byron and Soren Kierkegaard. Byron was born with club feet, and Kierkegaard had uneven legs. While they tolerated their "deformities," their contributions to world literature were anything but intolerable. [...] Parker is right to ask the following questions:
If we don't want to grant life to those afflicted with small deformities, where do we set the bar for "good enough"? More important, perhaps, what is the cost to our humanity - not to mention the poet's soul - when the imperfect have no place among the living?


There is a whole lot more out there worth reading but time won't allow now.

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