Will Episcopalians Temporarily Ban Gay Bishops? NO!

Well, no, certainly SEEMS to be the answer… judging from past actions of the church.

ECUSA seems hell bent (pardon the pun!) on destroying its relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion. If one were looking for an example of a church destroying itself, then one would need look no further.

Not only is the Anglican Communion upset with ECUSA, so are a host of it’s active, and inactive, members. The election of a female Bishop is not helping matters.

If not the MOST LIBERAL church in America, the Episcopal Church is certainly within the top two or three. As such, it is doomed to remain a small member of the main line religious community in America. But, it is large enough to cause a lot of problems for other denominations as they try to establish their public persona as bible believing, scriptural churches. There is bitterness toward the Episcopal Church, as a result of their liberal actions in the past few years, that motivates other denominations to shun them.

I have many Episcopal friends and they are shocked and dismayed at the Churches actions and many feel the church has dropped any pretense of following scriptural teaching and decided it knows better than Holy Scripture how a church should be configured and… that includes the selecting a person for the office of Bishop. Scriptures outline strict rules for Bishops. Being a woman is not among them.
(See the Third Chapter of the Book of Timothy in the New Testament:
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1 This saying is trustworthy: 2 whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.
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Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to teach,
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not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money.
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He must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with perfect dignity;
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for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of the church of God?
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He should not be a recent convert, so that he may not become conceited and thus incur the devil's punishment. 3
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He must also have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, the devil's trap)

For more on the self-induced problems of the Episcopal Church, you may wish to read this report on the Episcopal General Convention in Columbus Ohio.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20060619/D8IBHOOO0.html

If the Episcopal Church survives, as a member of the Anglican Communion, it will be a miracle. If they remain... there is no doubt the Anglican Communion will split apart.

How does a church excuse actions that tear apart a worldwide communion of churches simply because it (the church) cannot exist within the tenants of Holy Scripture?

Some extremely deep soul searching is certainly appropriate for members of the Episcopal Church, USA. It is in serious, serious, trouble. And I don’t mean only with its brothers and sisters in the Anglican Community. I mean, the Deity, the founder of the Christian church, oh, about, 33 AD.

Longstreet