Thursday, February 24, 2005

Homosexual Clergy and Dr. Peter Jensen

Dr Peter Jensen is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and one of the leading voices in opposing the ordination of homosexuals to the Anglican clergy. I am not an Anglican, yet I am greatly encouraged by the logic of what Jensen is saying. I quote from a BBC News article:
"'The issue of homosexuality is putting the authority of the Bible at risk and may yet split the Anglican Church,' an Australian church leader has warned. Dr Peter Jensen said a split over gay priests and same-sex marriages would be 'painful' but could happen. And the Archbishop of Sydney urged 'a turning back to what the bible says'"(see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4293477.stm)
In a separate article, Jensen argues:
"It may be difficult for those looking in at this Anglican debate to remember that Christians don't regard themselves as in any way free to make up their religion. What we are all doing is struggling to obey the living God who has spoken to us through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures.
So this Anglican debate boils down essentially to the question of the authority Christians give to Scripture, and they way they read it." (
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=557)
I find these comments refreshing as they take the issue of "homosexual clergy" to the bottom line... do we believe in the authority of the Bible? If we take the Scriptures as normative and prescriptive, there is no debate. Therefore, this issue has nothing to do with "homophobia" or inclusivism, but everything to do with whether or not God is able to communicate timeless Truth in a single body of literature.
If you think God is incapable of doing that, you must understand that you have now shifted the authority to "know" anything onto yourself. This is one of the pillars of post-modernism; the idea that I can determine Truth.
If that is the case, one wonders what Jesus meant when He said, "Father, sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth."

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