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10 Reasons to Stay (Oakes) |
"Ten Reasons to Stay" - Arguments for Remaining within the Diocese of New Westminster Following the Passage of Motion #7 by the Diocesan Synod of June 14-15 1. The Bible Urges the Preservation of Church Unity Wherever Possible. Church unity is a major concern in the New Testament, which defines divisiveness and factionalism as sinful. Among Jesus' main petitions for his disciples and his church in his "high-priestly" prayer of John 17, for example, are that: So Christian unity finds its ultimate source and origin in God. The church is the "body of Christ"(e.g., 1 Corinthians 12:27), the "temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), and the family of God (e.g., Galatians 4:26). And it is called to reflect and witness to the perfect union, in love, of the Holy Trinity. The apostle Paul warns consistently against Christian strife and disunity. To give just two examples, in 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul urges the faction-ridden church of Corinth, which was troubled by false teachers, to "agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." In Galatians 5:19, when listing sinful practices that generally deserve God's judgment, the apostle includes "hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions." 2. Scripture Only Justifies Separating from a Church in Extreme Cases. Of course, biblical unity is intended to be unity in truth (e.g., John 17:17), not error. But the onus clearly rests on those who would break fellowship in order to preserve truth, as they see it, to give clear and compelling reasons why they feel bound to do so. Some have argued that in moving towards the blessing of same-sex unions, the Diocese of New Westminster has effectively departed from the traditional "doctrine and discipline" of the Anglican Communion. And this is clearly so in the sense that the passage and implementation of Motion #7 would violate ethical principles upheld through centuries of Anglican tradition and strongly expressed by a large majority of the world's bishops gathered at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. But such a departure does not necessarily amount to "schismatic" action in and of itself. It is true, for example, that the apostle Paul urges first century believers to excommunicate notorious and unrepentant sinners (e.g., 1 Corinthians 5:1-5), to shun them, and to "have nothing to do" with false teachers (e.g., 1 Corinthians 5:9; 2 Timothy 3:5). But such instructions primarily relate to the discipline of individuals, as it was pursued in the apostolic church, not to the status of the church itself, which continued to deserve full Christian allegiance. In addition, New Testament authors level the grave charges of "anathema" (being under God's curse or condemnation) or "antichrist" quite rarely. And they tend to reserve them for those who deny really fundamental articles of belief, like the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ or the divinity of Christ (e.g., Galatians 1:8; 1 John 2:22). to page 2 of 10 Reasons | |
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(This page is maintained by Rev. Dr. John Oakes and Kirsten Oakes .) |
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