Exchanging truth for lies The Bible Belt has made national news not for its fidelity to the Bible, but for recent statements given by Bishop Larry Maze of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas and the words of Rev. Lowell Grisham of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville that endorse and propagate the blessing of same-sex unions, based on their warped hermeneutics (interpretation of Scripture ).
Why does this concern me ? Because, as an Episcopal Bishop (United Episcopal Church of North America ) at St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Springdale, we share the name "Episcopal"and my flock is made up of cradle Episcopalians. Almost 30 years ago, UECNA saw this revision coming and hence let goods and kindred go in embracing cradle Episcopalians who wanted to defend the faith once given to the saints. We do not share the liberal revisionism of ECUSA; and not just in blessing same sex unions, but in their disregard for the sanctity of life and family, the Ten Commandments, even the liturgy. Secondly, as a minister of God, we should know that it is not our opinions that count, but that we direct our wills to align with His.
Statements from Maze and Grisham are detrimental to churches and church leaders across Northwest Arkansas. There is barely an element of separation between what is holy and unholy, natural and unnatural, sin and grace as evident in the Holy Bible. If a shepherd could assume such a position, then it's time for its faithful to consider what is at stake. With statements such as these, the church should no longer be a church, but a social organization.
As its custodian, the Episcopal Church (ECUSA ) failed to defend faith and morals as laid out in The Holy Scripture. It looks like a case where someone wanted to "exchange a lie for the truth of God "as St. Paul says (Romans 1: 25 ). The same chapter of Romans offers the case of those who exchanged natural sex relations for unnatural sex relations and the clear stand of Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
As Bishop Maze admits, of course everything hangs on the summary of the law (love of God and love of neighbor ). We do need to reach out to everyone. But while compassion is the hallmark of a Christian, consciousness of sin is necessary to derive the fruits of the economy of salvation. Christ died for us all while we were yet sinners. Christ loved the sinner but hated sin. That this rudimentary sense of the sacred has been missed by these misleading clergy is a sad thing indeed. The Church has withstood two millennia of struggles and heresies. For those faithful Episcopalians, there is still a home where God is feared and worshipped and His words are for all time. For 20 years, St. Gabriel's has continued to embrace the faithful and offer a place where the sanctity of the family is safeguarded according to His will. The Rt. Rev. Leo J. Michael Rector, St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church Springdale Sober assessment lacking Congratulations to the Northwest Arkansas Times editorial staff; your work as publicists for the local chamber of commerce surely helped pass the Divinity project last week. The "rule "against consideration of economics in approving Divinity led to the unchallenged, uncritical acceptance of statements, many of which were rather hysterical, promising economic benefits. What the "rule "seemed to prevent was sober assessment of infrastructure costs, market needs and impact on existing businesses. I suppose a hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism might have stunned me into a health crisis.
We taxpayers recently were forced to pay for the demolition of a previous highrise downtown hotel. Will we have to pay again if Divinity fails ? We are already paying, folks; look at your sewer bill and where is the west side sewer plant ? Could it be that our city government, in a mad rush to accommodate and subsidize private real estate speculators (before reasonable regulations are enacted ) has not just let us down, but has gotten deeper into our pants pockets ?
The good new for me is that I wasted no time at the charettes, a patronizing exercise in which the city government (at public expense ) pretended to seek public input on downtown planning. It is strange to me that opinion surveys show that people do not trust bankers, developers and attorneys, yet who determines Fayetteville's policy ? I see income redistribution; do you like the flow ?
Rick Belt Fayetteville A note of thanks This is a letter of commendation to the Washington County Historical Society. At the funeral of our daughter, Layla, who died in a tragic car accident in January, several ladies from WCHS came out, brought food and made themselves servants at the reception. Since the funeral was attended by about 300 people this was a lot of work. Our hearts were truly touched. Theirs was not the only show of love at the funeral, by far; but their cheerful attitude and traveling all the way to St. Paul to be a blessing is worthy of public commendation. Terry and Judy Evans St. Paul Common sense lacking Once again, our egotistical idiot leader is showing his insistence of keeping us in the Stone Age, and throwing back any advancement we have made. Perhaps there's some stem cell treatment for total ignorance, and he's afraid he may be persuaded to get some common sense. It's pitiful that people who could be on the edge of a cure for their chronic diseases have to wait until we have a modern president. I'm a Type 1 diabetic of 44-plus years that was looking forward to a chance to have my problem eliminated so I could go back to work and not have to worry about hyperglycemia / hypoglycemia effects on me. "Gee Dubya "would be smart to let we in the ranks of the disabled to go back to work and pay our taxes and Social Security to ease the record deficit that he has caused after inheriting a record surplus.
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