I rather think the Anglican Communion is at a cliff edge poised like the Gadarene swine ready to jump. Huge numbers have jumped into GAFCON’s pool of Bethesda (they even train at our theological colleges and then hitch up their skirts and go). There is an ocean between myself and the patriarchal polygamists in Africa and the Caribbean. Some Anglicans in the Caribbean even campaign to retain the death penalty for gay men.
I always saw the pool of Bethesda as a healing opportunity, all be it rare, so to contradict you Dean, I can’t see it as an appropriate analogy for GAFCON. Rather shouldn’t we be looking at the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 7:19 where the pools became blood and therefore contaminated by decay? Won’t press the analogy any further, suffice to say that the discrimination, legalism and negativity of Gafcon = death.
Those same conservative forces can be seen in British, especially English, society. The European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights have acted as a bulwark against social regression. I fear for the future. And I worry that the Church of England might itself become less liberal, not more.
I rather think the Anglican Communion is at a cliff edge poised like the Gadarene swine ready to jump. Huge numbers have jumped into GAFCON’s pool of Bethesda (they even train at our theological colleges and then hitch up their skirts and go). There is an ocean between myself and the patriarchal polygamists in Africa and the Caribbean. Some Anglicans in the Caribbean even campaign to retain the death penalty for gay men.
I always saw the pool of Bethesda as a healing opportunity, all be it rare, so to contradict you Dean, I can’t see it as an appropriate analogy for GAFCON. Rather shouldn’t we be looking at the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 7:19 where the pools became blood and therefore contaminated by decay? Won’t press the analogy any further, suffice to say that the discrimination, legalism and negativity of Gafcon = death.
Those same conservative forces can be seen in British, especially English, society. The European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights have acted as a bulwark against social regression. I fear for the future. And I worry that the Church of England might itself become less liberal, not more.
Stephen, might you be able to retrieve deleted articles via the Wayback machine?
https://archive.org/web
If you know the websites the articles appeared on, there is a reasonable chance.
True! I’m though still seeing a mention of the Lines commissioning with Fletcher mentions on the Anglican Mainstream site https://anglicanmainstream.org/bishop-andrew-lines-commissioned-for-gafcon-ministry/ article by Chris Sugden, was it also published (and redacted) elsewhere?