National church
I
am not one to comment on the affairs of Episcopalians as a rule. The issue of whether women can be bishops in
the Church of England is one that I honestly could not care less about. This is not because I do not have an opinion
on the question of complementarianism. (Word would like me to change that to ‘complement
Arianism’. I would rather not complement
Arianism if it is quite alright. Santa has the right reaction to that particular nonsense.) It is rather for the simple reason that as a
plain and simple Baptist I do not think there should be bishops of any
gender. Or for that matter a Church of
England. Still ‘the best laid plans’ and
all – there was one thing I heard on the matter that made me think perhaps I
would mention it after all. That being a
quotation from Sir Tony Baldry MP:
“If the
Church of England wants to be a national church, then it has to reflect the
values of the nation.”
Hmm. That is an interesting statement.
Here
are another couple of statements:
“I have
given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the
world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of
the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”
John 17:14-15 ESV
“Do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 ESV
“And he
put all things under his feet and
gave him as head over all things to
the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 1:22-23 ESV
That
first one of course is from Jesus, the second two from Paul. So Sir Tony says that to be a national church
the CofE must embrace national values. God
says to be a church you have to be
prepared to reject national
values. Sir Tony may disagree but I
rather think that the Apostle is more qualified to speak on the church than an
MP is.
