tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post8774686334137734878..comments2024-03-19T16:52:19.962+13:00Comments on Anglican Down Under: Two gospels in the Anglican Communion?Peter Carrellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-13295455829325885592011-01-21T08:21:49.213+13:002011-01-21T08:21:49.213+13:00That is a lot of false gospels, Bryan!That is a lot of false gospels, Bryan!Peter Carrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-1040728130662721042011-01-21T06:51:36.849+13:002011-01-21T06:51:36.849+13:00Trevin Wax has written what looks to be an interes...Trevin Wax has written what looks to be an interesting book entitled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080242337X?ie=UTF8&tag=redletters-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=080242337X" rel="nofollow">Counterfeit Gospels: Rediscovering the Good News in a World of False Hope</a>. Although Trevin is a Southern Baptist pastor, his perspective may be helpful for unpacking the question "Is there a false gospel in the Communion?" (Or, perhaps more accurately, "Are there false <i>gospel<b>s</b></i> in the Communion?")<br /><br />In a posting on his website entitled "<a href="http://trevinwax.com/2011/01/20/which-counterfeit-gospels-are-most-prevalent-today/" rel="nofollow">Which Counterfeit Gospels are Most Prevalent Today?</a>", Trevin offers the following nine counterfeit gospels for consideration:<br /><br />* Therapeutic Gospel<br />* Formalist Gospel<br />* Moralist Gospel<br />* Judgmentless Gospel<br />* Social-Club Gospel<br />* Activist Gospel<br />* Churchless Gospel<br />* Mystic Gospel<br />* Quietist Gospel<br /><br /><a href="http://trevinwax.com/2011/01/20/which-counterfeit-gospels-are-most-prevalent-today/" rel="nofollow">Read it all and take the poll</a>.<br /><br />In <a href="http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2011/01/counterfeit-gospels.html" rel="nofollow">my own blog posting on this</a>, I wrote: "If there are counterfeit gospels afoot in the Episcopal Church, my experience suggests that we tend to gravitate towards the Therapeutic, Judgmentless, Social-Club and Activist Gospels."Fr. Bryan Owenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02040773309359417883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-90409578400350253822011-01-21T01:28:16.361+13:002011-01-21T01:28:16.361+13:00There are always false versions of the gospel arou...There are always false versions of the gospel around in any church. The question here is has the church, through its leadership structures or settled pattern of belief and practice, as a whole adopted a different gospel to the one revealed in the Scriptures and held as apostolic by the church?<br />Despite the diversity of gospel perspectives (e.g. atonement, new birth, righteousness, forgiveness, reconciliation, salvation, etc.), there is one gospel. It centres on the person of Jesus, his death and resurrection, his Lordship over all creation and the new life he brings to those who repent and believe in him. The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds give fuller expression to that understanding of Christian belief. <br />Where TEC (and ACC's) gospel is false is that they have substituted the Jesus of the Bible with the Jesus of inclusion. A Jesus who welcomes all without the need for repentance, faith and faithful living. <br />I think even TEC would say they follow a different gospel to other parts of the communion, or at least a "fuller" or "more wholistic" gospel. What they wouldn't admit is that their gospel is false.Andrew Reidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-10780469209105877982011-01-19T14:24:46.964+13:002011-01-19T14:24:46.964+13:00As there are false versions afoot at times in my c...As there are false versions afoot at times in my church, Bryan!Peter Carrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-36469940377239835332011-01-19T12:56:23.347+13:002011-01-19T12:56:23.347+13:00Is there a false gospel in the Communion?
I can&#...<i>Is there a false gospel in the Communion?</i><br /><br />I can't give a definitive answer to that particular question when it comes to the Anglican Communion, Peter, but I do believe that there are false versions of the gospel afoot within the Episcopal Church. <br /><br />A very interesting - and in many ways quite sad - example is the case of the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, the so-called <a href="http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/search/label/Buddhist%20Bishop" rel="nofollow">"Buddhist bishop-elect"</a> of northern Michigan. He was in the running for bishop back in 2009 when it came to light that <a href="http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2009/03/zen-christian.html" rel="nofollow">he had not only received Buddhist "lay ordination," but also had preached a Trinity Sunday sermon whose theology was deeply problematic</a>. <br /><br />More seriously, he <a href="http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2009/04/buddhist-bishop-elect-adds-reading-from.html" rel="nofollow">substituted a reading from the Koran for the assigned Epistle reading</a> to a Sunday Eucharist in a way that liturgically put the Koran reading on an equal footing with the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. <br /><br />And then to make matters even worse, it came to light that he had <a href="http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2009/04/buddhist-bishop-elect-revises-liturgy.html" rel="nofollow">revised the liturgy for Holy Baptism</a> in a way that affirms conversion (or "enlightenment") to the truth of our own divinity rather than renunciation of sin and evil and conversion to Jesus as Lord and Savior.<br /><br />Fortunately, Forrester did not receive the necessary consents to become a bishop. But the fact that someone in the Episcopal Church could hold such views and do such things and it be deemed okay by so many is astounding! And disturbing. But not surprising given the toleration of figures such as Bishops Pike and Spong.<br /><br />Based upon the case of Kevin Thew Forrester and other examples I've come across, <a href="http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2009/06/forresters-election-fails-to-receive.html" rel="nofollow">I wrote the following</a>:<br /><br /><i>The Forrester case is, indeed, a wake-up call that the Episcopal Church has been infiltrated by both bad and heretical theology. It may not be as pervasive as the more stringent doomsayers cry, but it's there and, left unchecked, will spread and come to seem more and more "normal." It's up to the "diverse center" of the Episcopal Church to remain vigilant and to have the courage to say "no" to those agendas.</i>Fr. Bryan Owenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02040773309359417883noreply@blogger.com