This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
‘Simply aping the current values of the culture around us is the road to extinction’
There’s little dispute that people, more and more, in the modern world are moving away from the biblical teachings on homosexuality (a sin), premarital sex (also a sin), and same-sex “marriages,” (yes, also a sin).
Now the United Kingdom-base Christian Concern has cited the recent Times poll results of responses from pastors which found 53% say the Church of England should allow priests to conduct same-sex “weddings,” 62% said the church should drop its opposition to premarital sex, and 64.5% said the church should abandon the biblical teachings that homosexual practice is “incompatible with Scripture.”
And 63.3% said priests should be allowed to enter same-sex civil partnerships.
The report said the poll approached 5,000 priests at random, and got back 1,436 responses.
“To survive and thrive the Church of England needs leadership that believes the Bible and puts it into practice. The Christian gospel has always offered a radically distinct, challenging and life-giving vision to society. Simply aping the current values of the culture around us is the road to extinction for the Church of England. Church leaders that have lost confidence in the Bible and the beauty of God’s ethical teaching should resign or be removed,” charged Andrea Williams, chief of Christian Concern.
“What the Church of England needs is an influx of leaders that believe that the gospel of Jesus remains the best news for society and who are able to present it and practice it in today’s world. Research shows that the churches that are growing are the ones that are doing exactly that.”
Williams explained, “Our research found that Church of England churches with the largest under-16 attendance found no visible support for same-sex ‘marriage’. 61% of the churches with the largest youth groups could be clearly identified as supporting the church’s historic doctrine that sex is reserved for one man, one woman marriage. None of the churches with the largest youth groups, nor their leadership, were publicly supportive of a change to the doctrine of marriage or other views that indicated opposition to conservative beliefs on sexuality and gender.”
Williams explained the church should not be changing its beliefs to accommodate society’s whims.
Copyright 2023 WND News Center
