Church of England Evangelical Council warns against redefining marriage
by Archbishop Cranmer:
The Church of England Evangelical Council describes itself as “a network of networks, bringing evangelicals in the Church of England together for the sake of the gospel”. It was created by John Stott in 1960 “to provide a ‘collective’ evangelical voice”, and they have just used that collective voice to write a letter to the ‘Living in Love and Faith’ (LLF) Coordinating Group (the what?), which is presently considering certain matters of identity, marriage and relationships (ie, whether or not the Church of England should accommodate same-sex marriage). The bishops state unequivocally:
We believe that this vision of (1) sexual intercourse as “an act of total commitment which belongs properly within a permanent married relationship” (Lambeth 1988), (2) marriage as a union of a man and woman in a covenant of love marked by exclusivity and life-long commitment, and (3) faithful, sexually abstinent love in singleness and non-marital friendships, is the teaching of Scripture. It therefore expresses the character and will of God which is our guide in ordering our lives and in addressing public global ethical issues.
The whole letter is worth reading, because its warmth, compassion, reasonableness and discernment will soon be drowned out by a chorus of ‘homophobia’, ‘bigotry’ and ‘hate’. Indeed, it has already started…
For a moment there it seemed sensible to link to a number of tweets issued in response to this letter, which tell of Evangelical arrogance, self-righteousness, shallowness and judgmentalism. Yet merely to have drawn your attention to the authors of these tweets would have been met with a chorus of ‘homophobia’, ‘bigotry’ and ‘hate’. It is no longer possible to reason with some anti-Evangelical revisionists because (from experience) it simply isn’t worth the hassle.
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