World News and Trends: Church controversy over same-sex relationships
The Anglican Church is experiencing its most serious crisis since the controversy over ordaining women into the priesthood.
The Anglican Church is experiencing its most serious crisis since the controversy over ordaining women into the priesthood. In the United States, where the church is known as Episcopalian, a gay man—who left his wife and two young daughters for a man—has been elected as bishop of New Hampshire.
Conservative evangelicals in England have urgently called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, to intervene. Commented The Times: "He has publicly expressed his sadness at the authorisation of same-sex blessings in a diocese in Canada . . ." Yet according to a major cover story in The Times, in the past Dr. Williams "supported the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM)" and "his perceived liberalism on homosexuality dated from the late 1970s."
"The Bible," Dr. Williams had argued, "condemns heterosexuals who engage in homosexual acts for gratification, but does not distinguish between gay practice and gay identity. It is therefore unjust to consign to celibacy those who have never known sexual attraction towards the opposite sex since the Old Testament, especially, lays so much emphasis on the role of physical love, not just breeding."
In nearly 2,000 years of church history few biblical scholars and theologians have ever understood or argued the Scriptures in this particular manner.
Western society is not traveling down the same road as the plain scriptural teaching of God's Word. Instead one British family law judge called for "legislation to guarantee the rights of live-in couples, homosexual partners and transsexuals." Apparently this proposal has enormous parliamentary backing.
The general direction of our Western way of life recalls to mind a prophecy of the apostle Paul (who condemned homosexual practice in any form in Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10): "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up
for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned to fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4). (Sources: The Times, Daily Mail [both London].)
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
