Another dumb idea from Virtue

While we routinely read Virtue for news articles and while we have read--perfect tense--Virtueonline.org for years, one must be fastidious when he sets about to theological commentary.

We highlighted or highlit the bizarre vision of more mish-mashery of fuzzy-headedness. See below. Let the Confessional LCMS and WELS Churchmen be Confessional Lutherans. Let the OPC, PCA, RPUS, ARP and URC remain Confessionally Presbyterian and Reformed. Let Confessional Anglicans--few though they are--unite on a revised Confessional basis as well as Prayer Book grounds. We have advocated here that the XXXIX Articles, while solid, are inadequate and insufficient.

Unfortunately, the (M)Anglican Church of North America, David's visionary delight and enthusiastic project, includes Anglo-Romanists.

And a coalition with the OCA, the Orthodox Church of America? The outfit that provided their Metropolitan for the Manglican Conference to speak about Reformation "heresies"?

Puleeze. What's in David's theological Kool-aid? David complains about the "dumbing down" of the Gospel in TEC-seminaries in the 1970's when interviewed by Dr. Michael Horton for White Horse Inn. He was glued, jaw and lips, to Dr. Horton's boots...speaking admirably about Reformed theology. Why didn't he mention his Anglo-Romanizing web moderator? Or the OCA comments at the Manglican catfest in June 2009?

We posted that earlier. Again, valuable for news posts, but weak theology on Virtue's part. David, like the Manglicans, is addicted to unionism oriented to the moral issues of the gay agenda. NOT! Time for some some theological maturity starting with David.

He is myopic. Catholic (=Protestant), Reformed, Presbyterian, and Lutheran Churchmen really do have Confessions, David! David can start by firing his Anglo-Romewardizing web moderator, Rev. Paul Taylor.

David delights in satire. Only we aren't doing satire here; the issues of the Gospel are too serious. The pictures mean exactly we say and illustrate. Israel's elders will draw the lines in time.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11099

Dear Brothers and Sisters,http://www.virtueonline.org/
August 28, 2009

The main news of the week still remains the fallout from the decision by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ECLA) to lift a ban on sexually active, monogamous gays and lesbians. The consequences are far-reaching with deep and dire implications for its 4.7 million members.

The change to gay clergy policy passed with the support of 68 percent of about 1,000 delegates at the ELCA's national assembly. ECLA becomes one of the largest U.S. Protestant denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance.

The pushback from ELCA's recent decisions in Minneapolis has already begun. As predicted, the split in the Episcopal Church is being reenacted within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. One small blessing is that with local ownership of Lutheran church buildings, the Lutheran split is not likely to darken the doors of secular courtrooms, as the Anglican splits have and will for some time to come. Thus, hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for church work will not be wasted in litigation. Furthermore, conservative congregations will not be forced to hire gay clergy. Opponents nevertheless warned there could be spiritual consequences for a church that strays from Scripture.

The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America are in full Concordat with each other. On a practical level, full communion means that each will recognize the other's ordained ministries. Lutheran pastors can now celebrate the Eucharist in Episcopal Churches and Episcopal priests can celebrate the Eucharist in Lutheran Churches. The implications of ELCA's decision are therefore enormous.

So, what does all this mean? One likely scenario is that within five years, if The Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodists, Church of Christ The Episcopal Church and ELCA were to all go gay, a super denomination could form bringing them altogether forcing remnant orthodox believers in all these denominations to coalesce into something of their own.Could

Could ACNA, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, The PCA and OCA, orthodox Methodists not form some sort of alliance of their own? Don't laugh, it could happen. When I wrote my first editorial in 1979 for the Virginia Churchman "Gay is Not Okay", I was fired and laughed out of the diocese. Look who is having the last laugh, though I should hastily add who is laughing at all these days.

We are seeing new coalitions of heterodox and orthodox that we have not seen before. There are seismic shifts going on in Christendom especially among Protestants. An interesting sidebar can be seen in the latest issue of 'Christianity Today" magazine displaying a front page picture with a headline screaming, "John Calvin: Comeback Kid. Why the great Reformer just won't go away."