The following essay was posted on Monomakhos and OCATruth today. I’ve avoided the internal fight in the OCA but with the revelation that some in the Church are openly advocating a “rethinking” of the moral tradition regarding human sexuality, I’ve decided to post an investigative piece by Nicholas Chancey that outlines it.Complete article here.
I’ll address the ideas of the advocates later. For now it’s sufficient to say that the thinking appears shoddy. Sentiment replaces clear reasoning, emotive appeals blunt the authority of the moral tradition (what I call the Oprahization of moral theology), and dissenting views are discouraged. You can see the ideas on the Facebook page Listening: Breaking the Silence on Sexuality within the Orthodox Church.
We need to remember that every church that has accepted a moral parity between homosexuality and heterosexuality has suffered precipitous decline. The most obvious is the Episcopal Church which is a shell of its former self. Close behind is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), the Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and others. Once a church adopts the homosexual agenda, people leave.
After doing this research, some things have become clear. There is a movement within the Orthodox Church in America to mainstream homosexuality. There are priests, bishops, and academics that are sympathetic to this movement. Some are providing quiet assistance...
Sunday, July 3, 2011
A divide that splits the OCA
A good article from AOI entitled "Same-Sex Marriage and the Revolt Against Metropolitan Jonah":
This is very troubling...
ReplyDeleteLord, have mercy.
Vincent
It is patently absurd to suggest that a pro-homosexual agenda is responsible for the concern about Metropolitan Jonah! What a fine Christian attitude--to paint all of their opponents with the gay pride brush. This is more drivel from Joseph Fester and his minion Rod Dreher, who sees homosexuals lurking behind every iconostasis. Do they really think the layity are so stupid that they will be swayed by this demagoguery?
ReplyDeleteThis charge is akin to saying that the gun control lobby is responsible for all of the criticism of Sarah Palin.
Fr. Johannes Jacobse should try out for the olympics as a long jumper, what with the huge leaps of logic he makes in his article.
ReplyDeleteCan you believe it?--there is a facebook group dedicated to promoting the homosexual agenda within the Orthodox Church. If it's on facebook, it must be a big deal! And it has all of 124 members. Just slightly fewer than the 639 members of the group "Can Heidi the Cross eyed Opossum Get More Fans than Justin Bieber?"
O dear me, Bishop Nikon is facebook friends with Inga Leonova. That must mean he holds the exact same opinions she does on every issue in the world! Give me a break! Being facebook friends indicates no such thing. It neither proves that Bishop Nikon is aware of Inga's views or approves of them.
And finally there's that gay lover Fr. Robert Arida who--can you believe it?--suggests an approach to same sex couples that falls short of Westboro Baptist's "God Hates Fags" campaign. He expects us to love people? Really?!? What a bleeding heart liberal!
Yep, the signs are unmistakable--there would be gay marriages in the cathedrals by spring if it weren't for that pesky Metropolitan Jonah. I'm sure of it. (whatever)
I have seen all this before in the protestant churches... so I would not be surprised. Even if there is not connection between HB and the pro-homosexual lobby, there are still troublesome signs. Infiltration in the academic institutions and the media combined with a "if you don't agree with us then you must be haters" attitude quickly turns the middle ground laity.
ReplyDeleteI pray this is not the case....
Kirk,
ReplyDeleteYou seem very upset that such an article was written. Regardless of whether this division over Met. Jonah can be boiled down to his conventional stance on Homosexuality or not, I think it's at least worth a "Lord have mercy" that there are people in the Church, who would take it upon themselves to revise the Church's ancient position on homosexuality, the behavior it induces and the supposed "identity" it inculcates.
The persons referenced in this article are acting categorically un-Orthodox, in that they would defame and deride a bishop of the Church for nothing more than his affirmation of what the Church has always taught.
I'm not sure if you're regular at Facebook, but there is a difference between being a person's "friend" on Facebook, and joining a group created by that person. Joining the group implicitly suggests that you tolerate it, at the very least, if not support it. Perhaps we can't go as far as the writer of this article in saying this is clear evidence that Bp. Nikon is in favor of the unorthodox position on gay marriage, but if nothing else, the good bishop should try to be mindful of which groups he implicitly "supports." I've often heard the suggestion that bishops should not be on FB, given its tendency to invite gaff and blunder, and this could be one such instance.
I find rather little offensive in the priest's comments, but at the same time, if his position is that the Church should stay out of public affairs, then perhaps his parishioners should pay attention. On the other hand, the fact that this debate is clearly not going to exempt the Orthodox Church may be a clear indication that the Church *cannot* remain outside the public square, and therefore an open dialogue should begin about the traditional position of the Church in light of current knowledge of homosexuality. This would not be a dialogue designed to revise the Church's ancient position (as surely some would hope), but to clarify, as it seems is needed.
More than anything, it should be iterated that homosexuality – despite popular sentiment - has never been proved to be biological, and most likely never will be. Contrary to Inga's words, it is not a category like race is. It is something entirely different. And for the record, the Church has never acknowledged any category of "race" beyond the human race. A homosexual orientation is not writ in the DNA of humans as skin or eye color. There is sufficient evidence to show this.
Serious attention should be paid to the scores of "ex-gay" testimonies, which are typically written off by the pro-gay movement as lies and deceit, but which nevertheless tell of the effects of homosexuality on the soul. Might I suggest a telling article written by Ronald G. Lee called "The Truth of the Homosexual Moment" or the story of Michael Glatze, whose articles "Confessions of a 'gay-rights' leader" can be found on wnd.com. Finally, we all might do well to find a copy of Fr. Seraphim Rose's work "NIHILISM," which details the stew we found ourselves in by our culture's tacit nihilistic and secular worldview.
Sounds like what is being said is that half of the OCA is Episcopalian in every way but liturgically and the other half remains traditional Orthodox. I expected something like this from the Antiochians. Don't know how accurate all this is, frankly don't care. If it's true, I'm glad I bailed years ago and returned to evil ROME. At least with all the problems there is a semblance of order. If the OCA can't clean up its own house and remain truly Orthodox then so be it. Hell awaits.
ReplyDelete