@Martino - well actually we shouldn’t need to be speaking about any specific church, Anglican, CofE or independant churches - the church, as defined by the bible, states that women should not be leaders/teachers in the church, whether you think holding this belief is incorrect or not is not the point, this is a church matter which should be based on the bible. Of course non-church-goers would likely want it to have secular equality as well as openness to sexual-persuasion but this goes against what the bible teaches. It boils down to whether someone believes in the bible as being mankind’s instruction from God or not. What these leaders that are pushing for this ‘equality’ fail to realise that going against scripture doesn’t undermine scripture or prove it’s outdatedness; it undermines that denominations witness of the absolute authority of the bible. As soon as you declare something is no longer relevant then you open yourself up for other issues, which we have seen all too often. @PLP – I don’t really know what I think about the CofE as being the state church – given the fact that the country is becoming more and more agnostic or atheistic I think the CofE and Anglican church in particular have clearly pandered to more secular lobbying so clearly is no longer standing firmly on the Word of God as they should be. @Doug, you may not bother to read this as often with these sorts of discussions people simply choose to believe what they want, more specifically that the bible contradicts itself and enjoy thinking Christians are a bunch of hypocrites (latter is often true, sadly); those points that you are quoting have to be read in context and not simply understood by that verse alone. The book of Leviticus for example, is God’s instruction to the Jewish nation at Mount Sinai. These commandments were made by God to teach the nation that communion with God had to be by sacrifice as well as a way of life, in order to walk with God in holiness. One of the areas Jesus dealt with when He dwelt in Israel was to fulfil the whole law of God; it was simply not possible for anyone (except Jesus) to live a holy enough life to make right for the sin in our lives through sacrifices etc. By Jesus’ perfect life and by His death on the Cross He took upon Himself the sins of everyone. Through Him the law was fulfilled, meaning that by His Resurrection we (anyone who believes and puts their faith in Jesus) do not have to live by these laws but can have life through faith in Christ. Someone put it this way - all of these physical exercises [in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy] were given to teach spiritual truths. Paul [Apostle] states that “these things were our examples” (1 Corinthians 10:6). It is simply not something that is easy to understand unless you know of whom these are talking about, but that is what faith in God’s Word shows. By me wearing my woollen Guernsey or eating some Conger Eel (cor dammy la) that isn’t something that condemns me as I don’t live under the law, as is the case for all Christians. The bible states that we are all living in one of two ways: under the law which demands death, or acceptance of Jesus’ death for our sin in our place and believing in Him and His resurrection. It's a deep subject and happy to discuss further.
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
