Prominent Christian Theologian Dr. James Packer Speaks Out on
Homo***uality
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
LifeSiteNews
VANCOUVER, July 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. James Innell Packer, a
noted Canadian theologian, author and a Board of Governors Professor of
Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, as well as an executive editor
of Christianity Today, recently addressed the contentious problem of
homo***uality and same-*** unions in the Anglican church.
The Anglican Church has come to a cross-roads because of the issue of
same-*** "marriage," with a massive split in the Global Communion
looking increasingly inevitable.
Dr. Packer opened his remarks with a statement explaining why this issue
is of such great im****tance in the Anglican Church today. "In brief," he
said, "because it involves the denial of something that's integral to
the Christian Gospel.
"That is, whereas the Bible says that same-*** unions are off limits as
far as God is concerned, and that the Gospel requires any who have been
involved in them to repent of that involvement and to abandon it, this
point of view against which we are standing, treats gay unions...as a
form of holiness, and encourages, affirms and blesses them, rather than
saying, as we believe the Gospel requires us to say, that this is the
wrong track."
"You are required to abandon it and we, in the Christian fellow****p,
will help you toŠwalk chaste, not yield to your besetting temptations,"
he continued. "And that is God's way for you. We are obliged by the
Gospel to say that because the apostle Paul, proclaiming the Gospel to
the Corinthians, says explicitly that they mustn't be deceivedŠand those
living in homo***ual relation****ps will not inherit the Kingdom of God."
"In other words, they don't qualify for Christ's salvation in terms of
the Gospel that God has revealed."
Dr. Packer asserted that the blessing of same-*** unions is a direct
contradiction of Scripture and there can be no compromise on the issue.
"The Scripture teaching that is being denied is an element of the Gospel
itself, that is God's message about how we sinners can be saved. If you
refuse to repent, at some point where the Gospel requires you to repent,
well, you are not walking according to the Gospel, and what Paul says is
that your soul is in danger."
"Now I don't want to believe that, but I dare not disbelieve it - it's
apostolic teaching, it's the word of God."
For the rest, go to:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072105.html
--
Charles Hohenstein (to reply, remove Gene Robinson)
"The sad huddle of affluent bedwetters, thumbsuckers,
treehuggers, social climbers, homophiles, quavery ladies,
and chronic petition signers that makes up the current
Episcopal Church . . ." -‹Thomas Lipscomb
|
