Thank you Tom. I agree with what you say.
I have refrained from commenting till now, but truly believe that if not
now, when. The vote must go ahead, it's been approaching for such a long
time.
As to The Runaway Train, it was unsolicited mail, which was also a
significant issue with its arrival. MET did not have my approval to post or
email to me. GDPR should matter to all sections of the church, including
linked organisations / groups.
On Thu, 24 Jun 2021, 10:06 Tom Osborne, <mendipnomad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
John B asks, , "Why go for a vote that will inevitably divide us, when we
might have been able to find a middle way?"
GiLUU **is** the middle way – it allows those who in all good conscience
hold a conservative view to continue holding that view, it makes no
requirement of Church Councils to permit same-sex marriages to occur in
property they are the Managing Trustees of if they do not wish to, it
explicitly acknowledges that we are not of one mind on this matter. The
issue is that some of a conservative mind make this issue a first order
issue, an issue on which the whole truth of our faith stands or falls, like
those issues that gave rise to the Ecumenical Creeds and to the
Reformation. That is, of course, their right, but I do not think we should
necessarily be led by that view. And we should note that not all those with
“traditional views” feel this way – the recommendations proposed have the
support of people like Ashley Cooper, who wrote them, and Paul Smith, who
was heavily involved in the journey to this point. Does anyone seriously
think these are ministers of the Gospel who have suddenly moved from being
conservative evangelicals to raging progressives? Of course not! They
simply recognise that being a community of faith requires living with
contradictory convictions at times, and that means allowing space for those
who take an opposing view to live their lives faithly in ways you would not
choose to yourself.
I say again, GiLUU **is** the middle way – it makes no demand of
conservatives other than that they recognise there are other views within
the Church (which is a simple fact), and that they allow those who take a
different view to be able to live it out in ways consistent with how they
understand their faith (something we already do on other matters, including
ones that some other denominations would consider first order matters, such
as the conduct and understanding of the Lord’s Supper, or the marrying of
divorcees). I can live with those who are deeply conservative arguing that
it is a first order matter and that the whole church is imperilled if we
take any kind of compromise route, even if I disagree with them, but to
suggest that GiLUU is some lurch in a radical/liberal/progressive direction
that will automatically leave conservatives with no place to go is nonsense
– and it’s not just me who thinks that, it’s conservative evangelicals of
long standing as well, such as those I name above.
