Too liberal or just a compassionate human being?

[Godlovesmetwo]

How does a pro-gay marriage, pro-Muslim immigration and pro-Pokemon man become a priest?

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Called to administer last rites to an unconscious man dying at home in Gosford, Father Rod asked a relative if there was a partner who should be present.
“It turned out he was gay, and it had been suggested his partner go into another a room while I was there,” he says.
“And I was incensed. Not at them, but at a culture that would put that family in that position that they might think I would disapprove.”
Returning to the church, Father Rod headed for the sign, and put up a message way more powerful than most mange in 50 characters: “Dear Christians. Some PPL are gay. Get over it. Love God.”
The message went viral.
“It’s now had up to 70 million hits,” Father Rod says. “The congregation weren’t really that aware of it at the time. Then the press picked it up and our Facebook page went from 150 likes to 3000 in a fortnight.”

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

“For me, religion was both comforting and disturbing. It was a mystery that both fascinated and terrified me,” he says. “I was drawn in and repelled at the same time. It was the mystery of whatever God is. And it still fascinates me. But I’m more comfortable with it being a mystery now than I was with it being a mystery 30 years ago.”
He started studying to be a priest and tried to sabotage it every step of the way.
“I figured they’d work out I’m a fraud and they’d throw me out,” he says.
On the day he was ordained, aged 30, in 1992, he sat supposedly deep in prayer, but in reality “counting the bricks in the wall thinking, What <staff edit> am I doing?”.
“Then I knelt before the Bishop and when he placed his hands on my head, I knew it was right. I had absolutely no doubt that that’s where I should have been,” he says.

 

[Adstar]

Called to administer last rites to an unconscious man dying at home in Gosford, Father Rod asked a relative if there was a partner who should be present.
“It turned out he was gay, and it had been suggested his partner go into another a room while I was there,” he says.
“And I was incensed. Not at them, but at a culture that would put that family in that position that they might think I would disapprove.”
Returning to the church, Father Rod headed for the sign, and put up a message way more powerful than most mange in 50 characters: “Dear Christians. Some PPL are gay. Get over it. Love God.”
The message went viral.
“It’s now had up to 70 million hits,” Father Rod says. “The congregation weren’t really that aware of it at the time. Then the press picked it up and our Facebook page went from 150 likes to 3000 in a fortnight.”

He presumes to speak for God? Words that God never said?

You know their is a curse upon anyone who adds to the Words or takes away from the Words of God..


Revelation 22: KJV
18 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: {19} And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Rod is going to find out one day that he has overstepped the bounds...

I have seen a few people do similar things like this Rod fellow on Religious forums.. Make up poems with messages from God to people.. while they may mean well. the path to hell is sometimes paved with good intentions..

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Rod is going to find out one day that he has overstepped the bounds...

I think there is at least some truth in what you say.

 

[Adstar]

I think there is at least some truth in what you say.

And the points i made that you agree with you will see as truth and the points you disagree with you will see as un-truths..

Rod is like that with God and religion you quoted his as saying..

“For me, religion was both comforting and disturbing. It was a mystery that both fascinated and terrified me,” he says. “I was drawn in and repelled at the same time."

Obviously some of the teachings of God he read or was told about he agreed with and where comforting to him.. But other things he read or heard repelled him.. From your story he clearly is repelled by the stand the scripture makes against homosexuality... So Rod is a smorgasbord religionist.. going through the Bible and picking stuff to consume and adopt and rejecting stuff that clashes with his own way of thinking.. Rod seems to have absolutly Zero Faith ( which is trust ) in Gods total message..

Without faith we cannot please God.... Everyone needs to trust God to a certain extent.. I am sure there are things in the Bible that every Christian finds hard to consume / accept.. Those with great Faith consume a lot of things they find it hard to accept or understand.. Those with no Faith only accept things that conform to their own personal thinking about what God should teach.. They make themselves God and their Jesus is just a cardboard cut out of themselves..

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

So Rod is a smorgasbord religionist.. going through the Bible and picking stuff to consume and adopt and rejecting stuff that clashes with his own way of thinking..

I might have a bit of that in me too. But you know what? The longer I stay on CF, the more conservative I become. Scary stuff.

 

[Silmarien]

Deuteronomy 22:28-29: "If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are discovered, then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days."

I don't think I've ever seen even the most hardened inerrantist try to claim that this is anything but a commandment specific to a certain culture, so we're already making value based judgments about what still applies and what doesn't.

 

[FireDragon76]

So Rod is a smorgasbord religionist.. going through the Bible and picking stuff to consume and adopt and rejecting stuff that clashes with his own way of thinking.. Rod seems to have absolutly Zero Faith ( which is trust ) in Gods total message..

Heaven forbid Christians actually change and grow in real empathy and get beyond their addiction to wooden religion!

I find it arrogant that some people loudly proclaim "God's total message" for the rest of us, as if we more "liberal" types are somehow too dumb to figure it out.

 

[Adstar]

Heaven forbid Christians actually change and grow in real empathy and get beyond their addiction to wooden religion!

wooden religion ? Thats your call to describe what i have offered as wooden religion... We shall see what God says about this on the day when all things will be revealed..

I find it arrogant that some people loudly proclaim "God's total message" for the rest of us, as if we more "liberal" types are somehow too dumb to figure it out.

I don't care about liberalism or conservatism or any other ""ism"" people want to use as a tag upon themselves or they arrogantly proclaim upon others.. I care about the message of God because i know this is a message if accepted in full will save the worst of sinners without fail.. It has nothing to do with being an intellectual or being dumb.. The Apostles even said that many who are wise according to the world shall not be saved but many simple people shall be saved.. So the problem is not intellectual.. The problem is Pride which people of higher then average intellect seem to be often cursed with... Many ""dumb"" people are meek because they do not trust in their own thinking and thus more of them end up saved..

1 Corinthians 1: KJV
22 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: {23} But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; {24} But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. {25} Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. {26} For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: {27} But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; {28} And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: {29} That no flesh should glory in his presence."

 

[FireDragon76]

This is a group for liberal Christians, BTW.

Fr. Rod sounds like a great guy who doesn't hide behind piety.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

The problem is Pride which people of higher then average intellect seem to be often cursed with... Many ""dumb"" people are meek because they do not trust in their own thinking and thus more of them end up saved..

That is a very interesting comment you made there. And a lot of truth too. I think that is the curse of atheists often. Too smart to believe in God. My brother is far from intellectual but became a highly motivated Pentecostal and works hard to build the Kingdom of God. My only reservation with Him is he doesn't seem to think Catholics for instance can be saved and feels Mary does not rate such importance. He can be very blinkered is what I'm saying. I have more education than him but I agree his passion and humility are much stronger.

 

[Adstar]

That is a very interesting comment you made there. And a lot of truth too. I think that is the curse of atheists often. Too smart to believe in God. My brother is far from intellectual but became a highly motivated Pentecostal and works hard to build the Kingdom of God. My only reservation with Him is he doesn't seem to think Catholics for instance can be saved and feels Mary does not rate such importance. He can be very blinkered is what I'm saying. I have more education than him but I agree his passion and humility are much stronger.

Well i am an ex-catholic myself.. But i am not a Pentecostal either.. Some of their factions believe that the only proof of salvation is when a person talks in tongues.. Which they believe is the sign that one had been indwelled by the Holy Spirit.. But in the Bible it says that within the body of Christ ( which is the body of believers) there are where different ministries for different people: All they need to do is read the following scripture and believe it is the true inspired Word of God and they would know that doctrine ( that everyone must speak in tongues and if they cannot then they are unsaved ) is wrong..


1 Corinthians 12: KJV
1 "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. {2} Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. {3} Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. {4} Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. {5} And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. {6} And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. {7} But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. {8} For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; {9} To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; {10} To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: {11} But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. {12} For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ."

The sad fact is that most Christians never bother to read the Bible and that leaves them open to being deceived by people whom they look upon as ""religious professionals"" They assume that their priests, pastors, preachers,reverends or TV evangelists have read the Bible and have perfect understanding of it and would never deceive them... When they do this they are playing spiritual Russian roulette with their eternal lives.. They are virtually making their religious leaders their Messiah's because they are trusting in them 100% to lead them to eternal life with God..

 

[Shiloh Raven]

This is a group for liberal Christians, BTW.

And because it is a group for liberal Christians, non-liberal Christians aren't allowed to debate in this forum or teach against its liberal theology. They can only post in fellowship. A thorough examination of this sub-forum's Statement of Purpose and the site's Congregational Forum Restrictions, located within the general site rules, would be beneficial for the guests visiting this particular faith sub-forum.

 

[PloverWing]

Father Rod would fit in pretty well in some of the Episcopal churches here in the northeastern US. Maybe a little more explicitly political in the pulpit than I'd like, if he's addressing specific leaders and votes in church. But the high-level trio of issues -- "marriage equality, refugees and climate change" -- that would fit well with the concerns of a number of parishes in my area.

I don't think my church is/was a Pokestop. That's an interesting idea.

 

[jax5434]

How does a pro-gay marriage, pro-Muslim immigration and pro-Pokemon man become a priest?

Practice, practice, practice

God Bless
Jax

 

[mnorian]

Mod hat on

Thread has been permanently closed
by consensus of the staff
as it was too controversial for this forum
WWMC-Liberal.
Carry on.​