From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Wed Jul 23 2003 - 15:17:28 EDT
John W Burgeson wrote:
>
> George, writing to Bob DeHaan, said: "My own view at this point is an
> intermediate one which, I fear, will satisfy
> very few. Homosexuality is not part of God's basic intention for
> creation but, for
> various reasons, it is a reality that some persons do have a fundamental
> homosexual
> orientation that they have not chosen. The best way for both church and
> state to deal
> with this is to recognize (though perhaps in different ways) the
> legitimacy and legal
> status of committed 1-1 homosexual relationships, though they would not
> be considered
> "marriage." "
>
> That much is satisfactory. For a church to do this, such persons ought to
> be admitted as full members, and eligible as such to hold any church
> office.
Well, no. There are many other people who are admitted to full membership in
the church but who for various reasons will not be approved for ordination. Ordination
is not a "right" that all Christians have. Whether or not a person is to serve in the
pastoral office is not finally determined by that person thinking that he or she should
be a pastor but by the call of the church.
> At present my church (PCUSA) and, I think, your church (ELCA) will admit
> such persons as members but denies them eligibility to serve in ordained
> offices, thus making them, in a sense, 2nd class members.
A foreign-born citizen of the United States is not a "2d class citizen" but
he/she cannot be president.
> My guess is that this will change, but the change will not come for
> another 5 or 10 years. In the meanwhile, some people will suffer.
& if the change comes it will have a devastating effect at least on the ELCA and
many people will suffer.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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