By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
4/25/2008
The Archbishop of the Southern Cone says the Anglican Communion is in the first stages of divorce.
"I believe that the time comes when a marriage is no longer a marriage and you have to recognize it. With reference to the two positions in Anglicanism at present we are incompatible doctrinally and ethically and quite different in our presuppositions. Once we recognize that maybe we can have an amicable divide. This is separation from an apostate situation. Perhaps we can have an Anglican federation but even that seems unlikely at present," said Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone. "But as in the case of a divorce we are in a conflict that does not bring us any joy."
Speaking at a press conference of the Anglican Network in Canada, a conference of 400 orthodox Anglicans meeting near Vancouver, BC, Venables said liberal Christianity does not have a doctrine of salvation or believe that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God. Liberal Christianity is not true Christianity., There is no eternal hope or salvation.
Asked by VirtueOnline if he would put the Archbishop of Canterbury in that camp, Venables replied that the ABC is not a referee and does not show the yellow or red card. "If he considered his own personal convictions important in this, he would have declared them. He's managing it (the situation) gracefully, but in a way that could be misunderstood."
Venables said Dr. Rowan Williams admitted that he could not stop him from doing what he was doing, a reference to the fact that he had taken the Dioceses of Recife and San Joaquin under his ecclesiastical protection. "The church has local authority, but no central authority," said Venables.
Asked by VOL if the church was facing schism, Venables replied that schism means dividing over a secondary issue. That would be a schism. "This has now passed from true truth to secondary truth. What we have is a separation over truth, not secondary issues."
Venables admitted that the church is facing division over doctrinal issues that show no sign of being bridged and that divorce now seems inevitable.
Asked of this is a reflection of the larger separation of the northern from the southern part of the Anglican Church, Venables replied that the bulk of Anglican Christians who believe in the authority of the Bible are in the southern hemisphere, but by no means exclusively so.
"We need to allow everyone to have their own individual thinking without a civil war. The problem is between the Western relativistic view and the traditional view."
Asked about the situation in the Church of England, Venables said the bishops have not faced up to the situation in the wider Anglican Communion. "Canada and the U.S. are facing up to it. In England it will create a much more painful situation than in North America. One of the problems in England is that we are always seeking to do things in good taste. If the Church of England dies of anything, it will be good taste. There is an elephant in the living room in the English church that is not being faced. Somebody has to face the situation in England while we can still deal with it. In the Anglican Church we are still talking about it."
The Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer theologian affirmed Venables statement and said the Church of England is an institution as deeply institutionalized as the monarchy. "Change is difficult at the best of times and the suggestion of change is likely to be dismissed without serious thought. This is the difference between Anglicanism there and here."
"The central question of the attitude to gay partnerships is just as big and pressing a matter in England as in North America and the division of opinion runs as deep in North America and so all the factors that could bring internal division and a blow up are there. The fact that the church is so institutionalized and the need to trim sails for people to live in harmony if they can is the antimony to which the Archbishop of Canterbury and everyone down is committed."
Packer said the situation is heating up and things cannot go on like this forever. "The English method of appointing bishops is more discrete than the election method used in the U.S. and Canada. Here people with definite and decided views which they have already revealed get knocked out early so that the persons who are elected are diplomatic nondescripts and then sometimes it emerges they have decided views which no one anticipated.
"In England Episcopal appointments are made by a roundabout method, but tends to produce bishops with a high level of intelligence and responsibility not to rock the boat and for that reason things move more slowly. How soon a volcanic eruption occurs, I cannot begin to guess. I would be surprised if it does not happen very soon," said Packer.
"This whole English church is about not rocking the boat," said Venables.
Asked by VOL if one needs to go through Canterbury to get to Jesus, Venables said it is the truth. "Why go to anybody, go to Jesus. It is when you are walking with Jesus you find out who else is walking with Jesus? I would like to think that the Anglican Church will continue to relate as long as it can. Is Canterbury a person or a role? The ABC could change tomorrow and we would be in a new ball game. Some have suggested we need an ABC but not in Canterbury. ABC presides at primates meetings and invites people to Lambeth. He is also president of ACC. The system is not helping and is geared to the Western agenda.
"People from the (global) southern world say they are not dominating the Anglican Church because the Anglican Church is run by the system. The Anglican Church would be cautious about asking for someone with a strong sense of conviction to come into leadership because of the system," he said.
"It is only the lord that keeps us where we are," concluded Venables.
"Schism is sinful separation on secondary issues. This is separation over essential issues. You have not moved. You have remained where you were in Jesus. If anyone has moved, it is those who have abandoned salvation. This is separation from an apostate situation.
"Apostasy has gone unchallenged. Moves away from absolutely essential truth have gone unchallenged. There is no move time. This is the time to move. What you are facing is not another version of the gospel, but another gospel, which is not the gospel."
Pointing to Galatians 1.6 where the apostle pronounces that there is no other gospel, Venables said that when you turn to another gospel, you desert God and that is a terrible thing. "In the Garden of Eden, they thought they could get away with it. Another Gospel means deserting God. It is important because otherwise you will be leading people away from eternal security. You can do that by keeping your mouth shut. Some who trouble you want to distort the gospel of Christ. They take what is true and they distort it. They take the words God has given us and they distort them. 'If you or an angel of heaven let them be accursed.' Preaching a different gospel is serious. Let him be accursed. Am I trying to please man? If your preaching does not offend someone, look very carefully at what you are preaching."
"If I was trying to please man I would not be a servant of Christ," said Venables. "Christian Humanism is trying to make us feel better and all right. You were not all right to such an extent that Jesus had to die on the cross to put you right. You need a complete transformation. The Gospel preached by me is not man's gospel. I did not receive it from any man nor was I taught it. This is not about the sheep finding its way back to the shepherd but the shepherd coming to find the sheep."
Praising members of the ANiC conference, Venables said that, in terms of local development they will keep growing even though they have split off from the Anglican Church of Canada. "Theirs is the message of love and the future. Our theology is in our liturgy."
END
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