The Triad Conservative
August 29, 2014
A priest from an Anglican Catholic Church located in Chapel Hill is visited by a retired Episcopal priest who wants to offer coaching services to his congregation.
The Episcopal priest explains that coaching had helped him “evolve” through the work of the Holy Spirit– to the extent that he was able to preside over a same-sex wedding.
The Anglican Catholic priest minces no words. He tells the Episcopal priest: I don’t see that as evolving, but as backsliding. You have fallen away from Christ. I will not be referring any of my parishioners to you for any sort of guidance, or “coaching.”
The Episcopal priest tells him this is a “harsh judgment.”
And the Anglican Catholic priest responds: I have made no judgment; I have simply remained faithful to what was revealed in the Scriptures long ago.
The Rev. Robert Hart of Chapel Hill, NC– the Anglican Catholic priest– tells his story for the world to see in Touchstone Magazine. He explains that the Episcopal priest is altering Christian doctrine, and blaming it on the “evolving work” of the Holy Spirit.
Hart has some interesting observations. He points out, for instance, that the secular notion of “equal rights” to marriage for homosexuals has been accepted as a moral imperative even among religious peoples from historic denominations.
But he further observes that claiming equal rights to marriage is a “violation of God’s commandment not to covet anything that belongs to one’s neighbor.”
He says the secular demand for gay marriage is “covetousness”; and calls out the “new breed of Christian” who accedes to this demand. Hart says he instead “prefers fidelity to the faith once delivered to the saints.”
I think Rev. Hart has provided a courageous, clear witness. It is really neat that we have someone of his caliber ministering to folks in the Triangle.
Posted with permission from the Triad Conservative. To visit the Triad Conservative, click here