{Partial dissection of
Larry King interview the other night, change of pace. -Don't know if I'll finish, the whole thing was a highlight. I think it's ripe for autopsy though.
}
LARRY KING: Canon Anderson, since we're told that God loves everyone, that would have to include gay people. What do you have against Bishop Robinson being a bishop in your church?
CANON ANDERSON: Well, God certainly loves Gene Robinson. Gene Robinson is a child of God just as I am and others are. But the fact is that certain aspects of his life, in particular, his being an open homosexual, disqualify him for leadership in the Christian church, not just the Anglican Church, but in the Christian church, and it's that part that disqualifies him from leadership. God would love to see him transformed. God doesn't create a person homosexual. How they become homosexual or feel that inclination is unclear, but certainly people can be transformed back to a heterosexual life.
*How they become homosexual or feel that inclination is unclear*
What IS CLEAR to Canon Anderson:
-they become homosexual
-God would love to see him transformed.
-God doesn't create a person homosexual.
-certainly people can be transformed back to a heterosexual life.
Apparently you can be fundamentally uncertain about something yet certain of God’s viewpoint on it. God's viewpoint being of course the
epitome of certainty.
_______________
LARRY KING: If it's a choice, Canon Anderson, did you choose to be heterosexual and if so, how do you choose it?
CANON ANDERSON: I think the heterosexual is the standard default setting, if you will, and whether you start with scripture and God's account of how things were created or, in fact, if you start with Charles Darwin and evolution, you come to the same point, that men were meant for women and women were meant for men.
So, when it comes to condemning the “sin” of homosexuality, it’s acceptable to God to use the “atheist” Charles Darwin, and the “myth” of evolution (or in creationist circles: Satan and his lies, in order to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nice sidestep
.
_______________________________
LARRY KING: Reverend Mohler, how could something be a sin if you didn't choose it?
REVEREND MOHLER: Well, actually, that's just something I can't accept in the sense of choosing. Larry I have to say, first of all, we're choosing all the time. Even in the moments we spend together here, we're making moral choices. I do understand that there are some choices that we make that seem to be prior to anything we can even understand and I understand there are many homosexuals who say I don't even have any impression of having chosen this erotic interest, this sexual orientation. I accept that at face value, but that does not mean that it normalizes and makes acceptable homosexual acts. I want to help them through that struggle regardless of how it came into their lives.
*REV MOHLER: Well, actually, that's just something I can't accept in the sense of choosing.*
-All homosexuals who say they didn’t choose to be gay are therefore liars.
*Larry I have to say, first of all, we're choosing all the time.*
-Now
that's some fine backpeddling
. Plus he informally throws himself into the mix by using the word
"we're."
*I do understand that there are some choices that we make that seem to be prior to anything we can even understand*
-(gratuitous)
Do you even remember the moment when you decided that you were innerrant enough to determine inerrancy?
*and I understand there are many homosexuals who say I don't even have any impression of having chosen this erotic interest, this sexual orientation.*
-The Re-Definition of LIFE to mean nothing more than an “erotic interest.”
*I accept that at face value, but that does not mean that it normalizes and makes acceptable homosexual acts. I want to help them through that struggle regardless of how it came into their lives.*
-Does he honestly think that the best way to "help" is to show that he "accepts” that I do-NOT-know-the-difference between
loving someone,
THE VERY MEANING OF LIFE, and sexual “acts?”
_____________
LARRY KING: Bishop Robinson, at the conclave that you're at, are they going to vote on this?
BISHOP ROBINSON: ...the real question before us right now...is can we all stay at the table and talk about this while we disagree? Talk of unity is not necessarily talk of unanimity...the great thing...is this great umbrella under which we disagree about lots of things and yet we find our unity when we go to the alter rail and receive the body and blood of Christ as humbly as we possibly can, find our unity there in Jesus Christ and then we go back to the pews and fight about all sorts of things, but we remain a community. We remain a communion and that's what God wants for us.
No wonder he was made a Bishop. That was an EXCELLENT way of describing and explaining the ideal for the church. God bless that man.
LARRY KING: Canon Anderson, what's the harm? Why is it harmful to the church to have Bishop Robinson have a flock?
CANON ANDERSON: Well, he could have a flock, but it would need to be outside of the Anglican tradition and I think really outside of the historic Christian tradition. If he wants to make his own rules as it were, or come up with an alternate interpretation of scripture, that's his decision. But scripture has been very clear. The witness of the church for 2,000 years has been very clear and it's only recently that the Episcopal Church, if you will, has been, I might use the word, hijacked by those who have a different perspective, a different theology, and they are taking it in a different direction.
Translation: Bishop Robinson is not a Christian because:
-he wants to make his own rules
-come up with an alternate interpretation of scripture
-has hijacked the Episcopal Church.
-has a differnet perspective,
-a different theology
-and is taking it in a different direction
Boy that sounds scary. What am I scared about again?
Bishop Robinson’s alleged "gay," and therefore non-Christian theology equals:
-stay at the table and talk about this while we disagree
-Talk of unity is not necessarily talk of unanimity
-we disagree about lots of things and yet we find our unity
-find our unity there in Jesus Christ
-fight about all sorts of things, but we remain a community
-We remain a communion
Which “theology” would you ascribe to if you were God?
____________
SULLIVAN: Larry, may I say the scripture is clear and scripture says that I should be put to death. The very verse that says that shalt not lie with another man as one does with a woman, says that I should face the death penalty. That's clear. Is that the policy of Reverend Mohler and the other gentlemen? Why is that not taken seriously?
KING: Canon Anderson, is he right?
ANDERSON: Scripture has that as a penalty. The fact is --
SULLIVAN: Why do you not support it?
ANDERSON: Because grace, grace can stand in the way, but it doesn't
mean you have to be put to death.
SULLIVAN: So you pick and choose? You pick and choose the parts of the Bible you agree with? Clearly.
KING: Let him finish.
ANDERSON: If you want to keep interrupting me, go ahead.
KING: Go ahead. He has a point, though, Canon Anderson. If it says you should be put to death and it's scriptures and you follow scripture, why don't you follow it?
ANDERSON: Well, the old testament law had consequences for the sin and we believe that in Jesus Christ, his death on the cross paid the penalty for sin. So you get a fresh start, but if you keep sinning over and over again, at some point the Lord is going to call into question your sincerity about the grace he's giving you.
*Paid the penalty for sin is a fresh start?*
*but if you keep sinning over and over again...*
-did you even listen to one word Bishop Robinson just said? {Unity, unity, unity, community, communion.}
*the Lord is going to call into question your sincerity about the grace he's giving you.*
-A god who is capable of calling its own “grace” into question IS NOT GOD!
KING: We'll take a break and we'll be back with more. We'll be including your phone calls later. Don't go away.
It's ok, you can go away if you want to. I doubt if I’ll be back for this one. We had fun though didn't we?
P.S. Do they not make jobs for people who can dissect living people, or their transcripts? What would you call that, a de-scriber?