Friday, September 02, 2011

Still Praying, But I Think It's Time to Go

The recent decision to change our ordination standards is a rejection of Scripture and tradition as understood by more than one billion Roman Catholics. It is also an offense to more than 300 million Eastern Orthodox in their various communities in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and around the globe.

Western Christianity has been the “superpower” of the Christian world for more than a thousand years. Across the centuries we were able to define what it meant to be a Christian. This is no longer the case. As is well-known, the numerical center of the Christian world has moved South and East. That “global South” is becoming more and more important for the larger body of Christ and they (along with the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) will see us as having departed from Scripture and tradition as the Church everywhere has known it for two millennia. Our relationships with them are now freshly damaged.


-from "A Tale of Elephants and the Mouse: Presbyterians, 10-A, and the World Church," By Ken Bailey, Author and Lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies, New Wilmington, PA

(Thanks, Sean)

2 comments:

Sean Meade said...

glad you liked the link. Ken Bailey is the man.

it would have been time for me to go a long time ago and i am impressed with your commitment. i pray for the right direction for you.

Paul Stokes said...

Thank you, Sean.