Gay Sex 'Offensive' And Contrary To God's Design, Say Anglican Leaders [ChristianToday]

Gay Sex 'Offensive' And Contrary To God's Design, Say Anglican Leaders


Out of Egypt: Global South and Gafcon leaders issue unprecedented joint statement on same-sex unions
Andrew Gross/ACNA

Leaders of more than half of the world's Anglicans have issued an unprecedented joint statement condemning gay sex as "offensive" to God and "contrary to God's design".

They have also warned of "serious implications" should the Church of England decide to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

The statement was one of two documents condemning same-sex unions that came out of the sixth conference of Global South Anglican leaders meeting in Egypt.

The 24 Global South provinces that stretch across southern hemisphere include Asia and Africa and are understood to represent more than 40 million of the 80 million Anglicans worldwide.

The Global South Anglican bishops, chaired by the Primate of Egypt, Archbishop Mouneer Anis, issued the joint statement with the Global Anglican Futures conference, or GAFCON, chaired by Archbishop Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria. The Global South bishops were meeting in Cairo at their sixth conference since 1994.

The GAFCON primates said in their joint statement with the Global South Anglicans: "We contend that sexual intercourse between two persons of the same sex is contrary to God's design, is offensive to him and reflects a disordering of God's purposes for complementarity in sexual relations.

"Like all other morally wrong behaviour, same-sex unions alienate us from God and are liable to incur God's judgment. We hold these convictions based on the clear teaching of Scripture. We hold them not in order to demean or victimise those who experience same-sex attractions, but in order to guard the sound doctrine of our faith, which also informs our pastoral approach for helping those who struggle with same-sex impulses, attractions and temptations.

"In this respect, the Church cannot condone same-sex unions as a form of behaviour acceptable to God. To do so would be tampering with the foundation of our faith once for all laid down by the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone."

They also condemned any moves to offer blessing for same-sex couples because this would "contravene the orthodox and historic teaching of the Anglican Communion on marriage and sexuality. Such pastoral provisions, while superficially attractive in giving a more humane and socially acceptable face to the church, actually hide the contravention of doctrine involved."


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Strong words; hard words. I hadn't heard people speak in such a way since I was little, and the world changed a lot since then. This is like a flash back to the world we once knew.

 

The truth is not always easy to hear.