Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Curry No Better than Schori: TEC Joins Lawsuit Against The Diocese of South Carolina

After he was made Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal church three years ago, and he gave that silly "Don't worry be happy" sermon that every revisionist priest I knew swooned over, I wrote,

"I for one won't fawn and fall until he stops the lawsuits against fellow Christians, until he disavows same-sex marriage and abortion, and until he sweeps 815 clean of all the flowing robed wolves who have been devouring the Church from within. Then and only then will I stop worrying and be happy."
After recent news that Curry would join the rump "Diocese in SC" in suing The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina I reminded myself that I cannot stop worrying and be happy yet.

From Anglican Ink came the news,
A federal judge has granted The Episcopal Church’s motion to intervene in a lawsuit over false-advertising and related claims against the bishop of a breakaway group that left the Church in 2012.
The federal case, known as vonRosenberg v. Lawrence, has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel, (pictured) and currently is scheduled to proceed to trial in March 2018. Judge Gergel was assigned the case after the death of Judge C. Weston Houck in July.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2013, a few months after Mark Lawrence and a breakaway group announced they were leaving The Episcopal Church. The suit involves a claim of false advertising under the federal Lanham Act. At that time, Bishop Charles vonRosenberg was the only bishop recognized by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. By continuing to represent himself as bishop of the diocese, Mark Lawrence is committing false advertising, the lawsuit says.
Bishop vonRosenberg retired in 2016, and his successor, Bishop Skip Adams, was added as a plaintiff in the case earlier this year.
This month, The Episcopal Church filed a motion to join the case as a plaintiff, saying it has an interest in the litigation because of Bishop Lawrence’s “misuse of marks owned by the Church.”
Curry was right when in his sermon he over and over again repeated.
"And God is not finished with The Episcopal Church yet." 
I have come to the conclusion that God fully intends to let the Episcopal church dig its own grave, and now Presiding Bishop Curry has his hands on the shovel. 

And what effect does suing Biblical Anglicans have on the denomination? Nothing good, because we have been warned that Christians do not take other Christians to court. The following is a quotation from Christianity Today, 

In 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, Paul reprimands church members who have filed lawsuits against each other. Their pettiness, suggests the apostle, lacks eternal foresight and discredits the testimony of the church. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus offers principles for how two believers are to resolve a conflict. And earlier on, Jesus advised his followers about how to carry themselves if they are the object of a suit: "If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well" (Matt. 5:40, NIV). What does this mean for us in today's ultra-litigious society?
As Christ's followers, we are called to live in unity. God wants us to be at peace with one another (Rom. 12:18). A suing Christian is usually enticed to take on the adversarial spirit manifested in the legal system. The predacious nature of our culture, the retention of attorneys, and the courtroom arena combine to form an atmosphere not conducive to reconciling relationships. A Christian who sues can become "caught up" in the system to the extent that he takes on a bitter, self-righteous, and disingenuous mindset.
This, in turn, can lead him to overlook the blessing hidden in conflict, an opportunity to demonstrate godly character in the face of adversity. It also minimizes God's concern about the "weightier matters of the law"—justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23).
The only time Christians should take their conflicts to court is when dealing with non-Christians.

This leads me to conclude that Curry's action says something about how we should classify the organization that he heads.

Christian or not?

4 comments:

  1. Not long ago the local Episcopal bishop David Rice said in a letter to the editor in the Fresno Bee that the Episcopal Church is merciful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, the mercy shown to anyone who with a sword at his throat confesses that the god of 815 is great.

      Delete
  2. Based on Curry's tenure here in NC, I never thought he'd stop the lawsuit madness. He's a revisionist "new thing" post-Christian through and through, despite his quoting Scripture selectively and talking about the "Jesus movement." It's some other Jesus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You pretty much have to be in the revisionist camp to climb the clerical ladder in TEc these days, and revisionist can quite easily justify ignoring any wisdom the Bible tries to convey to them.

      Delete