This decision is contrary to scripture and to Anglican expressions of the teaching of scripture in our formularies, including the Book of Common Prayer, and Lambeth resolution I.10, clearly affirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the standard of Anglican doctrine as recently as the Lambeth Conference in 2022.

I'm very grateful for the gracious and courageous way in which many English brothers and sisters in Christ have taken a stand in their General Synod for biblical authority and the trustworthiness of Jesus' teaching on human identity and sexuality.

Lecture Introduction:
Our OCRPL faculty member Dr Anna Belele from Ukraine will introduce the LECTURE.

The bishops then reverted to their original plan and proposed to this July's Synod that "standalone services" now simply be commended. This was described as being "for a trial period," but that makes no sense given commendation is an episcopal judgment the prayers are already legal, and it was admitted during the Synod that once commended they were highly unlikely ever to be withdrawn.

The references in the final sentence of this quotation to 'diverse jurisdictions,' 'a third province' and 'a church within a church' are all different ways of referring to the same idea, the idea put forward by the Alliance and the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) that in the event that the House of Bishops and the General Synod continue down the path of permitting the blessing of same-sex sexual relationships and allowing those in same-sex sexual relationships to serve as ordained Church of England ministers, a third province of the Church of England should be created to prov

There are many concerns that I have with Preston Sprinkle's doctrine and teaching, but there are some main issues I want to point out here at the top. Firstly, I believe his teaching on homosexual desires to not be in alignment with the teaching of scripture. Secondly, I believe his teaching on what he calls "gay Christians" to be not only false but dangerous, as he attempts to domesticate evil.

What is restored? The form of the Song answers the question. It's a polyphonic poem, interleaving the voices of male and female, whose halting dance of mutual desire is cheered on by a chorus. To the consternation of some conservative readers, the Bride initiates the duet, longing for the Bridegroom's inebriating kisses, intoxicated by his fragrance, hoping to escape to a chamber where they can drink together the wine of love. The Lover responds with praise of her eyes, her body, her beauty.

And yet, the West is in a profound identity crisis, to the delight of anti-West ideologues. From Pride parades each June to intellectual elites, including a sitting member of the U.S. Supreme Court, who claim to not know what a woman is, Western society is increasingly unhitching from the traditional beliefs and values that grounded its understanding of human dignity. We are, as Os Guinness has often noted, a "cut flower civilization," and this detachment from those roots that brought the world such blessing has only left Western sins more pronounced and obvious.

The first question is, why is the Church of England following in the footsteps of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church both of whom experienced schism over the issue. This has not been a win for either church. Ignoring reality won't make it go away. Or is there a colonial arrogance that says, 'we are the CofE ol' chap, the Mother Church, and we dictate the terms of Anglicanism...and sexual boundaries.'

To what extent are we free? As Jesus proclaimed, we know that Christians are free from the enslavement of sin, and as Paul indicated, we are also free from the enslavement of the Law. What does such freedom mean and what is the purpose of the Law (and of all rules and requirements in the scriptures, both OT and NT)? Here is the result of my biblical research to date.

Like the Pharisees of old, they incur the same judgment of Jesus that they are blind guides, who will be uprooted, for they refuse to believe that sexual immorality defiles a person (Matthew 15:10-20).

This motion in support of all these changes only narrowly passed in the final vote:

For Against Abstain
Bishops 22 12 5
Clergy 99 88 2
Laity 95 91 2

The vote needed to be carried by a simple majority in each house. The laity vote was so close that if only two people had voted differently, the motion would have been lost. A helpful summary of the debate and speeches can be found here.

In the debate Helen Lamb powerfully explained why we have opposed these changes:

In 2023, the Rt Hon Sir David Lidington, Chair of the Project Board examining the governance of the Church of England, told General Synod, "Let me be frank, having never previously been involved in Church governance, I have been personally shocked by the depth of resentment and mistrust that pervades relationships between different organisations, traditions and people within the Church family. Governance reform will not on its own deliver the cultural change needed, but it can help. Without governance reform, I believe it will be very hard to overcome mistrust."