Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 6:00:19 PM
The
Los Angeles Times ran a couple of letters critical of the Crystal Cathedral leadership for
telling its ministers that the church will be teaching the Biblical principles that
sex is for marriage and
marriage unites the sexes.
Jennifer Willford of La Habra:
If the purpose of the Crystal Cathedral leadership is to ensure members' adherence to literal biblical principals by having choir members sign a covenant declaring that God approves only of sex within heterosexual marriage, it has missed the mark.
The purpose was for the ministers employed by Crystal Cathedral to recognize that the church teaches sex is for marriage, and to discourage gossip, among other things. It does not make demands on anyone's sexual behavior, nor ask them to confess or swear to anything.
All women should certify that they have not used anesthesia during childbirth, so as to follow the biblical command that women bring forth their children in suffering.
Please demonstrate how that is an enduring, binding command that applies to women in twenty-first century America, rather than a description.
All men should affirm they are not married to a previously divorced woman, so as not to commit adultery.
There are Biblical grounds for divorce, and if remarriage to the same person is not an option, then marrying someone else is.
And women should "keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak."
Context, context, context.
This at least would require the dismissal of Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman and her sister Gretchen, who are apparently responsible for this hateful fiasco in what was once a church that preached compassion and love.
What exactly is hateful? I'm still waiting for the quote.
In taking the Bible as a whole, we see that regardless of time or place or person, sex is for marriage and marriage unites a bride and a groom.
Benjamin Rhodes of Nashville wrote:
Kudos to the Rev. Robert H. Schuller for not requiring the Crystal Cathedral's renowned architect, Philip Johnson, to sign an anti-gay "covenant." Johnson was gay.
Ah, yes.
"We are your family and neighbors."
Previously:
Hit and Run Bible Mockers