Schism comes to the Church of Scotland

Well, it was bound to happen when the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) allowed a homosexual male to be a minister in the Kirk. The Rev'd Scott Rennie was ordained and approved by the General Synod last May.

In an article in the Herald today, it is reported that thirty-five kirks are rebelling against the ordination of gay ministers.

Now 35 churches have publicly said they will not accept gay ordination under any circumstances, putting them on collision course with the Kirk ahead of the critical 2011 General Assembly when the special commission reports back, and more are to follow.

It gets much better than this. They have decided that a covenant is the way to go. I wonder where they got that idea. And, the group they've formed is the Fellowship of Confessing Churches. Imagine that! Just one word removed from the Church of England schismatic group. And, their first statement is:

"We acknowledge the great harm that has come from our failures to maintain this standard, and we repent and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married."

Where have we heard all of this before.

The group says they are not in existence just to fight homosexuality - and here is the best part of the article

The Rev William Philip, of St George's Tron [in Glasgow], said: "I'm very glad that the fellowship gives our congregation an opportunity to publicly make a stand for the orthodox Christian Gospel, so that anyone who comes to out church knows this is what we believe in."

The "Fellowship's" web page contains this statement.

We therefore believe it is necessary at this time to publicly mark the boundary between orthodox Christianity and spurious forms that claim the same name, and make clear and public our rejection of new teachings and practices which depart from the historic Christian faith, turn away from the orthodox gospel of repentance and faith, and publicly sanctify what the Bible proclaims as sin. [emphasis theirs]

I find that really hypocritically funny considering the founder of their faith, John Knox, didn't care one hoot about the orthodox Christian gospel. He rejected the orthodox Christian gospel and replaced it with a spurious gospel that claimed the same name but was completely revisionist. At least that is how orthodox Christianity saw his revisionist theology. I wonder if this group would have rejected the new teachings had they been there for John Knox "revision."

Ah, hypocrisy has no shame - or memory. Where is Henry when we need him.