Noteworthy News

(Current events in the light of Scripture)

Rights of homosexuals a crucial issue for Anglican summit

By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press

LONDON -- (AP) -- A decade after a sharp debate on the ordination of women, the Anglican church is heading for a global conference that could see a fight over the rights of homosexuals.

Though some bishops have ordained openly homosexual priests -- and two gay men had their union blessed last month at an Episcopal church in New Jersey -- other Anglicans regard homosexuality as an abomination and condemn the ordination of gays.

The Lambeth Conference, which begins Saturday in London and is held every 10 years, is the main forum for debate for leaders of the world's 70 million Anglicans. These include Episcopalians in the United States.

Each national church is free to go its own way -- as they have done in ordaining women. Some do, some don't -- and churches in Canada, New Zealand and the United States have elevated 11 women to bishops. Some bishops, however, have threatened to boycott any conference events involving the women bishops.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the worldwide communion affiliated with the Church of England, hopes to avoid similar bitterness about the ordination of gays by calling for more study and reflection on the issue.

“I am all too conscious that some will come wanting a showdown on the issue of homosexuality and seek categorical assurances from the assembled gathering for a final, definitive opinion,” Archbishop George Carey said earlier this year.

“I am sure this would be a serious error. Such a move would dominate the entire agenda and confirm the world's suspicions that we are obsessed with issues of gender and sexuality,” he said. “Homosexuality will be considered calmly, theologically and in a Christian way, but we must not allow it to sideline such crucial concerns as the mission of the church in the new millennium, relationships with Islam, our ministry to young people and the urgent matter of international debt.”

Bishop Duncan Buchanan of Johannesburg will preside over the debate on homosexuality -- an issue he predicts “will throw its shadow pretty much over the present conference.”

“There are some people who would want to say that the question of homosexuality is not fundamental to the faith. Other people would say it is. One of my jobs at Canterbury is to try to balance the whole lot of it,” Buchanan said. (Published Thursday, July 16, 1998, in the Miami Herald)

Commentary by Joe Price: HOMOSEXUAL “RIGHTS”..........

1. The right to know that the Bible defines homosexuality as sin - Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

2. The right to know that the wages of sin is death - Romans 6:23.

3. The right to hear the gospel, be convicted of their sin, repent and be forgiven - Acts 2:36-38; 1 Cor. 6:11; Rev. 9:20-21.

4. The right to be loved enough to be told the truth about their lifestyle - Genesis 18:20-19:29; Galatians 4:16.

5. The right to face the eternal consequences of their choice - Galatians 6:7-8; Romans 2:4-11 .

·Assignments: July 19, 1998·

Announcements: Morris Bass

Opening Prayer: Morris Bass / Willie Golightly

Closing Prayer: Shane Bass / Loren Parker

Song Leader: Rusty McGrew / Aaron Bass

Scripture Reading: Shane Bass / Philip Price

Lord’s Supper: Rick Holt / Jason Holt / Wesley Holt

Building Cleanup: Jess & Connie Bass

T HE SPIRIT’S SWORD

“And take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17)

The Northside church of Christ

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Volume II, No. 22 July 19, 1998

RULES FOR A HAPPY MARRIAGE

1. Never part for a day without loving words.

2. Never meet without a loving welcome.

3. Neglect the whole world rather than each other.

4. Never both be angry at once.

5. Never talk AT one another, either alone or in company.

6. Never make a remark at the expense of the other. It is meanness, not love.

7. Never speak loud to each other unless the house is on fire.

8. Never taunt with a past mistake.

9. Never sigh over what might have been, but make the best of what is.

10. Never find fault, unless it is perfectly certain that a fault has been committed; and always speak

lovingly.

11. Never let any fault or grievance go by until you have frankly confessed it, and in sincere

repentance asked for forgiveness.

12. Let each one strive to yield most often to the wishes of the other.

13. Let self-denial be the daily aim and practice of each one.

14. Never forget the happy hours of early love.

15. Never forget that marriage is of God, and that His blessing alone can make it what it should be.

16. Never be contented until you know you are both walking in the way of God.

17. Never let your hopes stop short of the Eternal Home.

Assuring you that if you make these the rules of your marriage, peace and happiness shall follow you all the days of your life. -Grover Stevens

New Testament

Characters Who Believed In Creation

JESUS: "But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female made he them" (Mark 10:6).

EARLY SAINTS: "And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, O Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is" (Acts 4:24).

PAUL & BARNABAS: "We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain things unto a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is" (Acts 14:15).

JOHN: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made." (John 1:1-3)

PETER: "...knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God" (2 Peter 3:3-5).

MEN & WOMEN OF FAITH: "By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear." (Hebrews 11:3)

HEAVENLY BEINGS: "Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created." (Revelation 4:11)

_Newsweek ran a cover story this week (July 20. 1998) entitled “Science Finds God” in which the idea is explored that modern science increasingly provides opportunities for the coexistence of faith and science. In other words, science and faith do not have to be viewed as enemies. This is something Bible believers have been saying all along. While is Bible is not a science textbook [“The intention of (the Bible) is to teach us now one goes to heaven, not how the heavens go.” - Roman Catholic priest, circa 1633), it does contain statements which review a knowledge of how the universe operates. Science addresses “how” the universe operates -- the Bible addresses “why” it operates as it does.

More and more, the discoveries of science confirm the presence of a Creator and Sustainer. The order of the universe and the design of sub-atomic particles drive the honest of heart to the obvious conclusion: There is a First Cause who designed the cosmos.

By faith, we understand this to be the God of the Bible (Genesis 1-2; Heb. 11:3; Jno. 1:1-3). -Joe Price

Time Is Ticking Away

Children would try the patience of Job! I watched one day as a young mother lifted her screaming little daughter (by one arm!) out of the family car in front of a store. I could not tell what it was the child was crying about, but the mother said to an older woman, who was likely her mother: “Will she ever grow out of that stage?” It was all I could do to keep from saying, "Yes, and before you realize it!" But I would not intrude.

While parents are right in the midst of bringing up their little ones it seems to them that it will be an eternity before they reach the place where they will not be such a "bother" and a worry anymore. Small children even at times will test the strength of a seemingly strong marriage; and appear to "get in the way" of success and progress.

A story from READER'S DIGEST several years ago, written by Robert W. Wells, of which I give only the first three paragraphs, is a beauti­ful and wonderful article. I hope every parent will read it slowly, digest it fully, and be impressed forever:

"To an adult a tree is a tree, a cloud passing before the moon is only a cloud like those that have gone before. But a child is not like that. Things happen for the first time to him.

“I remember a July day when John was four. We had left the Manhat­tan apartment where we lived then and were spending the weekend in a small town. After dinner, my wife, the boy and I went for a walk. We came to an open field with a stand of oaks behind it. John had been holding my hand, but now he slipped free. He stood quietly for a moment, this big-city boy, surveying the largest expanse of earth he had ever seen that was entirely devoid of people. And then he was off, running hard.

“I can still close my eyes and picture him, this child whom I shall never see again, although he still lives con­cealed in a tall youth who has his name. Across the grass in the dying sunlight he ran, short legs pumping, under the trees, up a hill, then swooping back toward us, head erect, eyes half-closed. In spirit I was running with him, feeling the things he felt, and I was suddenly aware that the child who had loosed my hand and left me would never return, that in a brief instant of time his babyhood had ended and his boyhood begun. I could feel time tick­ing away.”

Oh, mother! Oh, dad! Seize every moment you can lay hold upon in order to have some time with your children while they are so young, so tender, and so innocent. Relish some precious periods of play and lightheartedness with them! But, more importantly, show them by a good exam­ple what being a faithful Christian is all about. Prove to them that nothing is more im­portant to you than the Lord and His church by putting Him first every day. Let spiritual matters take precedence in your thoughts, be first in your financial budget, have supremacy in your time, and take priority in all your activities (Matt. 6:33). In becoming parents, accept a most serious responsibility! “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and fruit of the womb is his reward” (Ps. 127:3).

Quick! parents, while the clay is soft, pliant and easily molded. Hasten to the task! Don't wait another moment! Later will be too late!

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

TIME IS “TICKING AWAY!” -Truman Smith