Splitting heartache

At the risk of upsetting any Anglicans reading this: what exactly was decided at the big meeting last week? On the one hand, they're willing to "bless" same-sex marriages; on the other, they aren't allowing their priests to actually perform the marriage. It looks like some fence-sitting is going on, but it may only be temporary, as they continue to explore this issue. Mostly they're trying to avoid a split in the church. That's what we Christians seem to do, mostly - split churches over theological disagreements. It's better than the alternative, however, as anyone who has perused Foxe's Book of Martyrs can attest to.

My church's official position is that homosexuality is a sin. I don't agree, but I don't plan to leave the church over it, if I can help it. I'd rather disagree from within. The nice thing about being a Baptist is the concept of "soul liberty", in which every believer is expected to search the scriptures for their answers, and the "priesthood of all believers" which means no one stands between us and God.

For some people the decision is simple: they point to a number of bible verses that they believe say homosexuality is sin, and that's the end of the discussion. You can't talk to them, because they have closed their minds. Others have given it a great deal of thought, and even have friends who are gay, and yet they still come down on that side of the fence. At least with them you can have a dialogue.

I'm not really going anywhere with this, except to say that I'm sad it has to be this way, and I really hope I don't have to go looking for a different church because of it, someday.