Jul 11
Episcopal Bishop calls individual salvation ‘heresy,’ ‘idolatry’
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says it’s “heresy” to believe that an individual can be saved through a sinner’s prayer of repentance.
In her opening address to the church’s General Conference in California, Jefferts Schori called that “the great Western heresy: that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God.”
The presiding bishop said that view is “caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus
According to Schori, it is heresy to believe that an individual’s prayer can achieve a saving relationship with God. “That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy.”
Bishops want marriage rituals for homosexuals
Meanwhile, six Episcopal bishops are pushing for greater recognition of same-sex marriages at a national gathering of church officials in California. Bishop Thomas Ely of Vermont says he and other bishops from states recognizing same-sex marriage will offer a resolution urging the church to adapt marriage rituals to include homosexual couples.
Ely says the resolution will be introduced at the church’s General Convention, which started Wednesday in Anaheim. The convention is held every three years.
- From Prophecy News Watch
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July 12th, 2009 at 9:51 am
The Very Rev. Dr.Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in The United States.
Made a statement regarding personal salvation. At last she is right on and will speak up.
She is a great leader and a marvelous theologian.
She has turned out to be a better leader than we ever dared hope for.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called that “the great Western heresy: that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God.” … “that view is “caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus”
In so much as this portion of her speech the bishop would be true and correct, however an individual does come participate in their salvation in a manner similar to that of the theif on the cross, for it is with our heart (and mind) that we believe and with our mouth that we make confession of our faith. For faith without works is dead (James 4 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day.
). Therefore it is not the recitation of a ‘formula’ that brings someone to salvation, but faith in Christ Jesus alone. However, that faith will find its outlet in those good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do.
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Without seeing and considering carefully the rest of the bishop’s words I would hestitate to identify her as either great or marvelous as a leader or theologian.