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Historic Washington National Cathedral to Perform Gay Marriages

Jan. 9, 2013 6:52am Billy Hallowell

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — The prestigious Washington National Cathedral, where the nation gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents, will soon begin performing same-sex marriages — a development that is sure to rile those who stand opposed to gay unions, while pleasing Americans who support such rights.

Cathedral officials tell The Associated Press the church will be among the first Episcopal congregations to implement a new rite of marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members. The church will announce its new policy Wednesday.

As the nation’s most prominent church, the decision carries huge symbolism. The 106-year-old cathedral has long been a spiritual center for the nation, hosting presidential inaugural services and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. It draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Washington National Cathedral to Perform Gay Marriages

Washington National Cathedral (Photo Credit: AP)

In light of the legality of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia and now Maryland, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, decided in December to allow an expansion of the Christian marriage sacrament. The diocese covers the district and four counties in Maryland. The change is allowed under a “local option” granted by the church’s General Convention, church leaders said. Each priest in the diocese can then decide whether to perform same-sex unions.

The Very Rev. Gary Hall, Dean, Washington National Cathedral, speaks during a news conference, with other religious leaders to remember the lives lost in Newtown, Conn., at Washington National Cathedral on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Photo Credit: AP

The Very Rev. Gary Hall, the cathedral’s dean, said performing same-sex marriages is an opportunity to break down barriers and build a more inclusive community “that reflects the diversity of God’s world.”

“I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do,” Hall told the AP. “And my reading of the Bible leads me to want to do this because I think it’s being faithful to the kind of community that Jesus would have us be.”

Celebrating same-sex weddings is important beyond the Episcopal Church, Hall said. Church debate is largely settled on the matter, allowing for local decisions, he said. The move is also a chance to influence the nation.

“As a kind of tall-steeple, public church in the nation’s capital, by saying we’re going to bless same-sex marriages, conduct same-sex marriages, we are really trying to take the next step for marriage equality in the nation and in the culture,” Hall said.

Hall is the 10th dean of the cathedral and has been an ordained minister for more than 35 years. He said he began performing same-sex blessings in 1990 when he served at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif.

It will likely be six months to a year before the first gay marriages are performed at the cathedral due to its busy schedule and its pre-marital counseling requirement. Generally, only couples affiliated with the cathedral will be eligible. Church leaders had not received any requests for weddings ahead of Wednesday’s announcement.

While Hall does not expect any objections within the National Cathedral congregation, he said the change may draw criticism from outside. It may be divisive for some, just as it was to preach against segregation or to push for the ordination of women, Hall said.

The New York-based Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion. The House of Bishops voted last year 111-41 to authorize a provisional rite for same-sex unions. Some congregations have left the church over its inclusion of gays and lesbians over the years.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. Legislators in Illinois and Rhode Island are set to take up bills to possibly join them, and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear cases on gay marriage in March.

The first same-sex wedding performed last month at West Point’s Cadet Chapel drew some protests from conservatives. The National Cathedral is even more visible.

Hall, the cathedral dean, said the church has a long history of taking stands on public issues. But he said he sees marriage as a human issue, not a political issue.

“For us to be able to say we embrace same-sex marriage as a tool for faithful people to live their lives as Christian people,” he said, “for us to be able to say that at a moment when so many other barriers toward full equality and full inclusion for gay and lesbian people are falling, I think it is an important symbolic moment.”

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Comments (115)

ironsheik
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:30am
I left the Episcopal church years ago. I don’t go to any church now. I was even married in a courtroom. Churches are either fire and brimstone and condeming or embracing a leftist agenda. Who needs them?

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- NickyLouse
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:56am
  Did you know that the person whom Christianity revolves around has already condemned those who do not believe in the name of the Son of God? See the second verse after the most famous verse John 3:16.
  
  Report this comment
- NickyLouse
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:00pm
  Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
  …
  “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one.
  
  Report this comment
- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:16pm
  @NickyLouse You forgot the last verse of that passage:
  
  “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
  
  Report this comment
- THERAPTURCOMES
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:46pm
  The national cathedral is not a church of God it is a house of satan and is served by servants of satan
  
  Here we are on the verge of the resurrection/rapture as taught by Christ in John 14:3 http://youtu.be/UwL3rKteOng
  
  The only thing the believers in Christ need be doing is to be spreading the gospel
  
  Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
  
  10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
  
  AND all Christians should be making AFTER RAPTURE PACKETS for a left behind world http://youtu.be/ahEVxIzlxwo
  
  Report this comment
- barryswhitehalf
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:30pm
  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.
  
  This so-called man of God is nothing more than a dishonest sell-out to the religion of political correctness.
  
  Report this comment
ldonnell
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:47am
i don’t know who’s bible this “rev”is reading,but it sure ain’t the KING JAMES.

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- Brentley
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:10am
  I was wondering the same thing myself. As I read the scriptures it says MAN LEAVES HIS MOTHER and clings to his WIFE…NOT HIS HUSBAND? ….there are so many passages that condemn same sex relationships. This so called Reverend is not reading the bible I read. Or he is reading and his black heart is keeping him from understanding. Be careful of wolves in sheep clothing. By their works ye shall know them. From this guys stance, and by very definition he is a WOLF and his preaching AVOIDED at all costs.
  
  Report this comment
- SquidVetOhio
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:25am
  “I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do,”
  
  Yea, a fundamentalist Atheist. I hope he read the section that says “Judgment begins at the house of God.”
  
  This ungodly heretic should be afraid.
  
  Report this comment
- CABERNETQHS
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:11pm
  just ignore the whole abomination reference.
  
  Report this comment
- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:40pm
  The Reverend is blind to the Truth.
  
  “…Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circmspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is…” Ephesians 5.
  
  Report this comment
- THERAPTURCOMES
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:50pm
  SQUIDVET
  
  Judgement does begin at the house of God and what that means is found in 1 Cor 3:12-15 and 2 Cor 5:10
  
  When the resurrection/rapture takes place the church will be before the Bema seat of Christ and will receive it rewards or lose based on an individual basis
  
  this means the resurrection/rapture must take place FIRST.
  
  Report this comment
- SquidVetOhio
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 2:15pm
  I know about the Bema Seat judgement and believe it. But, the Bible makes clear in both OT and NT that God brings about judgment to chasten His own people before he does the ungodly. God instantly killed 2 Christians in the NT for lying to Peter and the Holy Ghost about what they gave. Look at all the times God brought judgment upon Israel to chasten them. When he finally does pour out his wrath on the wicked, it is permanent. Which is why there are no Hittites, Phillistines, Amorites, etc. anymore yet there are still Jews.
  
  Report this comment
- THERAPTURCOMES
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:02pm
  SQUID
  
  That is why the tribulation is Daniels 70th week and the time of Jacobs trouble. The purpose of the tribulation is the salvation of the Jewish nation and during that time God will kill 1/3 to 2/3 of this worlds population and I thank my sweet Lord for allowing me to be a believer and fellow worker with God
  
  I am looking up for that Blessed Hope
  
  Report this comment
- JohnJoseph
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 7:39pm
  LDonnell–
  You are right – they are reading from some other “perversion”! The KJV warns us of those that would “pervert” and “corrupt” the Word of God. It is no surprise that this church are performing “sodomite (KJV word)” marriages. Their church doctrine is not what is found in the KJV. The believe in “doing penance” (a work to get them to heaven, which they will not make it that way), while we know that we are to “repent and believe the gospel” (a work done by Jesus Christ for our salvation). I’m with you and I’ll just read, study, teach, and believe the KJV (Authorized Version).
  
  Report this comment
pennswoods
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:38am
You must be some sort of religious masochist to remain in the Protestant Episcopal Church today. When the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop living with his lover this was the final straw for me. Female priestesses, gay “marriage” and now this blasphemy in a beautiful Gothic Cathedral mark the doom of this once great historical church in the USA. I left this church and became Roman Catholic and am secure that I will never have to see the Church of Rome cave into any fad that comes down the pike . The RC Church

The rev Gary Hall dean of Washington nationa cathedral (the cathedral Church of St. peter and Paul) said:

“Celebrating same-sex weddings is important beyond the Episcopal Church, Hall said. Church debate is largely settled on the matter, allowing for local decisions, he said. The move is also a chance to influence the nation”

What does this mean? It means we now have an important, though dying ,major American Protestant Church advocating the entire nation and we can assume other Chistian churches adopt gay “marriage” as part a new belief stystem.

Dark times are ahead for any church ( synagogue, mosque, or temple) that refuses to perform gay “marriages at some point in the future. The first law suit by a gay couple who are refused marriage in a Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon, Orthodox Jewish synagogue, mosque, etc for “discrimination” is on the horizon sooner than we imagine.

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- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:29pm
  I was looking for a traditional church to attend, and found out that there was an old Lutheran church nearby. Unfortunately, a review of their site showed that its run by a woman priestess and that they hold events to bless dogs and cats. Sadly, the days when you can walk into any church anywhere in America and at least hear righteousness, goodness, truth and instruction preached, without foolishness, are over.
  
  Report this comment
usedCZARsalesman
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:36am
I apologize in advance for stepping on the toes of true, faithful, God fearing Catholics…how long will you continue to support a “church” that has so obviously dismissed the rule of Gods law? It is now beyond a reasonable persons ability to deny the evil and corruption that grips the ENTIRE Catholic Church.

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- DZ-015
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:47am
  Uh, this is not a Catholic church.
  
  Report this comment
- turkey13
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:00am
  The rev. Gary Hill(dean) reads the Bible to be faithfull to the community Jesus would have us be! He didn’t read Romans1 Ch 1 Ver 26-32. Ver 26 “Women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.” Ver 27 “Likewise the men leaving the natural use of the women.” Ver 29 “Being filled with sexual immorality , wickedness, full of envey, murder, deceit and evil-mindedness. Ver 30 “Proud, boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents.” Ver 31 “Untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmercifull.” Ver 32 “The riighteous judgement of God, that those who practice such things are WORTHY OF DEATH, not only do the same but ALSO APPROVE OF THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEM.”
  
  Report this comment
- Dismayed Veteran
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:10pm
  Used
  
  The story is about the Episcopal Church. The Catholic Church is very clear that same sex marriages are against the dogma and doctrine of the Catholic Church.
  
  Report this comment
- THERAPTURCOMES
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:14pm
  TURKEY
  
  I also think he did not read Jude 6-7 which states that all those who seek strange flesh are condemned to the eternal lake of fire. Jude 6-7 is a direct link between Genesis 6:1-2 and what took place at Sodom and Gomorrah
  
  Report this comment
OSU Cowboy
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:31am
Is there any doubt we are teetering on the edge of the spiritual cliff? Women Bishops, not found in the word. The most holy potentate did not give us chapter and verse upon which he bases his belief. Wonder Why?

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- SquidVetOhio
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:26am
  I think we all know why.
  
  P.S. Can you call Brandon Weeden and ask him to play better this year?
  
  Thanks,
  - Browns fan
  
  Report this comment
BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:03am
I sit here, wondering to myself, if this will prove to be a dual fulfillment of the abomination that causes desolation? Time will tell.

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Cavallo
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:58am
Feh. They’re really a mockery of Christianity. Sexually confused and obsessed hedonists looking to corrupt the family and promote a standardless “faith” of empty meaning.

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florida1
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:51am
Gay sex is a mortal sin; an abomination. Period-according to God’s Holy Bible-doesn’t matter if all 50 states and Every Church in America says its ok..it will Still Be A Sin. Just like Abortion is STILL 1ST DEGREE MURDER OF A HUMAN.

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J3player
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:49am
The sodomites now control the country? God will not be mocked. God help us.

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Rillobymorning
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:36am
Really, your reading of the Bible tells you to do this? Did you read the part about Sodom and Gomorrah?

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repairsea
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:14am
Still not a marriage. You can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig.

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GuruMeditation
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:58am
Sad.

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Willik
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:49am
The Cathedral needs a mosque dome on the main belfry.

Hmmm, I wonder if Muslims recognize same sex marriages? NOT!

I agree with TRADCATHOLICGIRL above. I left the Episcopal curch way back when for thei Libera olicies and the ordination of lesbian women. The church left ME, not the other way around.

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vaman
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:27am
Ouch! The christian radical fanatics will go crazy over this, as they have over most human progress.

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- BasketFullOfPuppies
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:06am
  That you would call this progress, is telling of your ignorance of the meaning of the word.
  
  Report this comment
- usedCZARsalesman
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:32am
  Yeah, us “backwoods” Christians opposed Hitler, Stalin, and mao’s atheist “progress” also…we sure are on the wrong side of history against the atheists there, eh?
  
  Report this comment
- ScoobyCheese
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:01am
  How can you call something human progress that cannot reproduce on its own?
  
  Report this comment
- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:38pm
  Sodomites are nothing new nor modern, nor representative of anything signifying “progress”.
  
  Report this comment
am123
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:18am
“The prestigious Washington National Cathedral, where the nation gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents…”

Well, add to the list this is where the nation gathers together to provoke God by performing ceremonies of perversion which are a stench in His nostrils, adding fuel to the fire of judgment that will rain down on this once God-fearing nation. Woe unto America.

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tradcatholicgirl
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:08am
This is why there are whole Anglican Rite (Episcopal) parishes and individuals leaving that church …worldwide.

When all the conservative priests and congregants leave the Anglican/Episcopal Church behind, it can then become what King Henry 8th established it to be…..a place where you can follow your impulses, with church approval — regardless of what scripture says.

It worked for him. He married like six times, and killed each when he found another he lusted for & could produce an heir. When the RCC wouldn’t let him throw away wife #1, he just changed the rules and made a new church!!

The Anglican Church has always, until recently, been a WONDERFUL place to worship. Gorgeous music and tradition.

But deep within its history is error.

The error, started by Henry, is allowing leadership to CHANGE the rules when they don’t suit anymore. And worse is that Henry made it the STATE church, with the monarch as its head! For centuries, English citizens HAD to be Anglican.. ….

Which is why our founding fathers, who had close ties to that oppression, made sure we would not have a state church!

They didn’t want a president or king to tell them HOW they HAD to worship.

They did not intend to keep religion OUT of our government. They wanted the government to stay OUT of religious worship!

If we didn’t have a dumbed-down educational system, all those dupes who cry “separation of church and state” would know their own history.

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- Locked
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:46am
  @Tradcatholicgirl
  
  Let us pause for a moment to appreciate the irony of this juxtaposition:
  “He married like six times, and killed each when he found another he lusted for & could produce an heir.
  …
  But deep within its history is error.”
  
  For someone decrying errors of history, you certainly seem to be ignorant of the fate of Henry VIII’s wives if you think he killed all of them. Only two were executed (and one died in confinement, but that’s not execution). Another died in childbirth, one simply had her marriage annulled and went on her merry way, and the last one survived the king himself.
  
  Report this comment
- tradcatholicgirl
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:15pm
  OK so he didn’t kill all of them. He just wanted to be RID of each one that did not produce for him a healthy male heir.
  
  It is not relevant how many wives he legally beheaded. You MISSED the point I was making. Or points. Let’s review.
  
  1. He founded his church on a rule of law that is capricious, changeable according to the passions of men. And so is open to great error.
  
  2. And this allowed a man who ruled a country to force people to worship in the Anglican faith — Which directly affected our US history. Our founding fathers did not want to be told by any king or president HOW to worship.
  
  3. Our state vs. religion issues today can trace their birth to poorly educated people in our country who don’t understand “separation of church and state.”
  
  5. And sadly, this error of history has also now decimated the Anglican Church..
  
  That is the error. It is a theological error. Not an historical error.
  
  But you are right. I should have checked my facts. Haven’t read the bio of Katherine of Aragon in a long time.
  
  Report this comment
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:59am
.
“I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do,” Hall told the AP.

I guess you skipped over the story of Sodom & Gomorra…..

Next thing on the Formerly Prestigious Washington National Cathedral list is a GayDay Party……..

Sad thing is there are not enough of The Rest of US, to over come the Free Lunch Slaves, the LGBT Crowd & The PC White Obama Voting Monons……….

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- CatB
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:15am
  Little wonder the country is in the mess it is … when you turn your back on God. Remember it started with taking him out of the schools. I think you are right .. not enough who believe in him and the country as founded .. especially in government.
  
  Report this comment
- Locked
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:49am
  @Spank
  
  “I guess you skipped over the story of Sodom & Gomorra”
  
  If you think these cities were destroyed because of homosexuality, I guess you skipped over Ezekiel 16:49-50. Homosexuality was not the reason God destroyed Sodom and her sister city.
  
  Report this comment
- SpankDaMonkey
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:37am
  .
  @Locked
  
  No Locked thay were destroyed because of all kinds of sin…….
  
  For Example:
  Romans 1:27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
  
  1 Timothy 1:10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers–and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine
  
  Genesis 19:5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
  
  Leviticus 20:13 “‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
  
  Deuteronomy 23:18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.
  
  I could go on but I will spare you a sermon……
  
  Report this comment
- Locked
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:03am
  @Spank
  
  “No Locked thay were destroyed because of all kinds of sin…….”
  
  Exactly. It wasn’t homosexuality. And besides Genesis, all the sections you quotes don’t have anything to do with S&G. Exekiel makes it clear which sins were responsible for the destruction of those cities, and homosexuality was not one of them.
  
  Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree homosexuality is a sin. But it’s a false belief that it was the reason for S&G to be destroyed.
  
  Report this comment
- Chazael
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:52am
  @ Locked
  
  “Ezekiel makes it clear which sins were responsible for the destruction of those cities, and homosexuality was not one of them.”
  
  Incorrect. If you read verse 50…..
  “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me….”
  
  The reason why they were haughty were the sins you pointed to before (v.49) which led to unspecified abominations in v.50. The abominations are not only the specified sins in the first verse. Take Jude 1:7:
  
  “…just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
  
  Just like Rom 1 (cited above) where sins build upon sins leading to even greater sins. If you look at our culture you see the same type of sins leading to the same conclusion. The pinnacle of self centered sins always leads to the same spot and the same conclusion.
  
  Report this comment
- SquidVetOhio
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:30am
  @ CHAZAEL
  
  You beat me to it. Jude 1:7 makes it clear that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for sexual sins (namely the desire to sodomize God’s angels).
  
  Report this comment
- Chazael
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:43am
  @ squidvetohio
  
  It wasn’t just the attempted rape of the angels. As Jude points out, it was something that all the cities had in common and the attempted rape only happened in one city.
  
  The attempted rape would have been the confirmation God had declared to Abraham (Gen 18:21).
  
  Report this comment
- Locked
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:52am
  @Chazael
  
  Jude 1:7 does not back up Spank’s idea that homosexuality was the reason for S&G’s destruction. Even in that passage, the “gross immorality” is in other translations referred to as fornication (not homosexuality), and the strange flesh refers to unclean relations of any kind (again, not specifially homosexually).
  
  Not arguing homosexuality is a sin; but you’d have to blatantly ignore some passages and blatantly insert words in others to have it be THE reason for S&G being destroyed.
  
  Report this comment
- SpankDaMonkey
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:20pm
  .
  I was pointing that Homosexuality was just one of many sins that destroyed S&G…..
  
  These sins of the flesh will also destroy the church; I think Rev. Hall may fall into that group of sinners…..
  
  Report this comment
- Chazael
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:46pm
  @ Locked
  
  Spank’s assertion was not “that homosexuality was the reason for S&G’s destruction” but rather, “thay were destroyed because of all kinds of sin…….”. I thought that was setteled around post #2 or 3.
  
  You admited that there were more sins involved than just those in Ezekiel 16:49. And that these abominations which were committed included the giving themselves over to sexual immorality (or insert translation wanted here) and strange/different flesh. Which you admit in your post do not exclude homosexuality.
  
  And the word is flesh… not just any relation. What do you think the strange flesh was that all the cities were guilty of going after? All food was clean (Gen 9:3). Clean and unclean referred to what was a sacrificial animal and what was not (Gen 8:20) and would not be applied to food eaten until Moses. These facts along with the example of what the men wanted to do to the angels leave no doubt. One of the abominations was homosexuality.
  
  Which, as pointed out before, lines up with Rom 1 with what human self-centeredness leads to….
  
  Scripture always lines up like that, one part backing up another part.
  
  Report this comment
- Locked
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:58pm
  @Spank
  
  “I was pointing that Homosexuality was just one of many sins that destroyed S&G”
  
  Ah, then in that case we’re all set. Sorry for the confusion; your first post seemed to imply that homosexuality was the cause of the fall for S&G.
  
  Report this comment
- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:01pm
  @Locked You don’t know squat.
  
  Ezekiel 16:50 says, “And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”
  
  Leviticus 20:13 says, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
  
  BTW, the LGBT movement today is practically defined by pride and haughtiness.
  
  Ezekiel 16:49 says, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”
  
  There were various sins Sodom and the other nearby cities committed, and many they did commit.
  
  Genesis 13:13 says, “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.”
  
  The LGBT community acts with pride and honor in their very sin. They are not ashamed to proclaim their perversion, and show no need to humble themselves and reflect upon their filth.
  
  Isaiah 3:8-9 says, “For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”
  
  These cities must have also had their fair share of drunkards, whore mongers, whores, adulterers, and other fornicators.
  
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- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:35pm
  Notice how Sodom was not only wicked and sinful, but was so purposely before the Lord. They did such sins knowing their judgement, and did them joyfully in front of the Lord. So haughty were they that they intentionally mocked and provoked the Lord. Tell me how having huge public parades representative of perverted sexual acts is not prideful? Tell me how ordaining sodomite priests and perversely uniting sodomites in matrimony is not provoking the Lord? Tell me how calling the Bible wrong and irrelevant and labeling faithful Christians terrorists and hate mongers is not speaking against the Lord? Tell me how living a degenerate lifestyle and propagating it to schools and other public institutions and forcing the public to accept it as normal is not a straw in the eye of the Lord?
  
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- Locked
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 2:04pm
  @Valiant
  
  “There were various sins Sodom and the other nearby cities committed, and many they did commit.”
  
  Thank you, that’s exactly my point. Homosexuality was not the reason for the destruction of S&G; it was a variety of sins. Too many people say “Gay men wanted to rape angels!” and think that’s the end of the story; it’s not. That’s how I read Spank’s original post, although he later clarified, as you did, that homosexuality was not THE reason for the cities’ destruction; it was but one of a host of sins.
  
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kickagrandma
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:51am
Watch for it to crumble along with the rest of Washington, D.C.
Galatians 6:7

If you haven’t yet read THE HARBINGER, run to get it and read as fast as you can.

We are teetering on the abyss; forget “cliff”.

PRAY FOR GOD’S MERCY.
PRAY FOR REVIVAL!
PRAY FOR HEALING AND HIS RETURN!

II Chronicles 7:14

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- CatB
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:23am
  Yes everyone needs to read The Harbinger … our TEA Party meeting last night focused on it last night and how we must turn back to God .. I wish those in the government AND many in the Churches understood what they are doing .. or more importantly cared.
  
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- RealLiibertarian
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:50pm
  Catb- That is the very reason that the TeaParty is sliding backwards. They stuck their nose where it doesn’t belong, in the religious life of the country. Stick to financial issues and you’ll be OK. Try to become the morals police and you will fail. This country does not need or want a morals police or a pastor in chief.
  
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jackact
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:50am
Politics of church and state combined.
Acceptible if you’re a liberal.
Just don’t pray in the locker room before a high school athletic game
Not Acceptible.
Hypocrites.

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KingCanon
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:45am
A slow death continues as GOD removes his hand of protection off of our society.
A SLOW but SURE DEATH.

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Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:36am
Episcopal. Nuff said.
Desecration: the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.

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DZ-015
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:32am
I see the repairs to the earthquake damage to the spire of the cathedral have not been completed. They might want to hold off on that, as this is an issue which has already split the Episcopalian community. Do you think Woodrow Wilson is spinning in his grave inside the building?

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- ArmedAndReallyPissed
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:47am
  I don’t know about spinning, but he better not be face down.
  
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- jcldwl
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:50am
  Serves him right. He made this bed and now he is lying in it. Quite ironic.
  
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ArmedAndReallyPissed
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:26am
My Frig. is always full of Beer so i want to Marry it. Can i get that done at the WNC too ?

Said with extreme Sarcasm………..i think……..Yeah. I kid.

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LIBSALWAYSLIE
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:22am
And the moral decay continues….

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- naughtycal
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:28am
  When one or two generation tolerate something the generations that follow accept it,the generation following that embrace it and the generation following that celebrate it.
  It’s not God wrath that will destroy the united states it will be done by our own hands. Look at the thug life crowds in black communities their entire main stream culture celebrates drug dealing,fatherless children,and government entitlements…..when just 4 or 5 generations ago black culture was advancing then in the mid-60′s it started a decline that hasn’t stopped.
  
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- leggz
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:32am
  @Naughtycal, you say 1 or 2 generation tolerate something then generations that follow accept it, then embrace it, then celebrate it, and you point to the black communities, but I am confused. You seems to say there has only been a downward spiral with African Americans when u said that now the black communities’ “entire main stream culture only celebrates drug dealing,fatherless children,and government entitlements.” And you said it was “just 4 or 5 generations ago black culture was advancing then in the mid-60′s”. Well, first the mid-60′s was not 4 or 5 generations ago – USA generations are defined as 25 years in length. Four or five generations ago, the time was 1900 to 1925, and do you recall the “culture” of African Americans, especially those hounded and lynched by the KKK in the south? Oh, yes, at least they were “free” because only 2 generations before that, African Americans were ENSLAVED. How about the progress in the last 2 generations (since the mid-60′s) when just showing a white man kissing a black woman on TV/movies was SCANDALOUS! Today, I have a nephew who I LOVE and TREASURE who is 1/2 black, 1/2 white. Yes, even “traditional marriage’ has since been redefined so that it is no longer ILLEGAL or a SIN for interracial marriage. Whoops… hey, isn’t that what we are talking about here? Allowing 10 -15% of our fellow citizens the right to marry? We are not God and SHAME ON YOU ALL JUDGING WHAT IS A “SIN”. What did Jesus say? The 10
  
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- naughtycal
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:06pm
  LEGGS,
  My step daughter is of mixed descent And I gave away at her wedding and alway told her hope proud I am of her and what a good young woman she was growing into.
  What your point are you linking my observation of what is becoming of black community and cultural to some sort of racist remark. Hardly I call them like I see them. To deny something for fear of not fitting into a social group is to be willfully ignorant. And the fact is the episcopal church is heading down a road that will lead it to it’s own demise. Embrace something you know is wrong to remain popular is to damn yourself. Whether it’s embrace violence and criminal behavior as black culture has done,or embracing homosexuality as a perfectly normal religously acceptable life style…… There’s a reason why they call it the road less traveled it’s much easier to go with the flow and fit in than do what is right.
  I know I’ve walked both paths and have the scars to prove it.
  
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- valiant1776
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:24pm
  @leggz You took those statements way out there. The poster said “thug life crowds in black communities” not “black communities” or “black people”. The statements are pretty accurate. Black communities in general are facing a huge increase in crime and unemployment because of those bad apples that are proudly living their degenerate and ungodly lifestyles without regard to future generations or their fellow neighbors. The destruction of the family has been a great detriment to them. The same can be said about other communities, but it is more prevalent in black communities. I know and am friends with many black people. They are traditionally conservative and religious but the modern divisive politics of the left and lack of any decency or respect in their pop culture is hurting them, not helping them. I have two black co-workers who live in the DC area, and they constantly complain about the same issues. One of them is even scared to see her mother that lives in SE DC because of how dangerous some neighborhoods have become. Ignoring and hiding the problem won’t solve anything.
  
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toiletclogga
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:20am
There comes a point where when you stand for everything, you stand for nothing. The churches may be going the way of homosexual acceptance, but the faithful are not. There is a day coming in which the churches will no longer be viable, and the home based church is the only alternative. Dogma is not faith.

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- Cherbear
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:29am
  I agree with you. Wrong is wrong, plain and simple. Even if a law is passed, it doesn’t mean it’s right. We ALL will face God and be held accountable for our actions, good and bad.
  
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- BubbleheadDan
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:37am
  @ Cherbear,
  You are right. God will hold this church accountable. I wouldn’t be surprised if a natural disaster just happened to destroy the Cathedral. Thing that make you go hmmm.
  
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- Smokey_Bojangles
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:38am
  “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
  That is going to be hard to find…….
  
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- jcldwl
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:53am
  Their plan of destroying traditional marriage is moving forward. Hmmm….forward. Seems that was someones slogan wasn’t it. Hmmm…oh yeah that guy with the skinnies.
  
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- toiletclogga
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 7:56am
  The “church” is not a building, it is the people. Buildings are made by man, and exist for the unsaved. The “church” is the spirit of God, and exists in the heart and soul of the faithful. We shall all understand why this has come to pass, but likely not in our existence here on Earth.
  
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