The Church of England has become far too enamored with chasing wokeness over the past few years, opting for catering to the whims of modernity rather than adhering to the timeless truth of scripture.
In recent weeks, we learned that the Church of England is considering gender-neutral language to describe and refer to God, and earlier this month, the church announced that it will “bless” same-sex marriages while stopping short of agreeing to perform them.
It was the latter issue that brought Rev. Calvin Robinson to the Oxford Union last week to engage in a debate. Robinson has personal experience with the woke bent of the Church of England. The conservative political commentator has felt God’s call into the ministry, but the Church of England refused to ordain him because he wouldn’t agree with the accusation of “systemic racism” within the church. By the way, Robinson is black, and he moved to the far more conservative Free Church of England, where he received his ordination.
Robinson appeared at the Oxford Union as part of its legendary debate series, and he made a 12-minute speech explaining why the church shouldn’t accommodate gay marriage, dropping major truth bombs in the most English-gentlemanly way.
He began endearingly by whispering a prayer from Psalm 19 as the applause died down: “May the words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O God.”
He admitted to his anxiety about speaking, even as scripture helped him ease that nervousness.
“But why do I feel anxiety about this?” he asked. “Well, we are up against the authorities, three bishops from the established church. That means either I am wrong and Christians who have been teaching incorrectly for the last 2,000 years, or Jews and Christians for the last four-to-six-thousand years, or we have church leaders attempting to drag the church into apostasy. Neither way is good. The consequences are severe.”
Robinson pointed out that the writers of the Old and New Testaments, the church fathers, and centuries of church leaders have acknowledged that marriage is between one man and one woman. But he also noted that today’s Church of England seeks to undo two millennia of Christian orthodoxy.
“So are we looking to alter the catechism of just the Anglican Church or the Catholic Church too?” he asked. “Should they all get with the times? Two thousand years of Christian doctrine cannot be altered at the whim of a few liberal bishops. What is God-ordained cannot be adjusted to suit our new liberal progressive views.”
Robinson dismantled the idea that the Old Testament prohibitions on homosexuality are different from the cultural laws and noted that the New Testament addresses the issue as well. He also took on the notion that the church should be “inclusive” as well as the way progressives hide behind the idea that “God is love.”
“Yes, God is love,” he said succinctly. “But He sets the terms, not us.”
Later, he added, “The trap that we’re falling into in this debate is looking at the church through the eyes of the world, rather than through His Kingdom” before pointing out that the left isn’t demanding the same thing from Islam as it is from Christianity when it comes to the “acceptance” of homosexuality and referring to the “growing Christophobic attitude around this public debate.”
Robinson also reminded the Church of England’s leaders of their obligation to defend the faith and not to be false teachers before concluding, “In the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, ‘If the world is against the truth, then I’m against the world.'”
It’s a powerful message that the Church of England needed to hear. Good for Robinson for delivering it.
Watch the whole speech here:
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