Practicing authentic truth and love at times means making people sad. Understanding that should be a basic requirement for anyone seeking to be a follower of Christ, and especially for those carrying ecclesiastical office. Seeking to sanctify what is a mirage is in the end neither true nor loving. We need more transcendent commitments than that.
The bishop’s ‘journey’ on this follows a familiar path, a response that is primarily emotional, governed by the impact of his church’s decisions on the feelings of others.
“I need to acknowledge the acute pain and distress of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church,” he wrote.
“I am sorry that, corporately, we have been so slow as a Church to reach better decisions and practice on these matters.
“I am sorry that my own views were slow to change and that my actions, and lack of action, have caused genuine hurt, disagreement and pain.”
Contrast this with the more robust approach described by Carl Trueman in The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.
If sex-as-identity is itself a category mistake, then the narratives of suffering, exclusion, and refusals of recognition based on that category mistake are really of no significance in determining what the church’s position on homosexuality should be…..
