Justin Welby Says He Was ‘Thick’ For Denying Same-Sex Relationships
The former head of the Church of England and the entire global Anglican community, Justin Welby, expressed regret over failing to recognize that faithful and committed same-sex relationships are a “huge blessing,” describing himself as “thick” for his error.
Speaking at Cambridge Union, Welby offered:
Question: “Your tenure as archbishop included the church’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Despite this, the church still does not allow gay marriage in its churches. Do you see the church’s definition of marriage changing in future years and do you think this view is compatible with the 21st century?”
Welby: “I believed it was proper to have standalone services of blessing in churches for same-sex couples.
The use of the word ‘marriage’ is much more complicated. There is a very clear biblical definition of marriage which is, in the words of, in the mouth of, Jesus, clearly between a man and a woman.
But everything we see and understand in the huge amount of study we’ve done is that there are social goods in faithful lifelong stable relationships of people of the same sex being together and living in covenant relationships.
I didn’t used to think that. My mind’s changed over the last 10 years. I think it may be some time before, if ever, before we get to marriage, because the church worldwide is deeply split on this- not just the Church of England.
But I do believe that we need to recognize the human dignity and the potential for good that lives in every human being regardless of issues of sexuality. And that when they fall in love and when they live out that love faithfully and in stability, and faithfully and with stability, and caring for others, it is a huge blessing for them and for society. And I’ve seen that in so many places, that in the end even I began to realize that I was being thick.”
While same-sex are presently prohibited from marrying in the Church of England and are relegated to receiving services of blessing only, this is a temporary measure. The Anglican Church will be fully LGBTQ-affirming in less than a decade- and anyone who believes they could allow the window to crack a bit without quickly being shattered is too “thick” to recognize it.
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Hoo boy. I’m not sure anything says “reprobate” more than conducting exhaustive studies only to determine that “sin is good” …
No, nothing good ever results from sin.
And nothing bad ever results from righteousness.
If you don’t understand and believe this, then you don’t understand and believe at all, that Almighty God is in fact Almighty God. Infinitely perfect in all ways. The truth He set into place holds for the individual, those in proximity, societies, towns, nations, the entire planet … for all of creation.
“2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ” – 1 John 5:2-3
Because of this, the Anglican church is already full-blown sin-affirming, and has been. Whether or not it conducts abominable “marriages” is of little significance. There’s no middle ground.
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” – Jesus (Luke 16:10)
If they’ve told God they know better than He does, about anything at all, then they’ve told Him they know better than He does … there is no middle ground. Once that line is crossed, it’s crossed.