#145321 - 11/24/07 02:55 PM
What is our church doing about this?
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Registered: 12/27/05
Posts: 2663
Loc: Ohio
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taken from Philadelphia weekly. (11-20-07) (Philadelphia) – Outgoing Mayor John Street’s decision to perform a same-sex commitment ceremony on Saturday at City Hall offers a further explanation in the course Philadelphia has taken in the past several years. Today the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide group which supports Pennsylvania’s one man, one woman marriage law and the effort to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment to the PA Constitution, faxed the mayor a letter of concern outlining the wrong messages that will be sent by his involvement in Saturday’s activities.
“Mayor Street has drifted off course during his political career. Once a strong advocate for traditional values, he can no longer be trusted to uphold those values that are supposedly part of his belief system,” said Diane Gramley, President of the AFA of PA.
Mayor Street is a practicing Seventh Day Adventist. Their beliefs include, “Marriage was divinely established in Eden and affirmed by Jesus Christ to be both monogamous and heterosexual, a lifelong union of loving companionship between a man and a woman. . . . . To this biblical view of marriage the Seventh-day Adventist Church adheres without reservation, believing that any lowering of this high view is to that extent a lowering of the heavenly ideal.” Street needs to be disfellowshipped immediately, if we are to have any credibility in our world. Unaddressed, this will damage our Adventist youth even further. olger
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#145334 - 11/24/07 06:08 PM
Re: What is our church doing about this?
[Re: olger]
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Today, I ain't for sale. Check back tomorrow.
Registered: 08/10/00
Posts: 11744
Loc: Ca., Id, Wa., Or. or somewhere...
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Street needs to be disfellowshipped immediately, if we are to have any credibility in our world. Unaddressed, this will damage our Adventist youth even further.
Oh...so what ONE church member does, defines the whole church? Hmmmmm.....interesting premise..... Biblical principles being what they are, if you have a beef with your fellow church member, you NEED to go TALK TO HIM, rather to us and air your beef.....After all, the source of your information might be wrong....and I have had that happen too many times and compounded the problem.... Sage advice...go talk to your brother....find out from the source why he did what he did, if he did....
_________________________
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana
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#145335 - 11/24/07 06:19 PM
Re: What is our church doing about this?
[Re: olger]
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Pearl of the Orient
Registered: 07/07/07
Posts: 188
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It's sad. Life of an SDA politician is not easy. Sometimes the values and beliefs get compromised due to the community's demands. But he could have asked the couple to go to a different state and do it there.
_________________________
Thinking is one thing no one has even been able to tax.
- Charles Kettering, scientist, inventor (1876 - 1958)
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#145336 - 11/24/07 06:29 PM
Re: What is our church doing about this?
[Re: olger]
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Registered: 05/13/07
Posts: 306
Loc: behind my walls
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 Olger said: Street needs to be disfellowshipped immediately, if we are to have any credibility in our world. Unaddressed, this will damage our Adventist youth even further.  1. Why would disfellowshipping this man produce credibility of Adventists in the world? Would we advertise the fact to the news media so they can report such a monumental action was taken by the church against one person? 2. Why would Mr. Street's actions damage Adventist youth "even further"? 3. Mr. Street is not MARRYING these two same-sex people. That is against the law in Pennsylvania. He is merely giving them the opportunity to openly commit themselves to each other. That's better than tar and feathers. 
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#145346 - 11/24/07 08:33 PM
Re: What is our church doing about this?
[Re: charis]
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Registered: 12/27/05
Posts: 2663
Loc: Ohio
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When other Christian believers look up what Adventists believe to understand this man's action, we have a public disgrace on our hands.
It would have been far better if they were looking up Adventist doctrine because they were drawn to the fact that we stand for Biblical marriage. Experiments in morality will get people killed.
As to youth, our youth are crying out for illustrations of Biblical fidelity, speaking the truth in love, and Christian standards. Pitching his tent towards Sodom, cost Lot most of his family (Genesis 13:12). I conducted a seminar in Nashville, TN last weekend, and after meeting many who attended I am struck with the opportunity we have to lead our children to higher ground. This is love in action, instead of the homicide of moral compromise. May God bless their hearts, and give them Biblical answers amidst these terribly confusing times. The actions of the mayor of philly illustrate all too well the weakness of following man's evil ways. Pitching his tent towards Sodom, cost Lot most of his family (Genesis 13:12).
But for the truth of God's word, we would probably all have pitched our tent in Sodom by now. God is good, and He's not playing games with people. Read the first 10 chapters of Isaiah for some perspective.
your friend,
olger
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#145352 - 11/24/07 09:07 PM
Re: What is our church doing about this?
[Re: olger]
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Registered: 05/13/06
Posts: 33
Loc: MA, USA
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When I came to this country in 1955 there weren't many Asians studying in this country. Many people used ask me why I have wavy hair instead of straight hair. When I did something which was strange to them they used to ask me "is this what all the Koreans do?"
My point is that each of us SDAs represent our denomination to this world. The people around you get to know our church through our individual action no matter how relevant, it may not have any thing to do with our doctrine. Doesn't this behoove each of us to behave and speak carefully and responsibly. Mayor Street is(if) a practicing SDA, others will get impression of our church doctrine through this one man's behavior(espeicially he is holding a responsible position). Every organization has a set of standard every member should uphold, if one does not comply with this standard the organization has the responsibility and duty to do some thing about it.
Won
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#145374 - 11/24/07 11:44 PM
Re: What is our church doing about this?
[Re: Shane]
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Here Forever, by Request :)
Registered: 07/30/01
Posts: 17491
Loc: Out standing in a field
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If a person of any religion also works in politics they should keep the two separate. To filter all political decisions through religious beliefs is not keeping with the separation of church and state. A politician has to represent all the people not just the some who keep the same religious beliefs. Right?
_________________________
"The wealth of a man is measured by what he can do without." ---Henry David Thoreau " Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him..."1 John 2:15-16
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