Re Bishop Sponge article in New York Times

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radhika

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I live in India, but I happened to read an exerpt of an article on a Bishop Sponge- how is this man a bishop? how does he claim to be a christian? This article says that he has tosses a 'hand grenade into the church with his book “Sins of the scriptures” he makes all kinds of claims-Christianity historically blocked all advances of women, that Jesus was probably maried to mary magdelene-that St paul was gay, that the church has an antipathy towards sexuality which is why it emphasises the perpetual virginity of Our lady and so on-it is highly offensive and provocative.
Why is he allowed to get away with this-or is there some kind of a protest, or do people not bother in the US? Please tell me, after seeing the kind of defences put up on this forum against attacks on the religion, why is this so called Bishop allowed to get away unchallenged?
 
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radhika:
I live in India, but I happened to read an exerpt of an article on a Bishop Sponge- how is this man a bishop? how does he claim to be a christian? This article says that he has tosses a 'hand grenade into the church with his book “Sins of the scriptures” he makes all kinds of claims-Christianity historically blocked all advances of women, that Jesus was probably maried to mary magdelene-that St paul was gay, that the church has an antipathy towards sexuality which is why it emphasises the perpetual virginity of Our lady and so on-it is highly offensive and provocative.
Why is he allowed to get away with this-or is there some kind of a protest, or do people not bother in the US? Please tell me, after seeing the kind of defences put up on this forum against attacks on the religion, why is this so called Bishop allowed to get away unchallenged?
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Spong isn’t a bishop. At least, not in our eyes. He is a now-retired Episcopalian bishop. Our bishops keep their heterodoxy well-restrained. Well, most of them…
 
Shelby Spong is :mad: disgraceful. Yes, he is a retired Episcopal bishop, but he is also one of the most anti-Christian people that you can imagine.
He gets invited to speak & write by those who have an anti-Christian, anti-God agenda. He gets away with it, because he has a forum with those who want all belief in God, &even in basic right vs wrong, wiped out…
 
Spong isn’t even a Christian any more. He may like to call himself one, but that doesn’t make him one. He is an ultra-liberal heterodox weirdo who has “relativized” himself right out of the Christian Faith.

He is loved by the various media who hate Christianity because of his extremely heretical viewpoints which supports everything they like to hear, and which go against everything that Christianity teaches, which they don’t like to hear.

I usually ignore his senile mumblings, unless I’m in the need for amusement. He’s a very disturbed, deceived, sick old man, and we must pray for his immortal soul.
 
When I first came back to the Church I was reading anything I could get my hands on. One of the first books I got was by Bishop Sprong. I didn’t know that there were “bishops” in any other religion but Catholicism (I didn’t know anything then). Anyway, when I got to his writings on how it doesn’t matter if Mary was really a virgin I threw it in the garbage. There are some people you just can’t listen to.
 
Spong has been attacking Christianity for years. One day he will have to face God.

Compared to an eternity in hell, his arrogant and vicious condemnations of the faith now, are nothing.
 
Pride is one word that I use to describe Spong. Humility is one that I do not use of him. He, and those who think in a similar way, are responsible for the state of the crisis in the Anglican Communion.

That the "article says that he tosses a 'hand grenade into the church with his book “Sins of the scriptures” says, to me, it all. This is not, IMHO, the work of the Holy Spirit.
 
I consider myself eligible for a free pass out of Purgatory because Spong was my Ordinary for 18 years. Considering my catholicity – even as an Episcopalian – I will never understand why he licensed me (a layman with the M.Div. from an Episcopal seminary) to preach in his diocese. I wish he had been there when I preached on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . .

For what it’s worth, he is extremely charming (part of how he gets away with it) and once he has met you, he will never forget your face or your name. You can bump into him after not seeing him for a decade, and he’ll ask for your children by name.
 
Ha ha Bishop SponGE is right. He’s a very angry, hateful spewer of vitriolic anti Christian prose. But he still wears the collar so he can pretend to be credible. I have heard that in person he is soft spoken and charming. But his writings are just plain hateful.

Obviously he does not believe in God or he wouldn’t risk his soul with the kind of diatribes that typify his writings.

Lisa n
 
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radhika:
I live in India, but I happened to read an exerpt of an article on a Bishop Sponge- how is this man a bishop? how does he claim to be a christian? This article says that he has tosses a 'hand grenade into the church with his book “Sins of the scriptures” he makes all kinds of claims-Christianity historically blocked all advances of women, that Jesus was probably maried to mary magdelene-that St paul was gay, that the church has an antipathy towards sexuality which is why it emphasises the perpetual virginity of Our lady and so on-it is highly offensive and provocative.
Why is he allowed to get away with this-or is there some kind of a protest, or do people not bother in the US? Please tell me, after seeing the kind of defences put up on this forum against attacks on the religion, why is this so called Bishop allowed to get away unchallenged?
Click to expand...
 
He’s an Episcopalian former “bishop” of Newark, NJ, who doles out sex advice and has a history of outrageous statements and scathing over-the-top criticisms of Pope John Paul II. He’s a good example of the reason why scores have left the so-called Episcopal Church and why that Church is dying here in America.
 
The joke is, that when I was starting to feel the need to return to the church, I turned to the internet for anything on spiruality, christianity etc and I got this Sponge. I actually suscribed to his e mail! it disturbed me such a lot, and it took me some time to understand what he was getting at. I think I was fooled because he calls himself a christian. Thanks for the clarifications, what a poisonous old man!
 
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