Answered Prayer Never Violates Scripture

According to Fox News, "The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles elected a lesbian as assistant bishop Saturday, the second openly gay bishop in the global Anglican fellowship, which is already deeply fractured over the first...The Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore needs approval from a majority of national church leaders before she can be consecrated as assistant bishop in the Los Angeles diocese." Click here to read the full article. The BBC has also weighed in here.

The above situation is tragic but not surprising. The Episcopal Church made a clear decision to ignore the bible several years ago.

What is fascinating and sad about this article is that we read about people who discuss prayer as it relates to this situation. The article says, "Jim Naughton of The Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican clergy and lay people who advocate on behalf of gays and lesbians, called Glasspool's election a liberation. 'We've been around this issue for 30 years,' said Naughton, an adviser to the Episcopal bishop of Washington. 'It's unreasonable to expect us to refrain from acting on the very prayerful conclusions (emphasis mine) that we've reached, especially when we think there are issues of justice involved.'"

Mr. Naughton says that his group has reached very prayerful conclusions. I do not doubt Mr. Naughton's sincerity. However, his conclusions are false.

God has spoken on this issue. Homosexuality/lesbianism is a sin. The bible makes this clear on numerous occasions (see here). God does not answer prayer in a manner that violates what He has already said. Since God is perfect, He does not change His mind.

God has made it clear in scripture that one man and one woman, and only one man and one woman, are to be involved in intimate, marriage relationships (see here). Anything else is sin.

It is clear that Mr. Naughton and his group made a decision long ago that homosexuality and lesbianism are acceptable lifestyles. They now pray, but already have their minds made up. This leads them to the conclusion that they already have made.

We can be certain that God did not tell these folks that Rev. Glasspool's lifestyle is acceptable. God also did not say that Rev. Glasspool should be made an assistant bishop. We can be certain of this for several reasons: no one living in open sin should be in church leadership, women should not even be pastors, and the "assistant bishop" position as it stands within the Episcopal church is unbiblical.

It is informative that no one in favor of Rev. Glasspool's position ever makes mention of the bible.

So what can we learn from this story?

-People often pray to reach their own conclusions.

-God never answers prayer in a manner that violates His word.

-We need to be careful as we pray. In humility, let's be certain that on other issues we do not come to "prayerful conclusions" that violate scripture.