Ever since the Church of England broke away from the Catholic Church, it had gotten itself from one crisis to another. This had led to a generation of breakaway churches that exist today, separate from the Church of England but have same liturgical activities. That most of these churches have similar rites of worship buttress the fact that they broke away for other reasons. This time the Church of England is embroiled in a crisis that to a great extent question the concept of Christianity as it is known.

Can women be priests and bishops?

Can homosexuals be priests and bishops?

About two thousand five hundred years ago, a man named Protagoras wrote and published a book he titled ''The Truth''. In the book he expressed many concepts, one of them was relativism. It was an innocent philosophical concept. But became a bottomless pit in its progression. Many years later, Socrates made many enemies for himself when he questioned the concept of relativism. Over the last two thousand years, humanity had witnessed tremendous social transformation. The West and most countries they colonised have shifted from indigenous tradition toward the Judeo-Christian philosophy. So the question posed above had nothing to do with a clash of traditions but rather a test of biblical doctrine and christian tradition.

The bible was explicit when it aported functions to men and women in the early church. The church then followed this practice with rigour. But many christians of late are no longer comfortable with many biblical doctrines. The bible has to be relative they argue. Should we then amend the bible as we do our national constitution. Even the bible answered that one. And the answer is no. Ordaining women priests is unbiblical. Case closed.

And homosexuals too. We believe that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We believe that we shouldn't judge others. We believe that our righteousnesses are but filthy rags before God. But where do we classify homosexualism. Is it a morally right thing that we are yet to get acustomed to? Is it a heinous sin against nature and man himself who is created in the image of God? Did the christian liberty offer us innovative freedom into arcane philosophies? Did the bible say anything about homosexualism? The questions flows without answers. I think the bible recorded the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. A city that was destroyed by God. A city of too many sins, chiefest among them homosexualism. And so the bible recognises homosexualism as sin. A sin for which a city could be destroyed. Does the Anglican Church still see the bible as the basic guiding principle of christian tradition. Is homosexualism a sin? If the answer is no, then the bible as christian constitution has been amended to give way to relative awakenings. If the answer is yes, then that man who poses as a bishop should be a penitent asking for forgiveness and recieving serious counselling. And not just him alone but a whole lot of practising homosexuals who see nothing wrong in their actions. My spine chills up whenever I think of the biblical reference to the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.

This brings up the question of leadership in the Anglican Communion.In times of crisis, a decisive leader is very important. The Archbishop of Canterbury as it seems, is very complacent. I call on the leadership of the Anglican Communion to save Christendom from this embarrasment. It is not about their ego but the spiritual state of millions of their members. Or they could free themselves from eternal condemnation by handing the reins back to the mother church. The Catholic Church couldn't be more decisive in dealing with an issue like this.

And this is just a window, to the future for Evangelicals and Pentecostals. A stitch in time saves nine.

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