God is Gumby

So, are any of you in need of an example as to how far afield much of the liberal Christian left has meandered? Look no farther than this, the Anglican Approach to Scripture:

Anglicans have a high regard for the Holy Scriptures, but we do not describe them as having ultimate authority in all matters, nor do we assert that everything found within them is binding on us. We are a biblical tradition, but we have no doctrine of biblical supremacy, literal inspiration, or verbal inerrancy. While not accepting the Scriptures as our sole authority or guide, we do believe they provide the Church with the primary criteria for its teaching and the chief source of guidance, in terms of principles and norms for its life.

We believe the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God. That is, they contain the revelation of God. God inspired their human authors and God still speaks to us through them. We understand their meaning through the aid of the Holy Spirit who guides the Church in their true interpretation. These Scriptures, while not a text providing final judgements [sic] on every ethical or theological question or issue, contain all that is needed to be known or believed for our salvation.

The Scriptures taken as a whole are foundational in God's revelation. Each part is to be heard in relation to every other part. Christianity is a religion of a person, Jesus Christ, and not a book. Because this is so, special authority is given to the Gospels which contain the narrative of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and of his teachings. While Christ is the head (mind and heart) of the “Church, which is his body” (Ephesians 1:23), even he did not claim to know the mind of God fully (Mk. 13:32). He did promise, however, that “the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:25-26).

The Scriptures emerged from the experience of a community who believed that God had been and was mysteriously, but clearly, present and active in their midst. Beginning as an oral tradition, the Hebrew people and the Church gradually gathered and developed its sacred texts and established a final, unchanging canon to be a measuring rod or standard for the Christian life of faith. These Scriptures, however, were intended to be interpreted and reinterpreted over and over again in the light of contemporary knowledge and experience within a believing and worshiping community open to the leading of God's Spirit into new truth.

In other words, this whole Christian thing we have wrapped ourselves up in is one huge gray area. What a wonderful thing it must be to enjoy all the benefits of salvation while not having to endure any of its restraints.

A h/t to Christopher Johnson who says:

Let's see. In the microscopic chance you don't know what any of that means, let me spell it out for you. God, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it, sent His word to His people. If Episcopalians aren't happy with certain commands of God, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it, they can go ahead and ignore them.

And since the interpretation of the Word of God, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it depends solely on "the light of contemporary knowledge and experience within a believing and worshiping community open to the leading of God’s Spirit into new truth," Episcopalians are free to make the Word of God, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it into whatever they'd like that Word to be.

We have heard God, and by golly, we agree on everything!