Here is how one newspaper headlined a report of a recent display of downright ignorance, irreverence and blasphemy by the ‘Archbishop of York’. This was no spokesman for the ‘anti-Bible league’ but the second most senior cleric in the Church of England.
Archbishop of York Rev Stephen Cottrell says that starting the Lord’s Prayer with ‘Our Father’ is problematic
What he says beggars belief for its illogical and unjustifiable ‘reasoning’.
He says that ‘victims of abusive parents’ would find this a problem. Surely the whole desire of the victim of an abusive father would be that he had had a loving father, just like our heavenly Father, rather than the cruel parent he suffered under.
It is impossible to fathom the depths of this man’s folly! If this is what it is like at the top of Episcopalianism, one can only imagine what its core is like!
Our Heavenly Father is one to Whom we ought to delight in coming to Him and having the privilege of calling Him ‘Father’. Of course, many who recite the prayer the Archbishop refers to, have no right to call God their Father. Millions upon millions, myself included for a time before my conversion, go through the process of repeating these sacred words and yet have no actual knowledge of or living relationship with God!
The Lord Jesus said: “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me,” John 8:42.
God is not the ‘Father’ of those who do not believe in and who do not love Christ as their Saviour.
Remember what the Lord Jesus went on to say to some who were the most ‘religious’ men in Israel in His day and frequently reciting ‘long prayers’ . “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” John 8:44.
The Bible reveals God the Father as the very epitome of loving, kind and gentle Fatherhood.
Note these verses.
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? . . . . Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” Matthew 5:44-46, 48.
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Matthew 7:11.
“Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish,” Matthew 18:14.
“But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” Luke 12:31-32.
The Archbishop went further in his folly and spoke in utter denial of the divine origin and inspiration of the Scripture he refers to.
Were not these words he so disparages the very words of the Lord Jesus as He was instructing His disciples how to pray? “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name,” Matthew 6:9. Yes they are. How dare he, fool that he is, say that the words of the One called ‘the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), are ‘problematic’ or as the words means, ‘tricky, awkward, baffling’?
How dare he seek to revoke the direct command of Christ?
The arrogant audacity of this man who clearly is suggesting that he is wiser, more considerate and compassionate than Christ.
I repeat, the Archbishop indicates that he is of his father the devil!
The fact, as the report indicates, that his remarks were welcomed by some of his fellow clerics, especially a woman who, in defiance of God’s Word, claims she is a minister of the gospel, and that at best he was only mildly chided and indeed excused by one, Dr Sugden, indicates the dire state of the ‘national church’.
He should rather have been taken by the scruff of his neck and pitched out of the gathering he was addressing,
Like Israel of old, the whole fabric of the ‘establishment’ today is totally corrupted by the apostasy of these latter days.
“As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD,” Jeremiah 2:26-29.
There is a day of distress coming when this nation will seek to the One mocked by the Archbishop but He will not answer!
“Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me,” Proverbs 1:28.
Here is an edited version of the newspaper report I am referring to.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Archbishop of York Rev Stephen Cottrell says that starting the Lord’s Prayer with ‘Our Father’ is problematic
The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell called it ‘problematic’ for abuse victims
The Archbishop of York has said some people struggle with the traditional Biblical phrase ‘our Father’.
The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell called the term – used for centuries at the start of The Lord’s Prayer – ‘problematic’ for victims of abusive parents.
He also said it was an issue for anyone who suffers in a male-dominated society during a speech to the Church of England’s governing body yesterday.
On Friday night, his comments to the General Synod were welcomed by some in the clergy. But they were criticised by traditionalists and risk triggering another row over ‘woke’ language in the Church.
It emerged earlier this year that the C of E is considering referring to God in ‘non-gendered’ terms in services for the first time, which could see priests stop using the pronouns He and Him in prayers. The Archbishop, the Church’s second most senior cleric, devoted his presidential address in York to the importance of the word ‘our’.
The Archbishop of York has said some people struggle with the traditional Biblical phrase ‘our Father’
He said: ‘If this God to whom we pray is ‘Father’ then all Christians are ‘family members, the household of God’.’ But he added: ‘Yes, I know the word ‘Father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us who have laboured rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life.’
The Rev Christina Rees, a former Synod member who led the campaign for women bishops, said the Archbishop ‘has put his finger on an issue that’s a really live issue for Christians and has been for many years’.
She added: ‘But I think the issues have come into sharp focus more with clergy abuse issues. Because sometimes the abuse victims have been abused by their birth fathers and gone on to be abused by their fathers in God – the local priest – so there are multiple layers why the term ‘Father’ is really difficult for people in the church.’ She went on: ‘It’s the way it’s been set for so long and so we’re stuck. And because Jesus called God ‘Daddy’, we think we have to call God ‘Daddy’.’
The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell (pictured) called the term – used for centuries at the start of The Lord’s Prayer – ‘problematic’ for victims of abusive parents
But Canon Dr Chris Sugden, chairman of the orthodox Anglican Mainstream group, pointed out that in the Bible, Jesus says: ‘When you pray, say ‘our Father’.’
Dr Sugden said: ‘Is the Archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? I can’t believe he is doing that consciously, but that’s the impression it gives.
‘It seems to be emblematic of the approach of some church leaders to take their cues from culture rather than scripture.’
He added: ‘If people have had a difficult relationship with their human fathers, then the option open to them is to say you can rediscover the true nature of fatherhood through Christ.’
And Synod member Rev Dr Ian Paul said: ‘Stephen is right that many people find the language of ‘Father’ difficult because of their own experience of fathers.
‘But this is how Jesus reveals God to us. We are not at liberty to reject this clear and consistent teaching of Scripture.’