False Teachers in the Church of England

Here are some comments I made over at Daniel Newman's new blog (a wordpress thing with a funny latin title about the Trinity, I think). He is considering seeking ordination in the C of E sometime and from the little I know of him and it, I think he should go forward with that.

Who says you should publicly say so whenever you disagree with the Bishop or Archbishop on a serious issue? Surely no one assumes you agree. Disagreements in the C of E are all over the papers. I would have to spend a lot of time placarding my disagreements!

Always remember the distinction between believing and teaching many false things (which no doubt we all do) and being a False Teacher who will be damned and lead others to hell, with whom we must not associate or even eat.

And whoes job is it to deal with false teachers? Granted that there may be some false teachers in the C of E, they should be excommunicated by the church, its elders and people acting together after a due public quasi-legal process. It is not for you or me to excommunicate them on our own on our blogs though we must do what we can to promote biblical church discipline. As an elder, next year, d.v., I will have a responsibility to take a lead in that in my own congregation (under the vicar's oversight, under the Bishop...). Till then, if he's baptised and says "Jesus is Lord!" and is in good standing with the church, I'd have to have a pretty serious case made for having nothing to do with him.