Posted on 08/17/2015 7:29:31 PM PDT by massmike
A historic Baptist church in South Carolina that gave rise to the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention has adopted a new non-discrimination policy that will allow its leadership to perform same-sex “marriage” ceremonies and also ordain open homosexuals.
First Baptist Church of Greenville, South Carolina, was founded in 1831. Though the church’s organizer, William Bullein Johnson, became the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the church parted ways with the Southern Baptist Convention in 1999.
Late last year, members of the congregation gathered in small groups to discuss the church’s position on homosexuality. Eventually, the members concluded that “being open and welcoming to all people is part of the essential nature of our community of faith.”
Jim Dant, the senior minister, described the decision-making process as “a beautiful, internal discussion,” and says he doesn’t care what others think about the congregation’s unorthodox viewpoints on sexuality.
Dant believes the Bible’s teachings on family values are not applicable today.
Though most members reportedly supported the decision, other Christians in the area expressed dismay at the church’s departure from biblical Christianity.
“I can’t believe the stance that First Baptist Church of Greenville is taking on this same-sex marriage abomination,” Nancy Goodwin, a resident of nearby Simpsonville, wrote in a letter to The Greenville News. “Evidently they have just thrown out the words of God on this subject. The idea that a gay man can teach a boys’ class is so wrong.”
“They say, ‘What we believe about marriage and family is culturally driven, not biblically driven,’” she continued. “Wonder what Bible they’re using. Certainly not the one I use. This is so sad. This church needs our prayers.”
(Excerpt) Read more at christiannews.net ...
They ar eso open-minded that their brains fell out.
This “church” should see its membership decline to zero if it is a real church.
Vengeance belongs to God. He is not sleeping.
And then it will grow again with all the queers that will flock to become members of this perverted church.
Many old, historic Episcopal churches have led the way.
So basically they’re saying they no longer cater to God but the world and sin.
Seems kind of, I dunno, familiar, like I read something warning against something like this.
Hm!
Dant believes the Bible’s teachings on family values are not applicable today.
dant is a moron
I was about to say the Southern Baptists would let them go but I see they have already gone.
For your bump list, moral absolutes! WE NEED A BUMP!
Wow—a so-called Christian Religion adopting Afghani Muslim Ethics, where human beings can be used in degrading, dehumanizing, irrational ways which remove dignity and Reason —that which makes us human.
Using human beings as a “Means to an End” (Muslim, Marxist worldview)— and it is now “Good”——exactly as slavery, pederasty, polygamy, homosexuality, child-sacrifice, fornication was in the pagan, demonic cultures who worshipped Ba’al—with their sodomite orgies on their altars......like the French “Temple of Reason” (Notre Dame) during the French Reign of Terror.
The Bible was so Right-—again-—that Good will be called Evil and Evil, Good.
Also known as the Delphi Technique.
Olsteen and the rest of the big boys will be close behind.
Time to find another job.
Nothing new really...The age old problem of not believing God, not believing the scriptures...
That’s why there are so many Protestant denominations...That’s why there are so many other Churches, ie. Catholic, Mormon, JW, etc...No body believes God any more (and some never did)...
I was a Baptist as a youth then found God in a non-denominal church years later discovering I had never had a relationship with God before. Everything had been dogma and rituals with an occassional bible verse thrown in here and there. So no surprise that a Baptist church embraces gay marriage. None at all.
History of First Baptist Greenville
First Baptist Greenville has a rich heritage of ministry in the Greenville community dating back to the mid-1820s. Officially organized in 1831, FBCG was the second of Greenville’s five original “downtown” churches (along with Christ Church Episcopal, Buncombe Street United Methodist, First Presbyterian, and St. Mary’s Roman Catholic) and the first of the five to be deeded land by Vardry McBee, who owned over 11,000 acres of what is now Greenville. As a “land-grant” church, FBCG has always had strong ties to the community and to its sister congregations downtown. Our founders were Regular Baptists whose theology gave us a heritage of principles that include emphases on • the freedom the individual led by God’s spirit, • the freedom of the local church, • the larger body of Christ made up of local churches around the world, • the servant role of leadership within the church, • theological education, • proclamation of the Good News, and • a free church in a free state. A progressive spirit has characterized this congregation from its beginning. Its organizer, William Bullein Johnson, became the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. FBCG was the first home of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, now located in Louisville, KY. FBCG has continued that progressive spirit in giving leadership to the formation and ongoing ministries of the Alliance of Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond which was founded in our sanctuary in 1989. We continue to stand firm in the Baptist world for the historic principles of our founders, as evident in our membership’s vote on May 2, 1999, to discontinue affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention of which our congregation was a charter member. Members of First Baptist Greenville have been influential in missions and education throughout the years. Hands-on missions date back to the 1830s when “The Ladies Working Society” was dedicated to raising funds for the church and missions and helping the needy. In 1872, two of our members were appointed to full-time foreign missions. This emphasis on missions continues today with dozens of missions projects annually—locally, nationally, and internationally. Christian education, beginning with the establishment of Sunday School in 1838 and a church library soon afterwards, has always been a high priority and continues with an extremely active schedule of opportunities for theological educational and spiritual formation. Throughout its history, First Baptist Greenville has demonstrated that it is a congregation of vision. Equality of all members in the ministry of the church, unity in diversity, involvement in missions, Christian education and vibrant worship are hallmarks of this church which seeks to live out its faith in the world as a “Community of Believers, Each Member a Minister.”
The following are organizations with which FBCG is officially affiliated through the Missions and Affiliations Committee:Affiliations
- Alliance of Baptists
- Associated Baptist Press
- Baptist Center for Ethics
- Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
- Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond
- Baptist Women in Ministry
- Baptist World Alliance
- Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF)
- CBF of South Carolina
- Duke Divinity School Baptist House
- Emory University’s Candler School of Theology Baptist Studies Program
- Furman Cooperative Baptist Student Fellowship
- Furman University Exploration of Vocation
- Gardner-Webb School of Divinity
- Interfaith Forum
- Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary Baptist Studies Program
- Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Interesting profile.
When you start picking and choosing what parts of the Bible you want to believe this is where you end up.
QUOTE: “Dant believes the Bible’s teachings on family values are not applicable today.”
Does Dante’s Inferno await the reprobate Mr. Dant?
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