Posted on 06/06/2014 6:39:56 AM PDT by robowombat
Southern Baptists Face a Moment of Decision on Gay Marriage (and You Will Too)
Al Mohler | President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary | Monday, June 02, 2014 ChristianHeadlines.com SOUTHERN BAPTISTS FACE A MOMENT OF DECISION ON GAY MARRIAGE (AND YOU WILL TOO)
10 Comments Print Email #gay marriage #church #opinion #southern baptists Southern Baptists will be heading for Baltimore in just a few days, and the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is to be held in a city that has not hosted the convention since 1940. This time, Baptists attending the meeting will face an issue that would not have been imaginable just a few years ago, much less in 1940 — a congregation that affirms same-sex relationships.
Just days before the convention, news broke that a congregation in suburban Los Angeles has decided to affirm same-sex sexuality and relationships. In an hour-long video posted on the Internet, Pastor Danny Cortez explains his personal change of mind and position on the issue of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. He also addressed the same issues in a letter posted at Patheos.com.
In the letter, Cortez describes a sunny day at the beach in August of 2013 when “I realized I no longer believed in the traditional teachings regarding homosexuality.”
Shortly thereafter, he told his 15-year-old son that he “no longer believed what he used to believe.” His son responded with an even more direct word to his father: “Dad, I’m gay.” As Cortez writes, “My heart skipped a beat and I turned towards him and we gave one another the biggest and longest hug as we cried. And all I could tell him was that I loved him so much and that I accepted him just as he is.”
According to the pastor, events then came rather quickly. On February 7, 2014, his son, Drew, posted a “coming out video” on YouTube. Two days later, the pastor told his church about his new position on the issue (also posted on the Internet). In his message to the New Heart Community Church congregation, Cortez admitted that his “new position” represented a “radical shift” that put him into conflict with both the position of the church and the convictions of the denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. He acknowledged that his change of heart on the issue of homosexuality put him at odds with the SBC’s confession of faith, the Baptist Faith & Message.
In his letter, the pastor said that his aim was to see the congregation “allow for grace in the midst of disagreement.” To his regret, he said, many in the church were not pleased and the church had to consider whether to terminate the pastor. After voting on March 9 to prolong the time of consideration and prayer, the church voted on May 18 not to dismiss the pastor and “to instead become a Third Way church.”
Cortez cited Vineyard pastor Ken Wilson’s book, released earlier this year, A Letter to My Congregation. Wilson, who serves a Vineyard church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, describes his book as “an evangelical pastor’s path to embracing people who are gay, lesbian, and transgender in the company of Jesus.” Wilson argues that, even as he has come to affirm same-sex behaviors and relationships, the issue need not divide congregations or Christians.
Pastor Cortez cited Wilson’s argument as foundational to the position he and his church are now taking — “agree to disagree and not cast judgment on one another.”
But, there is no third way. A church will either believe and teach that same-sex behaviors and relationships are sinful, or it will affirm them. Eventually, every congregation in America will make a public declaration of its position on this issue. It is just a matter of time (and for most churches, not much time) before every congregation in the nation faces this test.
The impossibility of a “third way” is made clear in Pastor Cortez’s own letter.
In one paragraph, he writes:
“So now, we will accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship. We will choose to remain the body of Christ and not cast judgement. We will work towards graceful dialogue in the midst of theological differences. We wee that this is possible in the same way that our church holds different positions on the issue of divorce and remarriage. In this issue we are able to not cast judgement in our disagreement.”
But in the very next paragraph, he writes:
“Unfortunately, many who voted to remain traditional will now separate from us in a couple of weeks. We are in the period of reconciliation and forgiveness. Please pray for us in this. Then on June 8, we will formally peacefully separate, restate our love for one another, and bless each other as we part ways. It has been a very tiring and difficult process.”
In two successive paragraphs the pastor refutes himself. His church is not going to take a middle ground. He states clearly that “we will accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship.” And his church did not unanimously “agree to disagree,” for a significant portion of the church is leaving on June 8, just 48 hours before the Southern Baptist Convention convenes in Baltimore. Many “who voted to remain traditional” are now forced by conviction to leave the church.
Why? Because there is no “third way.” The New Heart Community Church has voted to “accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship.” Even if it is claimed that some continuing members of the church are in disagreement with the new policy and position, they will be members of a church that operates under that new policy. At the very least, their decision to remain in the congregation is a decision to stay within a church that affirms same-sex behaviors and relationships. That is not a middle position. It is not a “third way.”
For some time now, it has been increasingly clear that every congregation in this nation will be forced to declare itself openly on this issue. That moment of decision and public declaration will come to every Christian believer, individually. There will be no place to hide, and no place safe from eventual interrogation. The question will be asked, an invitation will be extended, a matter of policy must be decided, and there will be no refuge.
There is no third way on this issue. Several years ago, I made that argument and was assailed by many on the left as being “reductionistically binary.” But, the issue is binary. A church will recognize same-sex relationships, or it will not. A congregation will teach a biblical position on the sinfulness of same-sex acts, or it will affirm same-sex behaviors as morally acceptable. Ministers will perform same-sex ceremonies, or they will not.
Interestingly, a recent point of agreement on this essential point has come from an unexpected source. Tony Jones, long known as a leader in the “emerging church” has written that there is no “third way” on same-sex marriage. As Jones notes, denominations may study the issue for some time, but eventually it will take a vote. At that point, it will either allow for same-sex marriage, or not.
In his words:
“And the same goes for an individual congregation. At some point, every congregation in America will decide either, YES, same-sex marriages will take place in our sanctuary, performed by our clergy; or NO, same-sex marriages will not take place in our sanctuary, performed by our clergy. There is no third way on that. A church either allows same-sex marriages, or it doesn’t.”
Tony Jones and I stand on opposite sides of this issue, but on the impossibility of a “third way” we are in absolute agreement. Conservative evangelicals have understood this for some time. It is interesting that those on the left now understand the issue in the same “binary” terms. There is no middle position. Once again, Tony Jones gets right to the essential point:
“What I’m saying is that a church or an organization can study the issue in theory, and they can even do so for years. But this isn’t really a ‘third way’ or a ‘middle ground.’ Instead, it is a process. And at some point, that process has to end and practices have to be implemented. At that point, there’s no third way. You either affirm marriage equality in your practices, or you do not.”
Actually, as we have seen, Pastor Cortez makes the same point. The practice of his congregation is now to accept openly-gay members and members in openly-gay relationships. That does not allow for any middle ground, and that is why his church faces an exodus of members next Sunday.
Now, the Southern Baptist Convention also faces a moment of unavoidable decision. A church related to the Convention has officially adopted a gay-affirming position. The Baptist Faith & Message, the denomination’s confession of faith, states that homosexuality is immoral and that marriage is “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”
Furthermore, the Convention’s constitution states explicitly that any congregation that endorses homosexual behavior is “not in cooperation with the Convention,” and thus excluded from its membership.
There is nothing but heartbreak in this situation. Here we face a church that has rejected the clear teachings of Scripture, the affirmations of its confession of faith, and two millennia of Christian moral wisdom and teaching. But the Convention also faces a test of its own resolve and convictional courage.
I am confident that the Southern Baptist Convention will act in accordance with its own convictions, confession of faith, and constitution when messengers to the Convention gather next week in Baltimore. But every single evangelical congregation, denomination, mission agency, school, and institution had better be ready to face the same challenge, for it will come quickly, and often from an unexpected source. Once it comes, there is no middle ground, and no “third way.”
Sooner or later — and probably sooner — the answer of every church and Christian will be either yes or no.
I am always glad to hear from readers. Just write me at mail@albertmohler.com. You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/albertmohler
Publication date: June 2, 2014
Same here, if they cave we will be out of the SBC so fast their heads will spin. We have no interest in betraying our convictions and God’s teachings to be politically correct and popular with society.
The coliseums and lions will return for Christians before this madness is over even in the USA. The leftist heathens will demand obedience or blood.
If you undergo a Salvation experience but then become an atheist, the experience does not trump the fact that you are an atheist at time of death. Claiming the experience wasn’t real because the person later became an atheist is a self-fulfilling prophesy and therefore irrelevant as an argument. Baptist love to tell people they are going to Heaven.
There are way too many people going to Hell because someone declared them to be Saved based on a prayer and a bunch of water. There is too much hallelujah and not enough fear and trembling.
You might find this book interesting:
“Life in the Son”
“Dr. Robert Shank here offers a penetrating study of all the pertinent New Testament Scriptures on the doctrine of perseverance. In doing so, he calls into question the popular doctrine of “eternal [unconditional] security.”Are the proof passages used to support eternal security possibly misconstrued? Dr. Shank convincingly argues that the question confronting us is not, Is the believer secure? but rather, What does it mean to be a believer? If apostasy is an actual peril for every Christian, the Scriptural warning passages must be frankly accepted rather than interpreted into irrelevance or circumvented by theological hypothesis.”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556610912/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thanks for the recommendation!
A lot of old testament prophets fell away and displeased God after they had fulfilled their roles.
Only the Holy Spirit can tell someone that they are saved.
I knew a girl in college. She was a Baptist, active in all the youth groups. The she became a Jehovah’s Witness. In less than a year she switched to Mormonism. Astounding really because the JWs really hate Mormonism.
Then she switched to some Far East Sect, Hari Krisna maybe. The point is, she never believed in any of those.
I long ago lost track of her. But when I think of her I make a prayer that she finds her way to Christ. You would do me a favor if you said a prayer for her too.
Correct and the Book of Hebrews talks frequently about the perils of leaving the faith. You cannot be plucked from His hand but you can sure jump out.
“If I were the devil” ~ A prophetic essay written and recorded by radio commentator Paul Harvey in 1965.
Southern Baptists are the most conservative voting group in America, at about 80% republican, and second only to the Catholic denomination in size, they won’t be joining the liberal voting church denominations anytime soon.
One defective congregation out of thousands is not going to make the SBC change it’s ideals.
It’s astounding.
And I’ll add now: chilling.
Right you are and this is just a mild taste of what is coming. The explosion of biogenetics, robotics and computer ‘printing’ manufacture will within a pretty short time (less than 100 years) almost change what the concept of a person and personhood is. If artificial intelligence can have the ability to understand moral and ethical choices does that mean some robotic devices have souls? Not SF and not being facetious. These sorts of questions along with those of the ‘creation’ of new artificial organisms and ‘manufacturing’ what are now considered to be persons all loom in the not distant future. If the gay lifestyle represents a sort of existential crisis for religious people what will these things mean?
I attend, but am not a member, an SBC church that is also affiliated with the CBF - don't know how that happens.
The CBF (Continuing Baptist Fellowship) was created in 1991; it separated from the SBC over, among other things, the SBC’s refusal to ordain women. In OCT 2000 Jimmy Carter publicized his decision to leave the SBC and join the CBF.
I have read other Freepers who are members of the SBC write that the leadership in Nashville is curetnly trending to the left. The biggest example of this is its embracement of illegal alien amnesty. The previous president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Richard Land (~67), was essentially forced into retirment in 2013 after he embarrassed the SBC leadership with his comments regarding the Trayvon Martin case - he defended George Zimmerman. The new president of the ERLC, Russell Moore, is ~42. The jury is still out on him. Many think he is not willing to stand up to the popular culture of homosexual acceptance.
I have read several blogs by Albert Mohler over the last 2.5 years. I like what he writes.
Or not.
I know where this Southern Baptist stands - and if my leadership stands differently I will be moving on.
“Very pragmatic.”
That’s good,I hope?
I can’t see SBC doing this
It will split the church definitely.
We can go back to Church of Christ but with instruments...suits me
The title is misleading
Congregation that faltered is not SBC
THE author thinks we will hold to doctrine.
The title sounds like were iffy.
We are not.
““Very pragmatic.” “That’s good,I hope?”
Well, hard to say. Guess, what will be will be. As others much wiser than me have stated; “change is the only constant”. And, this axiom has been true with Christianity as well as so many other institutions.
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