Posted on 11/03/2014 11:14:00 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
NWhen Southern Baptists convened a national conference here this week to discuss issues of human sexuality, bringing conservative evangelicals and LGBT Christian activists into the same ballroom was a recipe ripe for potential fireworks.
Perhaps the most shocking thing was how few fireworks there were.
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission was clear: Sex is reserved between a man and a woman within the bonds in marriage. And openly gay evangelicals in attendance were equally clear: Homosexuality is not incompatible with Christianity.
No concessions were made, but leaders on both sides expressed surprise at how the two agreed to coexist. Put another way: The old emphasis on “Love the sinner, hate the sin” has become more a version of simply “Love all sinners. Ask questions later.”
“I do want to apologize to the gay and lesbian community on behalf of my community and me for not standing up against abuse and discrimination directed towards you. That was wrong and we need your forgiveness,” said North Carolina megachurch pastor J.D. Greear, drawing applause.
“We have to love our gay neighbor more than our position on sexual morality.”
For now, at least, some gay groups seem willing to give the other side the benefit of the doubt.
The conference brought together a “who’s who” within contemporary conversations on homosexuality and evangelicalism, including ERLC President Russell Moore and Atlanta megachurch pastor Andy Stanley, who attended the conference of 1,300 with a group of other pastors from his nondenominational North Point Community Church.
The interactions were largely friendly, with none of the hostility seen from both sides in recent years. Inside the ballroom and out in the hallway, LGBT activists mingled with Southern Baptist leaders. From the crowd, gay advocates tweeted responses to the speakers on stage, at times seeming to overtake the conference’s Twitter hashtag.
While the substance remained much the same, the evangelicals’ shift in tone was noticeable. Moore regularly referred to people who are gay — not merely people who are sexual sinners in need of redemption — and denounced so-called “ex-gay” therapy as “severely counterproductive.”
Even the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., the veteran culture warrior and president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., seemed to have a change in tune, if not an outright change of heart.
“Early in this controversy, I felt it quite necessary, in order to make clear the gospel, to deny anything like a sexual orientation,” Mohler told the crowd. “I repent of that.”
Yet the thawed relations could not hide tensions between the ideas of “loving your neighbor” and “defending your rights,” particularly as legal recognition of same-sex marriage continues its lightning-fast expansion across the country. With the clashes between religious liberty and gay rights that inevitably follow, many still question whether the friendly conversations can continue.
The closest conference speakers came to politics came during presentations from the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom on what it sees as a threat posed to religious freedom by legalized gay marriage.
Barronelle Stutzman, the Washington state florist who declined to sell flowers for a same-sex ceremony, drew a standing ovation. Erik Stanley of ADF, the organization defending business owners like Stutzman, called the murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998 “a hate crime myth.” Attendees listen to a speaker during the 2014 ERLC National Conference.
Show caption
Attendees listen to a speaker during the 2014 Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission National Conference. Photo courtesy of Rocket Republic, via ERLC National Conference
Mohler also decried “revisionists,” or LGBT advocates like Matthew Vines, who are encouraging evangelicals to embrace the idea that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality. A copy of Mohler’s rebuttal to Vines’ book was included in the conference grab bag.
Even as Moore denounced ex-gay therapy, he nonetheless cited examples of some people who have changed their sexual orientation.The conference also featured four speakers, including Rosaria Butterfield whose personal story went viral last year, who spoke of leaving homosexuality or embracing celibacy.
Even so, specific political positions or political endorsements were largely absent. “Baptizing lost people and teaching them to vote Republican is not a revival,” Moore said to cheers and claps.
Numerous conference speakers encouraged Christians to love their neighbors who identify as LGBT. Focus on the Family President Jim Daly, who has cultivated a friendship with a lobbyist for the gay rights advocacy Gill Foundation, said he prays for LGBT activist Tim Gill.
Several speakers said the church should lead, not follow, in combating anti-gay bullying. “You have to ask, what greater lie we could tell about our savior than to distance ourselves from the hurting and the broken in the moment they needed us most,” Greear asked. - See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4Cj3Tea5L98J:www.religionnews.com/2014/10/31/southern-baptists-lgbt-activists-happily-co-exist-but-for-how-long/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a#sthash.OHTy0QTD.dpuf
It would depend whether they mean homosexuality as a state of orientation disorder which one resists (which makes it a temptation but not a sin)....
...or whether they mean homosexuality as an act of sexual vice, a habit of vice, a lifestyle or an ideology, in which case it is gravely morally ojectionable.
You do not choose your dreams.
The ideation can become a choice if you dwell on it, call it to mind, fantasize about it, toy with it, etc. These, because deliberate, are sinful thoughts.
The external acts --- words or deeds --- are always sins. About these we always have a choice.
I hope that by the power of God you may have full and complete healing.
I do hope in their pastoral approach they will still say that sin is sin. If not, they would have to studiously ignore big chunks of the New Testament.
Odd that you rarely or never hear preaching against “straight” married couples who engage in acts of onanism and sodomy.
Damfino.
I do wonder whether a person who practiced and preached celibacy would still be called a “LGBT activist”?
If something enters your mind and you do not dwell on it, sin has not occurred. Or to talk about it as we are would be impossible without it being in your head. But when you start to desire something that is evil you have entered the realm of sin. To desire to murder is sin, whether you do it or not. To desire homosexuality is sin. To try to say a person is “oriented” homosexual but not desiring it is the same as saying someone who is fat does not desire to overeat. Clearly they do desire it. The not desiring it part is more about regret and overview — “I do not want to be like this.” Read Romans 7. Sin is a battle for everyone. It is still sin.
Again, if we are going to use the term orientation for sin, then let us be consistent and use it for all sin.
Furthermore, to claim that one is “oriented” in a way completely opposite of their physical self does not make logical sense. Your best ground is when you call it a disorientation. I am not crazy about that either in that it still seems to be an accommodation different that other sins get. That puts it more in the mental illness category rather than the sin category.
The fact that it is also a diagnosable mental illness does not mean that drunkenness is not a sin. But it does make it possible for us to seek healing strategies which have reasonable relationship to the etiology of the disease --- instead of just naming, blaming and shaming.
But also John for a model to reawaken the now lukewarm church that is afraid to confront the world to not be what the world calls judgmental
When asked for the truth.. just like being on the witnesses stand in court. . You must say the truth.. you must speak as a witness to the truth...or you commit perjury.. you don't have to be arrogant about it.. but you must speak the truth
Amen to that.
These past 10 years have been stressful. In 2004, our younger daughter died. Then in May, 2006, my older brother died. Two months later, my husband died of liver cancer and a few weeks later, my bil died. In January, 2007, my mom died. For some reason, this year has been very hard. I live in a townhouse while we decide what to do with my house. It looks like it will cost about the same as a new one to fix cracks in 2 basement walls, redo wiring and plumbing. We have lived in the house since 1977. Decisions, decisions. God is still the answer!!!
Its not we must confront other...
Its now we being confronted and being asked to say what the world wants to hear...else
And if you speak the truth.. you will be an outcast from the world... truly a voice crying in the wilderness
That really is some list of tragedies you have suffered. I am sorry for all of that. I admire your strength and attitude. Good for you.
The fact that the sodomite faction has been given a place at the table does not bode well for the SBC. They will never be dislodged and will only fester.
It is very tough at times. I went over to the house a few months ago. I was swinging in my patio swing. All of a sudden I started bawling. I had to leave. I was remembering all the good and yes, even the sad times and it was just too much. They are only memories now but, oh, how precious. I met my husband in The Grill on the Mississippi State campus way back on 1 July 1962 and we were together until his death. He was one of the most intelligent people I ever met but he had a lot of common sense. He majored in Physics but hardly ever studied yet was on the President’s list every semester. He started a world wide known company here which our daughter and her family run. I have talked to both of my adult grandchildren and each said they wished he were still alive so he could know how much they love AZ and so they could ask him questions . I miss him so much. I just know God has a reason for everything. We all will meet on that other shore some day. God bless.
The SBC lost their way over their full embrace of illegal alien amnesty, and have been spiraling down ever since.
If you truly love someone you warn them they’re headed for a cliff.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.