A Fort Worth church has quite the internal struggle. Broadway Baptist Church remains split on whether or not to include gay people in their 125th anniversary celebratory directory. Though the moderate congregation readily accepts gay people, senior minister Brett Younger continues to chastise homosexuality as a sin.
BBC’s members were meant to vote yesterday, but decided to wait for the deacons to release a recommendation on February 24th. That recommendation will most likely weigh the congregation’s incompatible suggestions:
…Some members feel that allowing gay couples’ photos in the directory would be too strong an endorsement of homosexuality. Others hold that letting gay members be shown in the directory, but only on an individual basis, would constitute an unfair “judgment” against gay couples, he wrote.
A third option, recommended by Dr. Younger, would forgo individual and family pictures in favor of more attention to the church’s worship, Sunday school and ministries.
Can you imagine what would happen if someone suggested picturing only the homos? It would be uglier than the Armageddon in the morning!
Shaun Tom
Would they ever consider leaving people out of the directory who drink too much, gamble, or (God forbid) keep their businesses open on Sunday?
Joe
It is sad that this man was murdered by a chat-mate
Matt
They should also leave out divorced individuals and couples where one or both are remarrying. Not to mention adulterers and spouse-abusers. This is just such utter nonsense.
Chuck
This isn’t about singling out a particular sin. A church that understands scripture understands that people have a sin nature and therefore struggle with sin. Church discipline comes into play when a Gospel believing member is struggling with a particular sin and refuses to acknowledge the sin, therefore rejecting correction as set forth in Scripture.
Being pictured together in a church directory as a homosexual couple is placing a rubber stamp approval on that relationship by the church. Broadway is a church that is moving away from the bible into a progressive view that permits any sort of illicit behavior. But until there are those remaining who view the Bible as the source of truth, there will be a struggle.
refreshmedchris
Baptists don’t believe in premarital sex either…..looks way too much like dancing!! I went to Baylor University, the largest Baptist university in the nation which has more homos than most campuses. Inclusion is the way to go….Jesus told me so.
Tim
Chuck, with all do respect, hogwash. This is entirely about centering people out and if this or any other church really were sincere about addressing “sin” they would give equal play to something like adultery, which, they are strangely silent about. Placing a gay couple in the directory does not mean you endorse anything, it means you accept that human being as your neighbour despite of what your church teaches about that person’s innate characteristics.
Chuck
How is it that this church is silent on adultery? I don’t see couples caught in adultery presenting themselves before the church for membership or representation in a directory. The directory represents the membership of the church. The question is, does this church recognize or fellowship with believers who are caught up in unrepentant sin.
The Broadway situation is a mess because of hypocracy, and homosexual couples have been caught in the middle of it, and that is wrong. It appears that the pastoral leadership refuses to follow the authority of the Bible and a group within the church is taking issue with this.
If you don’t hold the view that the Holy Bible is inspired by God, then so be it. Go and live in peace. But understand those who do hold firmly to scripture would not be loving their neighbors by not gently revealing that God is going to judge those who don’t acknowledge that they need to repent and seek forgiveness from the only one who can forgive their sins, Jesus Christ.
The fact that it takes a church directory to deal with this issue is very unfortunate. It is possible that your position will prevail, but I pray that it does not.
Ken R
Chuck, divorce and remarriage is the sin of adultery. A continuous sin I might add. I wonder how many of them have been divorced and remarried (other than being unfaithful to their spouses) that wish to be placed within the church directory? How many are wealthy? The problem is people like you that demand repentance for a sin of non-choice that divorce/remarriage clearly is, but see no problem with having those in the continuous sin of adultery being regarded as good people of church and society. It is those that are within religious institutions that seek to oppress those that they do not understand and then claim to love them while they repeatedly beat them in the head with a Bible. Repentance is not needed for those that are gay. We simply are the way we are. And I challenge anyone to find anywhere in the Bible that states that Love of two people is a sin. Guess what? You can’t! God is Love and Jesus himself said that Love sums up the Law which, btw, we as Christians are no longer bound by. Christ freed us from the Law when he said these words, “It is finished”. Also, the Law was never given to us Gentiles anyway. It was for the Jews. So, again, we are not bound by the Law.
Yes, Chuck, God will judge us. All of us. But thankfully his judgement is pure and not stained by the bigotry that you and others that seem to profess everytime you raise your Bible in condemnation against gay people and others you find not of your mentality. I’ll pray for you.
chuck
Ken,
I understand that churches don’t deal appropriately with sin within the body. If the church dealt with discipline appropriately, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion today. This is a two wrongs don’t make a right. You are saying, church deal with adultery. I agree, we are destroying families right and left because of this horrific sin. I am saying, church deal with homosexuality, it is a sin that is greatly affecting the body of Christ. The failure of the church to appropriately deal with adultery and fornication has greatly hindered its ability to deal with the sin of homosexuality.
Love between men is a beautiful thing. The relationship of David and Jonathan is one of the most appealing relationships between men in the entire bible.
Be careful when you compare the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ to other kinds of love.
Greg
There are those who like to say that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality. Various verses are cited (out of context) and the verses that people use to show that homosexuality is wrong are explained away. The world wants to change God’s words and meanings into something more suitable to its sinful desires. Nevertheless, the truth stands: The Bible condemns homosexuality as a sin. Let’s look at what it says.
Lev. 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”
Lev. 20:13, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them”
1 Cor. 6:9-10, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
Rom. 1:26-28, “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”
Homosexuality is clearly condemned by the Bible. It goes against the created order of God. He created Adam and then made a woman. This is what God has ordained and it is what is right. Unlike other sins, homosexuality has a severe judgment administered by God Himself. This judgment is simple: They are given over to their passions. That means that their hearts are allowed to be hardened by their sins (Romans 1:18ff). As a result, they can no longer see the error of what they are doing. Without an awareness of their sinfulness, there will be no repentance and trusting in Jesus. Without Jesus, they will have no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no salvation.
What should be the Christian’s Response to the Homosexual?
Just because someone is a homosexual does not mean that we cannot love him (or her) or pray for him (her). Homosexuality is a sin and like any other sin, it needs to be dealt with in the only way possible. It needs to be laid at the cross, repented of, and never done again.
As a Christian, you should pray for the salvation of the homosexual the same you would any other person in sin. The homosexual is still made in the image of God — even though he is in grave sin. Therefore, you should show him same dignity as anyone else you come in contact with. However, this does not mean that you are to approve of their sin. Don’t compromise your witness for a socially acceptable opinion that is void of godliness.
Cindy
Hi, I came across this discussion and hope you don’t mind my interjection.
http://www.cadz.net/mdr.html
Greg, you are absolutely right in your post. If we are to be faithful followers of Jesus it is essential that we walk in the Love of Christ and also avoid compromise when it comes to sin.
I was glad to see Ken address the issue of remarriage being a CONTINUOUS state of adultery. When we quote I Cor. 6 and Gal. 5 in regards to those who will not inherit the kingdom of God, adulterers are listed there too. In the Word of God, He said He hates unequal weights and measures. Much of the church is very good at pointing out sins of others (the minority), when they are guilty of accepting OTHER sinful relationships in their midst. In other words, the church is not weighing sin equally.
Adultery(remarriage)is just as much, if not more, of a problem concerning the destruction of the family. We are literally practicing husband/wife swapping and calling this evil, “good”……..and sanctioned by God. That truly is disturbing. Today, the church is merely reaping the end result of opening the door and condoning adultery(remarriage) in the church. RA Torrey (Moody Bible Institute) called it legalized adultery. Paul said that a little leaven leavens the whole batch. Very True. Years ago I could not understand the animosity the gay community had towards “nice” Christians even. Now I do understand that some animosity stems from the hypocrisy they see concerning the heterosexuals not dealing with sin in our own “camp”. Blessings………..
A Broadway Baptist Member
Your facts are wrong. Brett Younger does NOT think of same gender relationships as a sin. He would welcome gay couples to be pictured together in the directory. The problem is, there are some people in our church who do think it is a sin and reject picturing gay couples together. But let it be clear that Brett Younger is NOT one of them.
Jaroslaw
Why does any mention of religion get an influx of fundy contributors to a GAY website? Not enough work to do at your local church or neighborhood?
I seriously doubt people that most of the people who constantly chime in on these websites have education in ancient languages etc. Most probably don’t even speak a second language.
The Bible, full of truth that it is, was written thousands of years ago and is subject to interpretation – this means the prejudices and mind set of the people doing to the work. The Hebrew alphabet has no vowels – so is FND Find, Fend, Fund or something else?
If you fundy folks really want the truth, read What the Bible Really says about Homosexuality by Fr. Daniel Helminiak.
Or explain the pheromone studies done in Sweden you can read about at Newscientist.com
Another good book is “The Construction of the Homosexual” by Greenburg/Greenberg. He is a prof at one of the city colleges in New York. Or was as recently as a couple years ago.
I have debated this with fundys for years and they all say 2 things – no matter what you say, I’ll never change my mind about homosexuality being a sin (so much for learning and using logic and evidence) or they NEVER get back to me about Books or Newscientist.com.
You people make me so tired. Clean your own house and leave us Gays alone. I believe in God my way (yes Christian) and you do it your way. That is what a free country is all about.