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Baptist Convention Kicks Out a Church Tolerant of Gays & Lesbians
WBTV.com ^ | November 13, 2007 | wbtv.com

Posted on 11/15/2007, 5:33:24 AM by balch3

Members of a Charlotte church met for the first time Wednesday night since they were booted out of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Myers Park Baptist Church is open and accepting to gay and lesbian parishioners.

On Wednesday, we went to the church to see what members think about getting kicked out of the denomination.

The church has been around since the 1940s and has been part of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina--until Tuesday.

The convention met in Greensboro and voted to kick the church out since it allows gay and lesbian people to be members and hold positions in the church.

Robin Johnston is a long-time member of the church. She says being "kicked out" is actually a relief.

"I think there are those of us here--and I won't speak for everybody in the congregation--but I'm certainly one of them who kind of wears this as a badge of honor," Johnston said.

Member Todd Rubenson says he strongly supports the church, but he says this week has been bittersweet.

"This is a relationship that we had with the Baptist convention for many, many years--I think over 60 years, and we don't take the severing of that relationship lightly at all," he said.

No one from the Baptist convention would return our calls Wednesday night. Their website says all are welcome to attend Baptist churches, but the convention believes homosexuality is a sin and churches, therefore, should not allow homosexuals to join.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: baptist; gays; homosexualagenda; moralabsolutes; nc; sbc
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Homo agenda rolled back.
1 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:33:26 AM by balch3
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To: balch3
I don't see a reason not to let gays join the church, but if the position of the convention is that homosexuality is a sin, they were right to kick out a church that allowed gays to hold positions in the hierarchy.
2 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:38:07 AM by Psycho_Bunny (Islam: Imagine a clown car......with guns.)
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To: balch3

This church sounds about as much Baptist as Westboro.


3 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:42:09 AM by phrogphlyer
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To: balch3

Good for that Baptist Convention. I would assume that they asked them if they would return to God’s teaching (y’know giving them one last chance to get right on this) before separating from them.


4 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:44:46 AM by Secret Agent Man
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Baptist churches take a voice vote regarding accepting new members. If the congregation believes homosexuality is a sin , then why would they bring in a member that does not plan to uphold the doctrine?


5 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:45:38 AM by CindyDawg
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To: CindyDawg

Well, the sodomists won themselves another church, huh? Yep, one church at a time, day by day, closer and closer. With hate crime legislation in their ass pocket, the homosexual collective is steamrolling right along with its agenda to disrupt and kill all religion. Yep, coming soon to a church near you!


6 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:55:36 AM by CanaGuy (Canada the Great)
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To: CindyDawg
First of all, they were already in the convention....which is not a defense of them, but a correction to your point.

Secondly, we are all sinners.  Personally, I don't see homosexually as a "crime" sin....which I would consider more normal a reason to boot a church for.  If a church accepted practicing child molesters, then I'd support them being boot from the convention.

The only way to reach homosexuals, is by reaching out to them:  if you accept gays in your church, you may help the gays who've been culturized to the lifestyle, change.  The ones that are genetically gay, will probably stay gay, but they might become better people through the church.  And they might do good deeds, and might help spread the word of God through their community.

I dislike militant gays but, not all homosexuals are evil.  Many of them are good people who are just as confused about life as the most rest of us.

7 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:58:43 AM by Psycho_Bunny (Islam: Imagine a clown car......with guns.)
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To: balch3

Robin Johnston

Design Director at The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte, North Carolina Area

Robin Johnston

Director at INVICTUS Solutions Group
Vice President for Development at Randolph Community College


8 posted on 11/15/2007, 5:59:37 AM by kcvl
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To: Psycho_Bunny

“First of all, they were already in the convention....which is not a defense of them, but a correction to your point.

Secondly, we are all sinners.”

The logic behind it is that to become a member of a church you have to be a Born Again Christian, and baptized by immersion. In order to be those two things, you have to have repented from your sins (turned away from). If you are a homosexual, you are willingly living a sinful life, therefore, you have not repented. You cannot be a candidate for membership, and certainly cannot hold a position in the church.

There are no rules against homosexuals attending church.


9 posted on 11/15/2007, 6:06:51 AM by Tex Pete
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To: Psycho_Bunny

That sounds very nice, but a church does not accept UNREPENTANT sinners, people who openly indulge in sin with no intention to change, into membership. Nobody says anything about welcoming adulterers or people who want to take God’s name in vain all the time. You point them to God’s Word, and His Word is quite clear on all these things including homosexuality. A homosexual’s argument is not with people. It is with God. And if a homosexual is unwilling to repent, he or she cannot be part of a legitimate church.


10 posted on 11/15/2007, 6:08:17 AM by Pining_4_TX
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To: Psycho_Bunny
You said join the church. The convention isn’t a church. It doesn’t matter if you or I disagree or agree with who the members are. That is up to the church. No one said anything about kicking people out or not ministering but every member should be working to spread the gospel. You can’t get the job done if you can’t agree on scripture.
11 posted on 11/15/2007, 6:11:50 AM by CindyDawg
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Not evil per se Psycho_Bunny, instead of being led to repentance from a Homosexual Lifestyle, they were accepted with no thought that they should change their ways to be inline with Biblical Morality.

Baptist Churches are independent, each has it’s own Charter, if that congregation wished not to follow the lead of the Convention, they can keep on keepin’ on.


12 posted on 11/15/2007, 6:20:10 AM by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3)
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To: balch3

“Baptist Convention Kicks Out a Church Tolerant of Gays & Lesbians”

Probably the real-world headline is more like this:
“Apostate Congregation Works Hard To Be Ejected From Baptist Convention
AND Accomplishes Mission”


13 posted on 11/15/2007, 6:23:29 AM by VOA
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To: Psycho_Bunny
"The ones that are genetically gay..."

How do you know there is such a thing as "genetically gay"?

14 posted on 11/15/2007, 6:37:25 AM by antinomian (Show me a robber baron and I'll show you a pocket full of senators.)
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To: phrogphlyer

Not to memtion Christ like. Sarc/off


15 posted on 11/15/2007, 7:07:30 AM by Coldwater Creek
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To: balch3

It’s not a church anymore, got no business in the convention.


16 posted on 11/15/2007, 7:17:41 AM by Waco
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To: Psycho_Bunny
All this was taken care of in the book of Corinthians. They tolerated sin and were proud of their tolerance. Paul said they should talk to the sinner and then toss him if he didn't repent.

You either love God and His people, or you reject Him and His people.

You join a Church as a sinner, but you are supposed to repent and sanctify your life. Everyone falls off the wagon, but you cannot reject God and deny sin is sin. You cannot claim homosexuality is OK with God when there is all the evidence to the contrary. We have no choice but to judge people by their fruit. We cannot judge their soul, but we can judge sin. If they continue to sin, they must feel its OK to keep sinning. If a whore keeps whoring, she hasn't repented and lied when she joined the church. A church is always open to repentant sinners, but you still need to repent to be forgiven.

If a church teaches error, it's not a Christian Church. They are following some other god.

17 posted on 11/15/2007, 8:04:29 AM by chuckles
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To: antinomian
Exactly. This "what if" is often used by homosexuals to confuse good and sincere people.

Genetic or not, homosexuality is a sin. One who is unrepentant of that sin and is welcomed with no expectations of confrontation on this matter continue to be a stumbling block to the entire congregation. This includes the children. We are warned about harming the little ones.

All fall short of the Glory,and it is only God's province to be Unchanging.We are expected to seek continued refinement in the fires of defeated sin. This can not take place if warm fuzzy feelings are sought after rather than God's Will.

18 posted on 11/15/2007, 8:27:26 AM by mother22wife21
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To: balch3

Every church ‘tolerates’ gays. But most Churches don’t PROMOTE gay lifestyles and don’t CONDONE homosexual acts or the hedonistic and perverse lifestyle which apparently has to be ‘tolerated’ in order to avoid being called names by the MSM and queer activist groups.

I don’t see anything to ‘celebrate’ about being gay or any gay lifestyle. Hell, I stopped ‘celebrating’ heterosexuality after the first couple of times I got laid.


19 posted on 11/15/2007, 10:04:37 AM by bpjam (Harry Reid doesn't even have 32% of my approval)
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To: balch3

Is there a Baptist Church anybody knows of that I can join which tolerates drinking, gambling, adultery and watching porn? I figure if they are going to start down the list of vices, I might as well start shopping for one in case I really head into a ditch in the future.


20 posted on 11/15/2007, 10:06:07 AM by bpjam (Harry Reid doesn't even have 32% of my approval)
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