Posted on 06/11/2014 9:36:22 AM PDT by NYer
BALTIMORE (RNS) Pushing back against a cultural tide of growing acceptance of transgender people, Southern Baptists adopted a statement affirming the creation of “two distinct and complementary sexes.”
Thousands of Southern Baptist Convention delegates voted on a new president and several resolutions at their meeting on June 10, 2014. Photo by Van Payne via Baptist Press
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The resolution was passed overwhelmingly Tuesday (June 10) as some 5,000 people attended the annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and elected as president the Rev. Ronnie Floyd, pastor of a northwest Arkansas megachurch.
The delegates, known as “messengers,” affirmed “God’s good design that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by one’s self-perception.”
They added that they had compassion for people with gender conflicts, called them “image-bearers of Almighty God” and condemned “acts of abuse or bullying committed against them.”
But they went on the record to oppose gender assignment surgery and cross-sex hormone therapies. They expressed their hope that transgender people would “experience renewal” through a faith in Jesus.
Ross Murray, who runs the religion program at the LGBT advocacy organization GLAAD, criticized the statement for being inconsistent.
“They want to both welcome people in and yet do not want to recognize them as a full person and probably even more fully as a child of God,” he said. “The Southern Baptist Convention is so much missing out on the opportunity to connect with another part of God’s creation.”
In another cultural pushback, Baptists affirmed “the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife” and criticized best-selling movies and books that have focused on heaven and suggested descriptions of it.
“Many of these books and movies have sought to describe heaven from a subjective, experiential source, mainly via personal testimonies that cannot be corroborated,” they said.
In the same session where the resolution was passed, a messenger asked that “Heaven Is for Real” be removed “for theological reasons” from LifeWay Christian Stores, which are affiliated with the SBC.
The Baptists, whose denomination was founded by supporters of slave-owning missionaries, passed another statement marking the 50th anniversary of enactment of the Civil Rights Act.
It said they “lament and repudiate this nation’s long history of racial segregation as well as the complicity of Southern Baptists who resisted or opposed the dismantling of the evil of racial hierarchy in our churches or society.”
Yet another resolution affirmed their opposition to government sponsorship of casinos and lotteries and asked Americans of all religious and political convictions to join in a call to end the practice, which they say has amounted to “corrupt deals” and “broken dreams.”
They also rejected predatory payday lending, calling those who are engaged in it to “consider the great damage they are causing in the lives of vulnerable people and to adopt a just lending model.”
The Baptists suggested churches and employers should provide other ways to solve short-term financial problems in their communities, including financial stewardship classes.
So in your mind, rejecting a toddler’s biblically unsound tale of heaven is equivalent to the rejection of Christ Jesus by the Pharisees? Now that’s stunning!
For a Baptist, Scripture is the authority and it’s fully sufficient. Just as we don’t require purple and scarlet clad Roman holy men to tell us what to think and how to behave, we likewise have no need to rely on the claims of a child to prove heaven. And when anyone makes subjective claims that are not in accordance with the Bible, they must be rejected.
Believer’s don’t need external evidences as grounds for faith. We have Him, His Word, His Spirit. Those truly born again walk by faith, not by sight. If that’s not enough, a toddler’s testimony won’t make the difference.
I didn't see where they call it a sin.
you will never, ever see an article with the words...the kkk founded by dimocrats....
I agree! I think most Southern Baptists should keep their original gender!
All I say is be careful....you are on a dangerous slippery slope. I think you are great and want to see you up in Heaven with the rest of us. I will pray for you.
I grant you that. Would like to know whether the author was an outsider, or an SBC publicist assigned to summarize the resolutions and afflicted with White Guilt.
What's the difference between the pastor of a megachurch and a successful used car salesman? Nothing.
Didn’t see if, but I’m perfectly willing to take your word for it.
So was Lord of the Rings, but while Tolkien was a Christian, if one believed the theology set forth in his works, one would be seriously led astray.
For that matter, God has much to say about the use of magic.
I enjoyed it, nonetheless. But does it belong in a Christian bookstore? I’m not necessarily opposed mind you, but I can see where some people might not think it a good idea.
Does that make me, or them Pharisees? So be it.
By the way, when you say “didn’t believe a human being, either”, are you seriously comparing a little boy to the Son of God? Did the little boy say the things that offended some many that Jesus did?
Just asking.
Trusting in Christ and His Word is a dangerous slippery slope? I don’t think so. I say trusting in the teachings, pronouncements, institutions, and traditions of other sinners is the dangerous slippery slope.
Eternity is too long for me to put my destiny in the hands of anyone but Christ Jesus. I know I am a sinner because I feel the weight of my sin every single day. If I can’t trust Christ fully, there is no hope for me. I know there are no words I can say or acts I can perform that will make and keep me perfect before the thrice holy God of heaven. My trust is in Christ and Him alone!
Tolkien was a devout CATHOLIC.
What I hear on Catholic Answers is that it's NOT a sin.
In the SON OF GOD Jesus was played by a 6'3" HANDSOME Portuguese actor...so realistic.
well gender reassignment is kind of nutty...
I don’t think anybody is wrong here. I was just surprised that they would ban a family movie. It doesn’t mean that they are bashing Jesus Christ, but we are not entirely sure that this child didn’t meet Jesus and some others up in Heaven. It could be true. I have not been to Heaven yet, but this child has been. I just think all of us need to be very careful before we bash what could be a sign from Jesus Christ....that is really it.
As they seem to happen to people of all faiths and cultures, I am relatively certain it isn't Christ that they're meeting. Still, I don't have enough information to state that as a fact. I just don't see how it reconciles with Christian theology.
I'm not bashing, but I am also uninterested in the story.
I am reminded of a very old lady that I knew as a child in the 50’s. I asked her if she beleived in ghosts. Her reply was, “No. Those that go the Hell can't come back, and those that go to Heaven don't want to.” Makes sense to me.
As a further thought, if doctor's are able to revive somebody, then IMO, they didn't die. Again, I have no authoritative source on this, but it ismy opinion.
Now, as a story, I have no objection to it. I just don't believe it as fact, for the above mentioned reasons.
Aren’t Catholics Christian? I did mention that Tolkien ws Christian didn’t I?
Luke 16:30-31 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (31) And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
So according to Jesus Himself, the heart that is hardened to Scripture won't be moved even by resurrection stories. Yet for the person who DOES believe Scripture, no further proof is necessary beyond that God has said it.
As for after-life stories, my own mother had a similar experience while undergoing heart surgery. Even so, I held and continue to hold her experience and everyone else's to the standard of Scripture. Some of these folks have had convincing experiences, but come back with stories that conflict with basic beliefs of Christianity. There is a deceiving spirit gone out into the world. It doesn't matter how persuasive it is on psychic details, same picture of Jesus , facts not know to the subject, etc. None of that proves anything about the true nature of Heaven. Only God's own revelation matters at all.
Peace,
SR
Ah, Sola Scriptura then; well slavery is Biblical, can they put that back in the store ?
From Catholic authors. com
J.R.R. Tolkien: Truth and Myth
by JOSEPH PEARCE
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the world's best-seller The Lord of the Rings, qualifies, technically, as a "literary convert" because of his reception into the Church as an eight-year-old following his mother's conversion to the faith. It could be said, therefore, that he joins the ranks of the literary converts by creeping in through the back door or, perhaps more correctly, through the nursery door. With beguiling ambiguity he is neither a cradle Catholic nor a full-blown convert, but a charming mixture of the two - a cradle convert.
OK.
But I don’t see the point that you are trying to make??
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