Posted on 07/16/2014 9:21:36 PM PDT by Graybeard58
The Southern Baptist Conventions former top spokesman for moral concerns says the New Testament is quite clear that homosexuality and transgenderism are forms of moral rebellion.
By Bob Allen
Transgenderism is the ultimate rebellion against Gods created order, a former Southern Baptist leader said recently in a television interview.
Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary near Charlotte, N.C., made the comment June 26 on Newsmax TV during a discussion of Vice President Joe Bidens declaration that protecting gay rights is a defining mark of a civilized nation and must trump national cultures and social traditions.
Land, who served 25 years as president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, dismissed Bidens comments to a gathering of U.S. and international gay rights advocates as simplistic, for starters, and wrong-headed, secondly, and a total conflation of what hes calling cultural and social values with what are very often deeply held religious convictions.
Speaking as a Christian, I am called upon by the savior to treat everyone humanely, but Im also called upon to uphold biblical standards of morality, Land said. The Bible, especially in the New Testament, is quite clear that homosexual behavior and lesbian behavior is a rebellion against Gods order.
Land continued: And perhaps the ultimate rebellion against Gods creation is transgenderism. You know, I was born this way but I dont want to be this way so Im going to change my gender.
I dont know how you could have a more ultimate rebellion against Gods creation and Gods order than that, Land said. For Joe Biden to put the U.S. government on the side of lowering religious convictions to the level of cultural and social values is ignorant at best and malicious at worst.
A recent Time magazine cover story described transgender identity as Americas next civil rights frontier.
The Southern Baptist Convention responded with a resolution at the SBC annual meeting June 10-11 in Baltimore declaring the transgender experience is not supported by Scripture.
The resolution described the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes as part of Gods design and stated that distinctions in masculine and feminine roles as ordained by God are part of the created order and should find expression in every human heart.
For that reason, the resolution says, cultural currents including medical treatments of "gender dysphoria, attempts by LGBT activists to normalize the transgender experience and public schools allowing access to restrooms and locker rooms according to childrens self-perception of gender and not according to their biological sex all run contrary to biblical teaching as summarized in the Baptist Faith and Message, the SBCs official consensus doctrinal statement.
The resolution said Southern Baptists oppose efforts to alter one's bodily identity through treatments like cross-sex hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery, cultural efforts to validate claims to transgender identity and efforts by the government to validate the lifestyle as morally praiseworthy.
It condemned acts of abuse or bullying against people who identify as a gender different than the one assigned at birth. It invited all transgender persons to trust in Christ and to experience renewal in the gospel and welcomed them, as they repent and believe in Christ, into church membership.
Leaders of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists said they fear the resolution will encourage churches to target transgender youth with methods similar to ex-gay ministries, which are criticized as ineffective and for doing more harm than good.
Launched this summer, Newsmax TV is the latest spinoff of Newsmax Media, on top of a monthly magazine and Newsmax.com, recognized as the Internets most-trafficked conservative site. The aim is to create a 24-hour cable news channel as a kinder, gentler alternative to Fox News in a bid to attract younger viewers.
During his appearance June 26 on the program Americas Forum, hosted by former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth, Land said he attributes polls showing growing support for same-sex marriage to both propaganda in media like MTV targeted to young people and the less-discussed power of law.
When something is legal a lot of people begin to accept it, and when its not legal they dont accept it, Land said.
Legalizing something gives an imprimatur to behavior or to activities, Land said. Many people who, for instance, would like to smoke pot dont smoke pot because it is illegal. But if it is legal they smoke it and it becomes more acceptable. There is a tutoring that comes in a democracy from what is legal and what is not legal.
Some will make that big change and after all the money spent, all the surgeries and psychotherapy, realize that they are still dissatisfied with their life, and feel even more the misfit now. I’ve heard of both outcomes.
Lucifer rebelled against God, too. These people will join him.
As a result transgenders tend to have the highest suicide rates.
Obamacare can make a boys girls and all girls boys. A giant make-work program to cure the Great Obama Depression’s Humungiusness unemployment problem. And when all those government checks are cashed, just think what it will do to the sagging GNP statistic.
It may take a long time, but the natural will inevitably win.
As is adultery and all other sorts of sexual sin
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