Posted on 06/17/2015 4:31:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention has a message regarding the looming Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage: We will not obey.
“The Supreme Court of the United States is not the final authority nor is the culture itself,” declared Ronnie Floyd, the elected leader of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. “The Bible is God’s final authority about marriage and on this book we stand.”
Dr. Floyd’s powerful and provocative comments were met with thunderous applause and standing ovations from thousands of Southern Baptist messengers meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
“While some evangelicals may be bowing down to the deception of the inclusiveness of same-sex marriage, we will not bow down nor will we be silent,” Floyd declared in a fiery speech on Tuesday. “We do not need to redefine what God Himself has defined already.”
And from there Dr. Floyd went where few prominent pastors have gone before – a Supreme Court showdown.
“America – we stand believing that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime,” he said in a thundering speech. “We have believed this and do believe this and will continue to believe this as a convention of churches. We stand for biblical and traditional marriage.”
Dr. Floyd reminded the gathering of something German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
“This is a Bonhoeffer moment for every pastor in the United States,” Floyd said, warning ministers that the time has come for every minister to stand strongly and clearly – regardless of the cost.
“That’s what Bonhoeffer did,” he said.
The pending decision over gay marriage weighed heavily on the minds of many Southern Baptists and messengers will consider a resolution calling on all Christians to stand firm on the biblical definition of marriage.
“Resolved, that Southern Baptists recognize that no governing institution has the authority to negate or usurp God’s definition of marriage; and be it further resolved no matter how the Supreme Court rules, the Southern Baptist Convention reaffirms its unwavering commitment to its doctrinal and public beliefs concerning marriage,” the resolution reads in part.
Evangelical Christians across America fear a decision legalizing same-sex marriage would have a devastating impact on religious liberty.
A growing number of Christians have already faced persecution because of their objections to gay marriage. Public workers have lost their jobs, private business owners have been slapped with lawsuits and complaints and private citizens have been bullied and harassed for signing pro-traditional marriage petitions.
It’s not exactly clear how the Southern Baptist Convention’s defiance will manifest itself — but Floyd revealed his personal plan.
“I declare to everyone today as a minister of the Gospel – I will not officiate over any same-sex unions or same-sex marriage ceremonies,” he said. “I completely refuse.”
Dr. Floyd stood resolute – the face of what I am sure will be national attacks from intolerant bullies and the radical speech police. There is no doubt he will be called a homophobic bigot. I’m sure some will label his remarks as hate speech.
I urge you to ignore them and truly listen to this brave man of God’s words – his call to “love and respect those who do not agree with us.”
“And while we affirm our love for all people, including those struggling with same-sex attraction, we cannot and will not affirm any behavior that deviates from God’s design for marriage,” he said.
The issue facing Southern Baptists is one that will face every person of faith in the United States – do you follow God or the government?
“Our first commitment is to God and His Word – nothing else and no one else,” Dr. Floyd said matter-of-factly.
Amen, sir. Amen.
Peace to you as well. Have a blessed day.
You are conflating not allowing them to be members of the church with not allowing them to attend. I am not a member of the SBC (I attend an Assembly of God church), but I think most true Christian churches WANT sinners to come to their churches - how else are they going to be saved if they don't hear the Gospel preached? We love them and want them to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. But that is very different from having them as members of the church while they are still sinners.
In churches like the SBC and AofG, Church members have the right to be involved in major decisions of the local church - whether or not to buy church property, hiring or firing a pastor, members of the board of deacons, etc. You don't want someone who is living an openly sinful lifestyle to be able to influence the operations of the church...
Repentant sodomites are welcome to be members, as are repentant adulterers, repentant tax cheaters, repentant proud people...you name the sin, and if people repent & believe, they are welcome.
Unrepentant sodomites would be treated like unrepentant adulterers, and tossed out of any SBC congregation I’ve ever been in.
And like Canada, he will go to jail for his remarks after the Supreme "god" court makes its spiritual decision. And the homosexuals and the politicians who cannot stand up, will cheer the pastors going to jail for "saying" unauthorized speech.
So attendees are sinners and members are not? Convenient.
From the New Testament, I'm not sure what membership in a Church might mean. I could certainly imagine Christians denying fellowship to people who have sin in their lives based on knowing those people and knowing their commitment to repentence.
If I were a Pastor and someone were honestly expressing interest in knowing Jesus Christ then I would not turn that someone away - even if that someone still had not decided to follow Him.
I would, however, insist on certain behavioral norms being followed while this person was seeking Jesus in my Church.
Making someone a member is different from letting them visit. My current church has "open communion" so anyone professing to be a Christian is allowed to partake. I'd be really unhappy if an openly gay person took part. For all I know, though, that may happen now.
And, from an earlier post the membership has to do with things like speaking into the Church's decision making, correct?
I think this is one of the problems with the institutional model of the Church that somehow took over the relational model of the New Testament. I'm not enough of an historian to know when the change occurred but I am daily confronted with the issues a congregation faces when it owns property, pays staff, funds programs, and all the other activities involved in institutional Christianity.
I don't mean to deny the value of structure to a fellowship, just identify the difficulties when that fellowship becomes an institution.
Have you heard of the Plymouth Brethren? They have a different model that is intentionally no more than what is found in the bible. The word pastor is hardly used but there is a lot about elders so they are more elder focused. Most elders are laymen. They keep away from debt and have almost no one on the payroll.
I have’t. That sounds interesting.
I knew a teacher in the Jewish Roots movement who tried to get a Church started like that in the midwest. He said it was very frustrating. People would keep asking “Who is your Pastor?” He would ask, “What do you want to know and I’ll direct you to the person who can help you.” They would just repeat, “Who is your Pastor?”
I have been watching the Convention every since Richard Land called for amnesty.
Southern Baptists vote about 80% republican, they have obviously stayed awake.
Since they are the most conservative voting people in America, they seem to be OK.
I’m not complaining about Southern Baptists; I have been reading disturbing things about the Convention heads - liberals taking over, Calvinism being introduced, etc. There are many Protestant denominations being taken over by non-Christians through the governing bodies.
It looks like nothing, can make you stop complaining about the Southern Baptists.
Am I in the twilight zone. I just said I was NOT complaining
about Southern Baptist. I am one.
Are you ignorant, or just being deliberately obtuse and argumentative?
Obviously, we were all sinners but some of us have been saved by grace. That does not mean we will never sin, but it does mean we don't live a life of sin - and when we do sin, we acknowledge it, repent of it and ask for God's strength and power to avoid falling into that sin again.
That is very different from those who have not committed their lives to Christ, repented from their sins and dedicated themselves serving Him - which would necessarily entail striving to avoid sin. When Christians refer to "sinners" in the context of this discussion, they are generally referring to unrepentant sinners. So members must be sinners that have been saved by grace, the fruit of their lives testifying to this fact; while attendees may be those who are saved but choose not to become a member, or may be those who have not yet been saved (referred to as "sinners" in this conversation).
In any case, becoming a member of the church requires the person be a Christian, and usually requires the affirmation of several other people in the church that their character and behavior bears witness to their walk with God.
The gay NGO's have pulled that crap with Jerry Falwell, Bob Dornan, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Cheney.
I pointed out that complaining about the Southern Baptists, is ALL that you have been doing, and nothing can shake you from it.
Complaining in every post about the SB, and every attempt to correct you about them, and then saying that you aren’t complaining about them, doesn’t work.
If they do the same thing as they did with Roe versus Wade, forgetting what the 10th and 11th Amendment to the Constitution says, they will be creating an awful mess for this country.
This issue belongs to the States. It has never been yielded to the Federal Government. (10th Amendment)
No State shall sue another State for equity. Just because one State accepts something, it doesn’t mean the other States must accept it. (11th Amendment)
That is where the Roe versus Wade decision went wrong. I wish a few of the founding fathers, like Jefferson, were still alive when those seven clowns did that.
The church (any church) demands repentance and a promise to give up the sin and occasion of sin. Its not a totally open door policy.
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