We are including three articles that helped guide the Southern Baptist Convention during this difficult time last year and it is our prayer and hope that these articles will help guide the National Baptist Convention to make the right and biblical decision.
Special Note: A pastor from Tallahassee, Florida who does not want to be named, recently personally told Black Christian News Network One (BCNN1.com) that he has heard from black pastors in the National Baptist Convention and in other denominations that there are basically three reasons they do not want to come out against homosexuality and homosexual marriage: (1) They are afraid to lose members; (2) They are afraid to lose money; and (3) They want to be seen as supporters of President Obama. We sure hope that this is not the case.
Dr. Jerry Young and the National Baptist Convention, we want you to know that we are praying for you to make the right decision in this situation. But we assure you that whatever you are trying to preserve by not stopping this satanic fiasco at the American Baptist College immediately, you are going to lose one hundred times more with God, Christians, and the world. Please be reminded of the verses below from the Holy Bible:
Revelation 2:4 – “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”
Revelation 3:14-19 – “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
Dr. Jerry Young and the National Baptist Convention, believe it or not, not only are other Christians praying for you and pulling for you to do the right thing regarding this abomination happening at the American Baptist College which you own and operate, but there are people in the national, state, and local governments who are hoping pastors will stand up for what is right. In addition to that, there are even homosexuals who want the church to stand for what they believe in so when they get sick and tired of their sin and evil that there conscience is accusing and convicting them of, they will have some place to go. But if the church caves, these sinners will have no place to run to because you compromised the Word of God. And if Dr. Jerry Young is not going to rise and shut this down immediately before this abomination takes place at the American Baptist College, BCNN1.com is calling on godly, faithful Christian men and women to rise and do whatever you need to do to stop this abomination from happening and pass this test for the glory of God. For if you don’t, you will regret it for years to come.
Defining Terms for a Defining Moment: Homosexuality in the New Testament
Charles L. Quarles
Most readers of this blog are likely aware that Southern Baptists are facing yet another defining moment. On February 11, 2014, Pastor Danny Cortez announced to the congregation at New Hope Community Church in Los Angeles that he had changed his position on homosexuality. Cortez delivered an hour-long message explaining why he no longer believed that the New Testament condemns homosexual behavior. On May 18, the majority of the members of this Southern Baptist fellowship voted to become a “Third Way church” in which members agree to disagree on the issue of homosexuality and exhibit openness to a variety of positions on this moral question.
In his defense of his new position, Cortez raised a few linguistic arguments that I believe require a response. Cortez argued that those who believe the New Testament condemns homosexual practices are misreading the New Testament. They misread the New Testament because they improperly define the key terms.
First, Cortez argued that Paul coined the term translated “homosexual” in 1 Corinthians 6:9. No one can be sure what the term really means since the term had no previous history of usage. Paul probably did coin the term arsenokoites in this passage. Nevertheless, the term was not used in a linguistic vacuum. It has sufficient background to make Paul’s usage clear. The term was formed by combining the word arsen (“male”) with the word koite (“bed”). The word refers to “one who goes to bed with a male.” Since “bed” was often used as a euphemism for sexual relationships, the term refers to “one who has sex with a male.” Paul’s term was derived from Leviticus 18:22 (“You shall not sleep with a male as with a female, for it is an abomination”) and 20:13 (“Whoever sleeps with a male as with a female, both of them have committed an abomination”). Both components of Paul’s term (“male” and “bed/sex”) appear in the Greek translation (LXX) of these two texts from Leviticus. Paul’s term forms a clear allusion to these two texts and thus refers to a man who has sex with a male who fulfills the role ordinarily assumed by a female. This noun describes the one who plays the masculine or dominant role in a homosexual act. Although the HCSB combines this and the previous moral category in the rendering “anyone practicing homosexuality,” the marginal reading is very precise: “active homosexual partner.”
Second, Cortez claims that he immersed himself in the homoerotic literature from ancient Greece and Rome and discovered that ancient homosexuality was never a genuinely loving relationship between two people of the same gender (like homosexual relationships today), but always a violent and abusive relationship in which a dominant person abused another person. The NT condemned ancient homosexuality only because of its violent, abusive, and
selfish nature. However, Paul’s list of the wicked who will not inherit the kingdom in 1 Corinthians 6:9 includes both the one who played the dominant role and the one who played the passive role in a homosexual relationship. The term malakos (lit. “soft one”) was equivalent to the terms eromenos (Greek) and pathicus or cinaedus (Latin). The term was used by ancient writers like Philo to describe the male who played the passive or feminine role in a homosexual act (Dreams 2.2 §9; Spec. Laws 3.7 §§37-42).Paul is clearly referring here to the typically younger feminine partner in a homosexual relationship. That is why the HCSB (mg.) and the Lexham English Bible translate the term: “passive homosexual partner.” Paul prohibited playing the dominant role and playing the passive role in a homosexual relationship because Leviticus 20:13 insisted “both have committed an abomination.”
If Paul had merely rejected homosexuality because it involved violence and abuse, surely he would not have condemned the passive partner (who in Cortez’s view was always the object of violence and abuse) along with the dominant partner. Paul’s insistence on the wickedness of playing either the dominant or passive role in a homosexual relationship shows that he viewed homosexual behavior as sinful because it was a perversion of the created order and God’s moral standards for sexual relationships, not based on the assumption that it was always characterized by violence or abuse.
The position affirmed by Cortez and New Hope Community Church poses a serious moral crisis for the Southern Baptist Convention. Our response to the church’s position will likely be a “defining moment” in the history of our denomination. In such a defining moment, it is especially important that we define biblical terms accurately and precisely. Words matter greatly because the Word matters greatly. Cortez has wrongly defined important biblical
terms and that he has done so to the peril of his family, his church, and the homosexuals to whom he seeks to minister. I pray that the dictionary we use to define Paul’s terms will be Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 rather than homoerotic literature. Danny Cortez is no Noah Webster, but his new dictionary of biblical terms will likely be a bestseller in a culture seeking to justify a new morality that is little more than the old immorality. I sincerely hope that Southern Baptists won’t buy it.
Source: ERLC.com
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There Is No ‘Third Way’ — Southern Baptists Face a Moment of Decision (and so will you)
R. Albert Mohler
Southern Baptists will be heading for Baltimore in just a few days, and the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is to be held in a city that has not hosted the convention since 1940. This time, Baptists attending the meeting will face an issue that would not have been imaginable just a few years ago, much less in 1940 — a congregation that affirms same-sex relationships.
Just days before the convention, news broke that a congregation in suburban Los Angeles has decided to affirm same-sex sexuality and relationships. In an hour-long video posted on the Internet, Pastor Danny Cortez explains his personal change of mind and position on the issue of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. He also addressed the same issues in a letter posted at Patheos.com.
In the letter, Cortez describes a sunny day at the beach in August of 2013 when “I realized I no longer believed in the traditional teachings regarding homosexuality.”
Shortly thereafter, he told his 15-year-old son that he “no longer believed what he used to believe.” His son responded with an even more direct word to his father: “Dad, I’m gay.” As Cortez writes, “My heart skipped a beat and I turned towards him and we gave one another the biggest and longest hug as we cried. And all I could tell him was that I loved him so much and that I accepted him just as he is.”
According to the pastor, events then came rather quickly. On February 7, 2014, his son, Drew, posted a “coming out video” on YouTube. Two days later, the pastor told his church about his new position on the issue (also posted on the Internet). In his message to the New Heart Community Church congregation, Cortez admitted that his “new position” represented a “radical shift” that put him into conflict with both the position of the church and the convictions of the denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. He acknowledged that his change of heart on the issue of homosexuality put him at odds with the SBC’s confession of faith, the Baptist Faith & Message.
In his letter, the pastor said that his aim was to see the congregation “allow for grace in the midst of disagreement.” To his regret, he said, many in the church were not pleased and the church had to consider whether to terminate the pastor. After voting on March 9 to prolong the time of consideration and prayer, the church voted on May 18 not to dismiss the pastor and “to instead become a Third Way church.”
Cortez cited Vineyard pastor Ken Wilson’s book, released earlier this year, A Letter to My Congregation. Wilson, who serves a Vineyard church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, describes his book as “an evangelical pastor’s path to embracing people who are gay, lesbian, and transgender in the company of Jesus.” Wilson argues that, even as he has come to affirm same-sex behaviors and relationships, the issue need not divide congregations or Christians.
Pastor Cortez cited Wilson’s argument as foundational to the position he and his church are now taking — “agree to disagree and not cast judgment on one another.”
But, there is no third way. A church will either believe and teach that same-sex behaviors and relationships are sinful, or it will affirm them. Eventually, every congregation in America will make a public declaration of its position on this issue. It is just a matter of time (and for most churches, not much time) before every congregation in the nation faces this test.
The impossibility of a “third way” is made clear in Pastor Cortez’s own letter.
In one paragraph, he writes:
“So now, we will accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship. We will choose to remain the body of Christ and not cast judgement. We will work towards graceful dialogue in the midst of theological differences. We see that this is possible in the same way that our church holds different positions on the issue of divorce and remarriage. In this issue we are able to not cast judgement in our disagreement.”
But in the very next paragraph, he writes:
“Unfortunately, many who voted to remain traditional will now separate from us in a couple of weeks. We are in the period of reconciliation and forgiveness. Please pray for us in this. Then on June 8, we will formally peacefully separate, restate our love for one another, and bless each other as we part ways. It has been a very tiring and difficult process.”
In two successive paragraphs the pastor refutes himself. His church isnot going to take a middle ground. He states clearly that “we will accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship.” And his church did not unanimously “agree to disagree,” for a significant portion of the church is leaving on June 8, just 48 hours before the Southern Baptist Convention convenes in Baltimore. Many “who voted to remain traditional” are now forced by conviction to leave the church.
Why? Because there is no “third way.” The New Heart Community Church has voted to “accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship.” Even if it is claimed that some continuing members of the church are in disagreement with the new policy and position, they will be members of a church that operates under that new policy. At the very least, their decision to remain in the congregation is a decision to stay within a church that affirms same-sex behaviors and relationships. That is not a middle position. It is not a “third way.”
For some time now, it has been increasingly clear that every congregation in this nation will be forced to declare itself openly on this issue. That moment of decision and public declaration will come to every Christian believer, individually. There will be no place to hide, and no place safe from eventual interrogation. The question will be asked, an invitation will be extended, a matter of policy must be decided, and there will be no refuge.
There is no third way on this issue. Several years ago, I made that argument and was assailed by many on the left as being “reductionistically binary.” But, the issue is binary. A church will recognize same-sex relationships, or it will not. A congregation will teach a biblical position on the sinfulness of same-sex acts, or it will affirm same-sex behaviors as morally acceptable. Ministers will perform same-sex ceremonies, or they will not.
Interestingly, a recent point of agreement on this essential point has come from an unexpected source. Tony Jones, long known as a leader in the “emerging church” has written that there is no “third way” on same-sex marriage. As Jones notes, denominations may study the issue for some time, but eventually it will take a vote. At that point, it will either allow for same-sex marriage, or not.
In his words:
“And the same goes for an individual congregation. At some point, every congregation in America will decide either, YES, same-sex marriages will take place in our sanctuary, performed by our clergy; or NO, same-sex marriages will not take place in our sanctuary, performed by our clergy. There is no third way on that. A church either allows same-sex marriages, or it doesn’t.”
Tony Jones and I stand on opposite sides of this issue, but on the impossibility of a “third way” we are in absolute agreement. Conservative evangelicals have understood this for some time. It is interesting that those on the left now understand the issue in the same “binary” terms. There is no middle position.
Once again, Tony Jones gets right to the essential point:
“What I’m saying is that a church or an organization can study the issue in theory, and they can even do so for years. But this isn’t really a ‘third way’ or a ‘middle ground.’ Instead, it is a process. And at some point, that process has to end and practices have to be implemented. At that point, there’s no third way. You either affirm marriage equality in your practices, or you do not.”
Actually, as we have seen, Pastor Cortez makes the same point. The practice of his congregation is now to accept openly-gay members and members in openly-gay relationships. That does not allow for any middle ground, and that is why his church faces an exodus of members next Sunday.
Now, the Southern Baptist Convention also faces a moment of unavoidable decision. A church related to the Convention has officially adopted a gay-affirming position. The Baptist Faith & Message, the denomination’s confession of faith, states that homosexuality is immoral and that marriage is “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”
Furthermore, the Convention’s constitution states explicitly that any congregation that endorses homosexual behavior is “not in cooperation with the Convention,” and thus excluded from its membership.
There is nothing but heartbreak in this situation. Here we face a church that has rejected the clear teachings of Scripture, the affirmations of its confession of faith, and two millennia of Christian moral wisdom and teaching. But the Convention also faces a test of its own resolve and convictional courage.
I am confident that the Southern Baptist Convention will act in accordance with its own convictions, confession of faith, and constitution when messengers to the Convention gather next week in Baltimore. But every single evangelical congregation, denomination, mission agency, school, and institution had better be ready to face the same challenge, for it will come quickly, and often from an unexpected source. Once it comes, there is no middle ground, and no “third way.”
Sooner or later — and probably sooner — the answer of every church and Christian will be either yes or no.
Source: AlbertMohler.com
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Southern Baptists Completely Kick Out California ‘Third Way’ Church from Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention has kicked out a California church that voted in May to agree to disagree about whether the Bible teaches that homosexual behavior is always a sin.
Acting on behalf of the convention between annual meetings, the SBC Executive Committee voted unanimously Sept. 23 that New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, Calif., does not presently meet the definition of a “cooperating church” under an article of the SBC constitution banning congregations which “act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”
The ouster vote by the full Executive Committee was unanimous and without discussion. New Heart Pastor Danny Cortez met with the subcommittee that brought the recommendation to the floor, but those sessions are open to the media only under background reporting rules, which prohibit direct quotation or attribution.
After the vote, Cortez said he wasn’t giving media interviews, but the congregation might issue a statement in the days ahead.
Cortez, a self-described conservative, preached a sermon in May posted on YouTube titled “Why I Changed My Mind on Homosexuality.” The message divided the fellowship and prompted a vote scheduled for March 9 about whether to terminate him as pastor.
Instead of firing Cortez, the congregation voted for a period of prayer, study and discernment until May 18. In the end a majority voted to become a “Third Way” congregation, neither endorsing nor condemning homosexuality but viewing it as a matter about which sincere Christians can honestly disagree in the same way Christians differ in their understanding of the Bible’s teaching about divorce and remarriage in a 21st-century context.
The decision reached a wider audience May 29, when Cortez told the story in a guest post on a Patheos blog, describing the vote to not make homosexuality a test of fellowship as “a huge step for a Southern Baptist church.”
The Executive Committee’s administrative subcommittee, which includes a bylaws work group, said information provided by New Heart Community Church amounted to “clear evidence of the church’s affirmation and approval of homosexual behavior.”
The Executive Committee said the convention should not receive “messengers” from New Heart qualified to vote at SBC annual meetings “until such time as the convention determines that the church has unambiguously demonstrated its friendly cooperation with the convention” as defined by the SBC constitution.
The nation’s largest faith group after Roman Catholics amended its constitution in the early 1990s to exclude gay-friendly congregations, after two affiliated churches in North Carolina made headlines for blessing a same-sex union and licensing an openly gay person to the ministry.
The anti-gay amendment was last invoked in 2009, when the convention in session approved an Executive Committee recommendation to sever ties with Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, for membership policies allowing unrepentant gays to serve in leadership roles on church committees.
The vote by the national denomination comes on the heels of similar action Sept. 11 by the executive board of the California Southern Baptist Convention, a statewide-SBC affiliate that, like local churches, is governed autonomously.
The 175-church Los Angeles Southern Baptist Association is scheduled to vote Oct. 11 on a motion not to seat messengers from New Heart or any church that disagrees with the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The statement of consensus Southern Baptist beliefs first adopted in 1925 and revised in 1963 was updated in 2000 to include opposition to “all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality and pornography.”
SOURCE: Associated Baptist Press
Bob Allen
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Expulsion of ‘Third Way’ Church Shows Southern Baptists Aren’t Budging When It Comes to Homosexuality
The California Southern Baptist Convention’s (CSBC) Executive Board voted on September 11th to withdraw fellowship from New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, California, because of the pastor’s announcement that he was gay-affirming and the church’s decision to take a “third way” on homosexuality.
Three months prior, New Heart’s pastor Danny Cortez created a media firestorm when he announced that he no longer believes that all homosexual behavior is sinful. (Cortez is also scheduled to speak at a pro-gay Christian conference in Washington D.C. this coming November.)
The 35 members present at the meeting of the California board voted unanimously in favor of the decision to expel the New Heart. They cited as rationale The Baptist Faith and Message, which states, “Christians should oppose … all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography.”
The Executive Board met with New Heart’s leadership before deliberating. New Heart released the following statement in response to receiving news of the decision on September 12:
We understand that some of our leaders’ actions have been perceived as moving away from the Baptist Faith and Message, and we affirm that the California Southern Baptist Convention leadership has had to make a difficult decision. At the foundation of our discernment has been to take seriously Jesus’ high priestly prayer regarding the unity of the church. Our congregation, then, desires to hold our disagreements in tension as we seek fellowship with one another, and as we have sought fellowship with our denomination.
We want to make it clear that while our hope has been to stay within the SBC denomination, we nonetheless hold them dearly as our brothers and sisters in Christ. We ask that God bless them, and bless us, as we all attempt to navigate this very difficult period of church history.
May God help us all.
The national arm of the Southern Baptist Convention is expected to take similar action when their Executive Committee meets next week. Requests for comment made via phone, email, and text message to the SBC’s Executive Committee and CEO Frank Page were not immediately returned.
SOURCE: Religion News Service
Jonathan Merritt
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A ‘Sad But Necessary Move': Russell D. Moore Supports Ouster of ‘Third Way’ Church
The Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman for moral concerns voiced support for the Sept. 23 ouster of a California congregation found guilty of affirming homosexuality, and disputed the argument that conservative Christians already embrace a “third way” when it comes to divorce.
Russell Moore, president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in a commentary Sept. 24 there is some validity to the charge that evangelicals who oppose same-sex marriage are being hypocritical, because “so many ministers in our tradition marry people who have been previously divorced.”
“I’ve argued for years and repeatedly that Southern Baptists and other evangelicals are slow-motion sexual revolutionaries, embracing elements of the sexual revolution 20 or 30 years behind the rest of the culture,” Moore said. “This is to our shame, and the divorce culture is the number-one indicator of this capitulation.”
Moore said preaching on divorce has been muted for several reasons, including the facts that pastors don’t want to anger church members who are divorced or have family members who are and that divorce has become so common in culture that “it doesn’t shock us anymore.” While many churches need to recover “a Christian ethic of marriage,” Moore said, it has no bearing on the debate about same-sex marriage.
Moore, a former seminary professor with a master of divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said if a couple wanting to repent of an unbiblical divorce and remarriage asked to be received by a local church, most churches would not demand they repeat the same “sinful action” by abandoning and divorcing one another.
“In most cases, the church recognizes that they should acknowledge their past sin and resolve to be faithful from now on to one another,” he said. “Why is this the case? It’s because their marriages may have been sinfully entered into, but they are, in fact, marriages.”
Moore said even unbiblical marriages “signify the Christ/church bond of the one-flesh union (Eph. 5:22-31), embedded in God’s creation design of male and female together (Mk. 10:6-9).”
“Same-sex relationships do not reflect that cosmic mystery, and thus by their very nature signify something other than the gospel,” Moore said. “The question of what repentance looks like in this case is to flee immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), which means to cease such sexual activity in obedience to Christ (1 Cor. 6:11).”
Moore described Tuesday’s vote by the SBC Executive Committee to withdraw fellowship from New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, Calif., a “sad but necessary move.”
Earlier this year the congregation attempted to resolve a dispute over homosexuality by adopting a “Third Way” approach described in a recent book titled A Letter to My Congregation written by Vineyard Church pastor Ken Wilson.
The book, released through ReadTheSpirit Publishing, includes an introduction from Phyllis Tickle and foreword by Mercer University ethicist David Gushee, who serves moderate Baptists in various roles including senior columnist for ABPnews/Herald and theologian-in-residence for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Wilson, the founding pastor of Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, Mich., wrote in the book that there was a time when he answered questions on the “gay issue” with the traditional view that same-sex orientation is not sinful but any sex outside of marriage between a man and woman is.
Wilson said he didn’t realize that what that meant to a gay, lesbian or transgender person is: “You can’t be baptized or receive communion or become a member or serve in this or that capacity here.”
Over time, Wilson said he came to reject the “binary choice” summarized in code phrases between “open and affirming” and “love the sinner, hate the sin.”
“For too long, our controversies seem to boil down to conservatives and liberals (or, if you prefer, traditionalists and progressives) talking past each other for the benefit of stirring up their loyalists, as partisans do in the primary campaigns of electoral politics. The rest of us are expected to line up for our team just as soon as they show their colors.”
Wilson proposed a “Third Way” solution to the impasse to “err on the side of acceptance” and “let God sort it out in his time.”
“All exclusionary practices aimed at same-sex covenanted couples — including categorical disqualification from leadership roles — should be suspended,” Wilson wrote in a Huffington Post blog June 6. “Pastors should be allowed to make their best pastoral discernment about participating in blessing same-sex couples who seek to be faithful to each other through a lifetime of thick and thin — much as we currently handle the disputable matter of remarriage after divorce.”
“Those who believe all gay relationships are sinful are likewise accepted,” he continued. “Men and women with same-sex attraction who decide to live celibate or marry those of the opposite sex are supported, their choices honored as decisions made ‘unto the Lord.’ In other words, we retain our own convictions and respect the convictions of others, while leaving judgment (and exclusion of any kind is a form of judgment) to God. Those who hold the traditional view yield their right to insist on any exclusionary practice in local church communities, as they do for many other matters regarded as sinful.”
Moments before the SBC Executive Committee voted to expel New Heart Community Church, Moore said in a report to the body that a lot of the focus during his first year on the job at the ERLC has been preparing for a major conference scheduled Oct. 27-29 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., “The Gospel, Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage.”
“We want to equip Southern Baptist churches to be able to speak to these issues of sexuality, these issues of marriage, so that Southern Baptists are not caught flat-footed the way that we were with Roe versus Wade,” Moore said, “so that we will be able to speak a message of the whole counsel of God of truth and of grace into a culture that is very, very quickly moving away from us on these things.”
SOURCE: Associated Baptist Press
Bob Allen
