Where sexual liberalism is welcome, Bible believers are

[stephen]

Aug 28 2013

Conservatives do not have high hopes for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which has been leaning liberal for decades and is now officially leaning further to the left.

Meeting in Orlando July 13-17, delegates at the General Assembly passed a significant resolution that...opens the denomination's doors to people of all sexual orientations or gender identities.

The denomination's leadership has been on that trajectory for a long time, and it has had a damaging impact. Once counting about two million members in the 1960s, the Disciples of Christ now has about 639,000, making it perhaps the fastest declining denomination in the nation.

[It was noted that this is] "...always the irony for the liberal church -- that they embrace sexual liberalism with the idea that that will make them more welcoming and throw open the doors, but, of course, the consequence is always just the opposite."

People either leave the church entirely, or find a church where the Bible is taught and still held sacred.
The resolution passed by the church's governing body lists sexual orientation and gender identity alongside race, age and other categories to which the denomination is "striving to become a people of grace and welcome."

Doug Harvey, executive director of Disciples Heritage Fellowship, a non-denominational ministry mostly comprised of former Disciples of Christ churches or congregations still officially connected with the denomination, agrees that the liberal view of sexuality and transgenderism is difficult for many church members to embrace.

"A lot of the older folks in the Disciples of Christ denomination remember what it once was and simply don't have a category in their brains to put a church that would actually ordain ultimately gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," Harvey states. "So even when it's there on paper, it just kind of goes over the top of their head; they just can't comprehend it. And I say, 'God bless their innocence,' but that's not the world we live in."

Once a renewal group within the Disciples of Christ, Harvey says Disciples Heritage Fellowship lost hope years ago of facilitating change that embraced an evangelical worldview. He suspects this recent affirmation will cause more to lose hope, too.

"Those churches will go through a painful process of studying their history and their own faith and then make a decision," he predicts. "Some will leave, some will choose to stay, but those that choose to stay often lose their best members -- the solid Bible-believing young adults."

http://onenewsnow.com//church/2013/07/22/where-sexual-liberalism-is-welc...
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[jean]

Hi Stephen,
Is this the Church of England or a certain denomination? I know that the church in general (in UK) has become very accommodating. It makes me wonder if we have not only tried to kill off God but we no longer allow the Holy Spirit to work in our churches. I have always believed (and I think I'm in the minority) that it is people who are supposed to change not the church to suit everyone? The power of the Holy Spirit is able to change anyone if they will allow Him to do so.

I am reminded of the scripture in 2 Timothy 3 But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

 

[B-A-C]

I thought this was interesting.

List of Christian denominational positions on homosexuality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not exactly sure how accurate this is, they list American Baptists as mixed, yet I know the SBC officially opposes it. None of the Baptists churches I have ever attended condone it.
I can also say the Assemblies of God, Vineyard, and Foursquare churches vigorously oppose homosexuality. The rest, I can't really speak to. (Oh yes, I did attend a ELCA
Lutheran church a few times, and actually saw an openly gay (unmarried, but in a relationship) minister get accepted into the church as clergy.
The other thing that strikes me here, is the number of church denominations that have sprung up in the last 20 years or so, specifically for the purpose of allowing homosexual clergy.
Others, such as the United Methodists, Presbyterians, ELCA Lutherans, and Episcopalians have simply come to accept it over time.

I would ask these churches that approve it, what they think of the following scriptures?

Lev 18:22; 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
Lev 18:26; 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the foreigners that live among you

The verse above makes it clear, this wasn't just for the Jews, but for Gentiles also.

Deut 22:5; "A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.

Simply cross dressing is a sin.

Lev 20:13; 'If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Rom 1:26; For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
Rom 1:27; and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
Rom 1:28; And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Rom 1:32; Although they know God's judgment that those who do such things deserve to die, not only do these things but even if they approve of others who do them.

1 Cor 6:9; Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
1 Cor 6:10; nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

(KJV) 1 Cor 6:9; Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Simply being effeminate is a sin. God called men to be men. That doesn't mean macho and overbearing, but masculine, responsible, standing up for what is right, protecting and providing for your family.

1 Tim 1:10; and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,

(KJV) 1 Tim 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, formenstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;


Gen 2:24; For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
Gen 1:28; God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Homosexual couples are unable to fulfill the very first commandment God gave man.

Still, it is amazing how many "Christians believe that it is OK".
2 Tim 4:3; For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.

 

[jean]

A very interesting link posted by BAC.

British Parliament with Prime Minister David Cameron in favour, rushed through a bill to redefine marriage in UK this year even though the petition I personally signed had well over 600,000 signatures and the majority of Bishops in the house of Lords were against it (how does that work?) ! It was the biggest on-line petition ever! In just a few months since the bills being past, a homosexual couple are taking the church (Anglican) to the European court of human rights because they want to have a 'proper' marriage service in church, even though the bill stated that the CoE would not have to perform such services! Talk about a can of worms, a flood-gate has been opened and where will it end?

 

[B-A-C]

Genesis 19
4: Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5: and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have sexual relations with them.” 6: But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, 7: and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
12: Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; 13: for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
24: Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, 25: and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26: But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27: Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; 28: and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.

I find it interesting that some sins we would consider to be pretty bad (murder, cheating on your spouse) are usually simply called "sin". But other sins are specifically called out as "detestable" or "an abomination" as if they are especially offesive to God.

Also interesting about the story above, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were not Jews.

 

[stephen]

Hi Stephen,
Is this the Church of England or a certain denomination? I know that the church in general (in UK) has become very accommodating. It makes me wonder if we have not only tried to kill off God but we no longer allow the Holy Spirit to work in our churches. I have always believed (and I think I'm in the minority) that it is people who are supposed to change not the church to suit everyone? The power of the Holy Spirit is able to change anyone if they will allow Him to do so.

I am reminded of the scripture in 2 Timothy 3 But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

This O.P. of mine relates to the link...........I hope it worked for you. My post was a quote of what I read there.

Bl;essings......in Jesus.