Homosexuality and the American Baptist Church

crotchet in the Baptist church service Homo informality is one of the more or less debated issues among delivery boyians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations be more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though rough denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to a good heap discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic seldom discussed and considered very ad hominem and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.Although there has been a ripening acceptance among certain rescuerian denominations regarding homosexuals, the Ameri cannister Baptist church building has remained firm in its position towards homosexuality. The American Baptist Churches descended from the Northern Baptist Convention that was founded in 1907. The church has virtually 1. 5 million members and 5800 con gregations that argon scattered through 34 offices of the fall in States. The American Baptist Church members atomic number 18 following the century long traditions of consciousness freedom, which allows the independence of individual members of the church to form their own beliefs.They excessively hold congregational freedom, which allows each church the autonomy to develop its own policies. In order to understand the position that the American Baptist Church takes on homosexuality, it is burning(prenominal) to examine their general religious beliefs. According to a website of the maiden Baptist Church in Scituate, MA , they believe that salvation and eternal life atomic number 18 granted to all those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. They believe that both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are the divinely inspired word of God. The Bible is to be interpreted responsibly under the instruction of the Holy Spirit.Baptists hold the Scriptures and the Old an d New Testaments as their concluding authority. This has last the basis for the standstill that the American Baptist Church has create on the issue of homosexuality. The American Baptists also have round love about disapprobations about the type of person they are supposed to be. Again, according to the First Baptist Church website, these include a redeemed person that contribute hold ofs a personal relationship with God, a biblical person that seeks guidance in catch the Scripture, and a worshipping person that shares an open and public confession of faith.American Baptists are also supposed to be a mission person that invites others to follow Christ and an inclusive person, who embraces different races, ethnicity, and genders, and also accepts that there are individual differences of conviction and theology. This inclusion also covers those who are from a anatomy of backgrounds and they are to insure union in diversity and diversity in unity. These convictions have bec ome a source of division among some of the member churches within this denomination, as they are supposed to embrace and accept those with individual differences, yet they are not accepting of homosexuals.According to the religious tolerance website, The American Baptist Church has been actively responding to issues pertaining to homosexuality as far back as 1987. In June of 1987, a statement of concern regarding homosexuality was defeated by church delegates at their half-yearly Meeting. They refractory that Scriptures repeatedly depict homosexuality as a social and moral evil and the unrepentant homosexual has no claim to in force(p) acceptance in the Christian community. So at that time, they decided that they just did not want to deal with the issue.Four years later, in June of 1991, the delegates of the Biennial Meeting were hale to deal with the topic of homosexuality again. They adopted a statement that rejected the homosexual lifestyle, homosexual marriage, ordination of homosexual clergy, and the innovation of gay churches and gay caucuses On the other hand, their statement also include that the church should love and minister to the homosexual, but condemn the sin of the humankindage of homosexuality. They were taking the stance of hate the sin, love the sinner.They also established a Commission on Human Sexuality Resources to provide clarification and guidance for a Christian understanding of Gods gift of sexuality. By June of 1992 the global Board of the American Baptist Church was being pressured by some of their member churches to accept the practice of homosexuality within their denomination. A courage called Homosexuality and the Church, which identified Gods plan for the fulfillment of sexual coupling to be one man and one charr in heterosexual, monogamous, and lifelong marriage, was narrowly defeated.The resolution further tell that the redeeming love of Christ is available to practicing homosexuals as it is to all who turn to h im in faith and repentance. so a few months later, in October 1992, the General Board was again approached and was forced to vote regarding the issues of homosexuality in their church. They finally agreed to issue a one sen tence standing that was called American Baptist Resolution on Homosexuality. The sentence briefly stated We affirm that the practice of homosexuality is repugnant with Christian teaching. This started the ball rolling and in June of 1993 the General Board bordering came up with another resolution that was called American Baptist Resolution Calling for dialog on Human Sexuality. That resolution states that there exists a variety of understandings throughout our denomination on issues of human sexuality such as homosexuality and encourages discussions regarding those particular issues. American Baptists were also encouraged to seek unity and avoid divisiveness.This resolution might as well have stated there exists a variety of misunderstandings and even though it encouraged discussions, their viewpoint was already established. 1995 was an important year for the American Baptist Churches and their stand on homosexuals. In June 1995, the Granville Baptist Church in Granville, Ohio was expelled from the The Columbus Baptist Association because the church clog uped full participation of homosexuals. Then in September, the Pacific Southwest Region of the American Baptist Churches, which represented more the 300 churches, began defecting over the issue of homosexuality.The leaders of the region cited underlying issues regarding interpretation of the Scriptures and church discip eminence. As a result of the defection, The General Board of the American Baptist Churches created a commission to find ways to deal constructively with issues around which there has been considerable disagreement. In other words, they agnize that the homosexuality issue was starting to destroy their denomination and they needed to get serious about resolving the prob lems.After various resolutions, committees, and amendments over the next ten years, The General Board of the American Baptist Churches finally made some decisions in 2005. At that time they voted to amend their own document We Are American Baptists by adding a statement to the section A Biblical mess Who submit to the teaching of Scripture that Gods design for sexual intimacy places it within the context of marriage between one man and one woman, and acknowledge that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Biblical teaching. This represents their final stand on homosexuality, which is that they believe it is wrong and is not in line with the teachings of their church. Although every denomination believes in the Bible as their guiding white, they all interpret it in a different way and can put their own spin on different passages. The American Baptist Church relies on their interpretation of the Bible to support the position that they have taken on homosexuality. There a re passages in the Bible that are know as the clobber passages, because they are used to beat up homosexuals.Leviticus 1822, 2013 is a typical passage that is thought to support the anti-gay stance. It states You shall not lie with a male as with a woman it is an abomination (Leviticus 1822). There is also an important passage in the New Testament that condemns homosexual behavior. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.Their women exchanged natural communication for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and trustworthy in their own persons the due penalty for their own error. (Romans 124-27). However, later on there is a passage about judging others, so ther efore you should prepare to be judged so it is really a contradiction in terms to think that the passage is condemning homosexuals. The arguments that support homosexuality within Christianity are widespread.They include the fact that we are all Gods children and he created us the way he wanted. So if he made some people homosexual, then that was his choice and it should be accepted. The Bible does not really give any straightforward help in guiding Christians regarding the unblemished problem of homosexuality. It is up to each person to develop their own assessment based upon their knowledge, experiences, and influences of their chosen religion. The ongoing problem between homosexuality and Christianity pass on probably be around for a long time. 1 . American Baptist Churches in the USA.Accessed October 14. http. //religioustolerance. org_abc1. htm 2 . American Baptist Beliefs. Accessed October 14. http//firstbaptistcituate. com/americanbaptistbeliefs. aspx 3 . American Bap tist Church. Accessed October 14. http//abcusa. org/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=iRGq66AgLAU%3d&tabid=199 4 . American Baptist Church. Accessed October 14. http//abcusa. org/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=iRGq66AgLAU%3d&tabid=199 5 . American Baptist Church. Accessed October 14. http//abcusa. org/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=iRGq66AgLAU%3d&tabid=199 6 . American Baptist Church. Accessed October 14. ttp//abcusa. org/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=iRGq66AgLAU%3d&tabid=199 7 . American Baptist Church. Accessed October 14. http//abcusa. org/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=iRGq66AgLAU%3d&tabid=199 8 . Moll,, Rob. 2005. American Baptist hegira. Christianity Today. November 23, 2005 9 . American Baptist Church. Accessed October 14. http//abcusa. org/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=iRGq66AgLAU%3d&tabid=199 10 . Hays, Richard. 1991. Awaiting the Redemption of Our Bodies. Sojourners. November 11. P 17-21 11 . Hays, Richard. 1991. Awaiting the Redemption of Our Bodies. Sojourners. November 11. P 17-2 1