Evangelical Church Embraces Homosexuality

Long has the Evangelical church recieved criticism.
With documenteries like "Jesus Camp", these guys seem to be the butt of alot of speculative and slanderous criticism. People call them Insane, and say that their children are brainwashed. Believers call that "atheist propaganda".

I hold neutral on the subject. I dont think them to be right, or wrong....here, or there. But thats my general opinion of religion, and a whole different discussion. Lets just say Im a open minded, unassuming, non-critical atheist.

Fundamentalist Christians believe homosexuality to be an abomination.
They base this belief on passages, such as Leviticus 18:22-"You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. "
As well as passages like Leviticus 20:13, or I Corinthians 6:9.


But Pastor Mark Tidd has decided to take a different approach.

DENVER – The auditorium lights turned low, the service begins with the familiar rhythms of church: children singing, hugs and handshakes of greeting, a plea for donations to fix the boiler.
Then the 55-year-old pastor with spiked gray hair and blue jeans launches into his weekly welcome, a poem-like litany that includes the line "queer or straight here, there's no hate here."

What do you think?
Is this the politically correct, accepting thing to do? Or blasphemy?

"Highlands Church represents a breakout position, where you have a gay-affirming stance that moves beyond the traditional kind of liberal-conservative divide," said Mark Achtemeier, an associate professor at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). "I'm finding lots of moderate conservatives just think there's something wrong with a default position of excluding gays from the life of the church."

Source article

If the issue is marked as sinful, in the "instruction book" for your religion, should you embrace it?
The cities of Sodom and Gammorah were said to contain these same types of sinful acts, and it was ordered destroyed by god.
At the same time, Jesus taught tolerance. he also taught to "love the sinners, but hate their sins".

So is there room for a divide between dogma, and being politically correct?

Are christians embracing homosexuality in an attempt to convert them, or "normalize" them? Is it all a conspiracy?
Personally, I think the idea is vile.
One of the groups, Exodus International say they can "cure" your homosexuality. I encourage you to visit the link.
If you fall for the bait, but cannot be cured, are you no longer tolerated?


I would love to hear opinions from believers, and athiests alike.

I'm what you might call "right wing", in the broad definition of the word, and I think this is a great idea. I think it is MUCH more in line with the teachings of Jesus. "Judge not lest ye be judged" and "however you judge, so shall ye be judged", which basically means "God will judge you as harshly as you judge others...so the more forgiving you are, the better."

This however, imho, doesn't change much of the debate concerning the definition of marriage. Homosexuality is stated as a sin, yet should not stop someone from being welcomed with open arms into the church. However, that doesn't mean it should be openly celebrated.

Good on these guys. Next all we need is to fully abolish the relationship between church and state, and then we'll be on to the next media-induced divisive conflict. Let the government decide about taxes. Let the church decide what is blessed by God.

I'm not really sure what is new here.

Can you point to any non-lunatic fringe Church that would not welcome someone who is gay into their congregation?

There are sinners in every pew of every Church in the world. There is a difference between loving the person and hating the sin. You can point to isolated cases where a Church will make a moral pronouncement and then engage in selective prosecution, asking a member to leave, but that is so much in the minority it doesn't merit serious discussion.

In spite of what the prevailing thought is, Churches are generally open, welcoming places.

Eric

The question put upon any church that claims to be Christian comes back to what Christ says. Inclusive in that are the people he'd chosen to spread the gospel when the Holy Spirit came to them. The record, that came to be known as the Bible, is the basis for Christianity (the Bible is also the first documentation where the word "Christian" is used). With this in mind, what does the Bible say about homosexuality?

"'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." - Leviticus 18:22

"Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD...Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." - Genesis 13:13
, Genesis 19:4-5

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 6:9

Based on the above information, I'd like to ask the Bible believers here on ATS then, what do you think? Churches do welcome everyone (as we are all sinners) however it should not embrace what God deems is a sin. And, if we make no effort to change ourselves from sin, are we really sincere in our commitment to be right in God's eyes?

[edit on 21-12-2009 by saint4God]

reply to post by saint4God


I'm more of a "WhatJesusSaidNotPaul" believer, but I think they're doing the right thing. Paul was a complete douche, and it's his apparent contradictions of the teachings of Christ that forced me to question the entire religion.
Do not judge, love one another. NO MAN is fit to judge, and no man is without sin. Homosexuality is a sin, so is, well, I don't need to name them all to make my point, which is if they do not embrace homosexuality in their members, then why embrace anyone at all?
How can they?
That is a glaring contradiction. I can understand not making them priests, or not wanting to marry them, because it doesn't make much sense to have a leader, IDEALLY, who flaunts his sins. Pastors do not say "hey, I'ma thief, come to my church" (well, lol, some do, in so many words), or "hey, I had sex with your wife, listen to my advice", so it only makes sense that it should be the same rules for homosexuality.

Maybe they've learned to accept them for what they are, children of God, and have forgiven homosexual's transgressions the same way they forgive their own.