In light of the Supreme Court’s recent actions on Sodomite laws and disputes over homosexual bishops active in the Episcopal and Anglican denomination, it is important to reintroduce the position of the Baptist Church of Bethlehem, which the elders established in the fall of 1992. He highlighted this statement with the help of Joe Hallet, who left homosexual life for the power of Christ and lived faithfully with AIDS, and finally with his wife, until his death in 1997.
Beliefs about homosexual behavior and ministry to gay people
- Our assertion that the Bible is God’s infallible Word with “supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
- ” and our assertion that “a Christian must live for the glory of God.
- ” includes the following six beliefs about heterosexuality and homosexuality:.
1. We believe that heterosexuality is God’s revealed will for humanity and that, as God is love, a chaste and faithful expression of this orientation (single or married) is the ideal to which God calls all his people.
2. We believe that homosexual orientation is the result of the fall of humanity into a state of sin, which permeates all people, whatever biological or family roots are discovered, we do not believe that they sanction or excuse homosexual behavior, although they can deepen our compassion and patience with those who struggle to get rid of sexual temptations.
3. We believe that there is hope for the person of homosexual orientation, and that Jesus Christ offers an alternative remedy in which the power of sin is broken and the person is free to know and experience his own. true identity in Christ and in the communion of his Church.
4. We believe that this freedom is acquired through a process that includes the recognition of homosexual behavior as a sin, the renunciation of the practice of homosexual behavior, the rediscovery of healthy and non-erotic friendships with people of the same sex, adoption. of a moral sexual lifestyle, and in the age to come, to rise from the dead with a new body free from all sinful impulses. This process parallels the similar process of sanctification, also necessary in the treatment of heterosexual temptations. We believe that this freedom comes through faith in Jesus Christ, through the power of His Spirit.
5. We believe that all people were created in the image of God and should be treated with human dignity, so we believe that hateful, frightening and indifferent harassment should be repudiated, we believe that this respect for people with homosexual orientation involves sharing honest, informed and nonviolent facts about immorality and responsibility for homosexual behavior. On the other hand, approving behavior that the Bible disapproves of endangers people and dishonors God.
We believe that Christian churches should reach out with love and truth to serve those affected by homosexuality, and that those who fight biblically against their own sexual temptation should be patiently helped in their struggle, not banished or despised. The role of leadership or exemplary person is held in a church or conference institution, the higher the expectations of God’s ideals of obedience and sexual integrity. We argue that heterosexual and homosexual people should seek help in the church, to help them in the biblical battle against all inappropriate sexual thoughts and behaviors.