Pro gay
Plenty of folks are lamenting Andy Stanley’s decision to host a pro-gay conference this weekend at his North Signal mega-church.
Good. We all should grieve when influential pastors include heresy. But this was predictable before it was lamentable.
What else could we expect from a pastor who rebuked a parishioner 11 years ago for being in a relationship with another man, not because it was homosexual, but because the other bloke was married? (See HERE) Or from one who recently preached a sermon extolling gay churchgoers, gushing “The men and women I know who are gay, their faith and their confidence in God dwarfs mine.”
But Stanley’s drift, obvious for over a decade on this and other key matters (see HERE and HERE for example) indicates problems with us as adequately
as him.
One of those problems is our habit of either winking at a leader’s stern error, or reacting to it way too long after the fact. A heretical drift in leadership calls for 911.
“Who You Callin’ A Heretic?”
Stanley’s not alone in that drift. By hosting a pro-gay conference he joins the ranks of other teachers who gained influence then morphed from Gifted to Bad to Wrong. (Think Rob Bell;Jen Hatmak
“We refuse to stay on the sidelines.”
Watch LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Evan Low‘s interview on CBS News about the power of LGBTQ+ representation.
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God loves LGBTQ people
Nothing can separate us from the like of God. (Rom 8:38) This communication is for all people, including LGBTQ individuals.
God did not make a mistake in creating LGBTQ people.“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I comprehend that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14) Sexual identity and gender identity are components of a person’s personality, and as such are part of who God made each of us to be.
Every person is precious to God. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I hold called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)
The over-arching themes of the Christian Bible are that God loves everyone and has reconciled everyone through Jesus Christ; this includes LGBTQ individuals. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) “The world” means everyone, including LGBTQ people.
All people are justified through Christ, including LGBTQ people.
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Roman Catholic Church
BACKGROUND
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world, with approximately 1.2 billion members across the globe. With its origins in the earliest days of Christianity, the Church traces its leadership––in the person of the Pope––to St. Peter, identified by Jesus as “the rock” on which the Church would be built.
The Catholic Church in the Combined States numbers over 70 million members, and is organized in 33 Provinces, each led by an archbishop. Each bishop answers directly to the Pope, not to an archbishop. Those Provinces are further divided into 195 dioceses, each led by a bishop. At the establish of the organizational structure are local parishes, headed by a pastor, appointed by the local bishop. The Conference of Catholic Bishops in the Together States meets semi-annually.
As part of a global corporation with its institutional center at the Vatican, the Catholic Church in America is shaped by worldwide societal and cultural trends. It is further shaped by leadership that is entirely male, with women excluded from the priesthood and thus from key leadership roles.