Welcome! You have accidentally reached the blog of a heteroclite follower of Jesus: dave wainscott. I'm
"pushing toward the unobvious" as I post thinkings/linkings
re: Scripture, church and culture. Hot topics include: temple tantrums, time travel, sexuality/spirituality, U2kklesia, role of the pastor, God-haunted music/art..and subversive videos like these.
Pages
▼
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
"Evangelical megachurch comes out in favor of full inclusion of homosexuals, including baptism, child dedication and marriage"
Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church
"Our position that these siblings of ours, other than heterosexual, our position that these our siblings cannot have the full privileges of membership, but only partial membership, has changed..Full privileges are extended now to you with the same expectations of faithfulness, sobriety, holiness, wholeness, fidelity, godliness, skill, and willingness that are expected of all. Full membership means being able to serve in leadership and give all of your gifts and to receive all the sacraments; not only communion and baptism, but child dedication and marriage.. I implore you, whether you ever worship here again, or whether you come back next week happier than you’ve ever been, when all else fails, and love never fails, you are mine and I am yours, and inclusion means that we can live together in agreement and disagreement,But if this stretches you to the point of having to compromise your soul, and you do need to separate, I would be a hypocrite to say I do not understand that, because conversely, my soul has been stretched to the point that if I do not say what I say today, I cannot be here any longer.. I am not sure I am right, but I am sure I sense the presence of God, and I know I’m doing my best..And I believe before God Almighty to this we have been called, and here we stand.”
Sounds really nice and loving -- on the surface -- but I can't find scripture to support this position. It doesn't even fit what he said. One of the things he said was that the church would expect several things from them including "godliness," yet the very fact that they are living a lifestyle of outright sin would mean they are not practicing "godliness." I can also find no scriptures where Jesus taught inclusion. He was very clear that the only way was through Him and that there were those who were wheat and those who were tares (weeds). Sanctification is a process of working out our salvation to become more like Christ, to get rid of the "old man," sinful habits, etc., but if one isn't even trying to get rid of sinful habits, etc., because they've decided they are alright now, that is a problem. Paul's teaching is quite clear that to continue to go on sinning is unacceptable and he gave instruction to the church on how to handle such situations. If the person ultimately refused to stop sinning, they were no to be allowed further fellowship in the church.
Sounds really nice and loving -- on the surface -- but I can't find scripture to support this position. It doesn't even fit what he said. One of the things he said was that the church would expect several things from them including "godliness," yet the very fact that they are living a lifestyle of outright sin would mean they are not practicing "godliness." I can also find no scriptures where Jesus taught inclusion. He was very clear that the only way was through Him and that there were those who were wheat and those who were tares (weeds). Sanctification is a process of working out our salvation to become more like Christ, to get rid of the "old man," sinful habits, etc., but if one isn't even trying to get rid of sinful habits, etc., because they've decided they are alright now, that is a problem. Paul's teaching is quite clear that to continue to go on sinning is unacceptable and he gave instruction to the church on how to handle such situations. If the person ultimately refused to stop sinning, they were no to be allowed further fellowship in the church.
ReplyDelete