Orlando Church Pro-LGBT

[Amanah]

http://www.lc.org/newsroom/details/0...prolgbt-agenda

May 25, 2017


ORLANDO, FL -- Northland Community Church and Pastor Joel Hunter recently hosted a pro-LGBT event, “Elevating the Dialogue on LGBTQ Inclusion and Understanding in the Church,” with the overt message to “affirm” LGBTQ in and around Orlando. The pastor of Joy Metropolitan Church, who is in a same-sex relationship, and the founding pastor of The Impact Church of Orlando joined Hunter to discuss how Christians can work to make Orlando churches supportive of the LGBTQ lifestyle, regardless of their churches’ theological positions on marriage and sexuality. The purpose of the event is to distort the Bible and change theology in order to affirm an LGBTQ lifestyle as normative.

Attendees were asked to fill out a survey regarding their personal sexual lifestyle choices and their views about LGBT inclusion in the church.

The discussions were organized by The Reformation Project (TRP), a so-called “Bible-based, Christian grassroots organization” that works to promote inclusion of LGBT people by reforming church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity with the goal for a global church that fully affirms LGBT people. TRP’s leader, Matthew Vines, wrote a book called God and the Gay Christian. TRP conducts a leadership program each year where attendees undergo a “three-month period of intensive study about Scripture and LGBT inclusion, community organizing and the intersections between racial justice and LGBT equality.”

“The Reformation Project is designed to change the church to affirm an LGBTQ lifestyle as normative, and it appears Pastor Joel Hunter has fallen into that trap. For him to host that pro-LGBT event is heresy,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “While we all are sinners and all are welcome at the foot of the cross, Jesus also told the adulteress to go and sin no more. He did not affirm her in the sin of adultery, nor did he affirm people in their continued sin. He saves us from our sin. The doesn’t mean we do not falter, but we cannot distort His grace as a license to continue to sin,” said Staver.

“Matthew Vines thinks it is okay to keep sinning and convince yourself it's not a big deal. Vines says the Bible only condemns lust, not same-sex committed relationships. He believes Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with homosexuality, and other passages in the New Testament do not mean what they say. In other words, being LGBTQ is okay and the Bible says nothing contrary. Human sexuality is not to be taken lightly or compromised. The message of the Reformation Project and this event are wrong and an affront to Jesus and the Bible. The church needs to live in the resurrection power of Jesus and stop compromising to be just like the sinful culture we are called to redeem,” said Staver.

[Amanah]

https://www.amazon.com/God-Gay-Chris.../dp/160142518X

The landmark book exploring what the Bible actually says—and doesn’t say—about same-sex relationships.

As a young Christian man, Matthew Vines harbored the same basic hopes of most young people: to some-day share his life with someone, to build a family of his own, to give and receive love. But when he realized he was gay, those hopes were called into question. The Bible, he’d been taught, condemned gay relationships.

Feeling the tension between his understanding of the Bible and the reality of his same-sex orientation, Vines devoted years of intensive research into what the Bible says about homosexuality. With care and precision, Vines asked questions such as:

• Do biblical teachings on the marriage covenant preclude same-sex marriage or not?
• How should we apply the teachings of Jesus to the gay debate?
• Can celibacy be a calling when it is mandated, not chosen?
• What did Paul have in mind when he warned against same-sex relations?

Unique in its affirmation of both an orthodox faith and sexual diversity, God and the Gay Christian has sparked heated debate, sincere soul search..ing, and widespread cultural change on the issue of what it means to be a faithful gay Christian.

[Aquila]

The very same grace that saves the liar, cheat, fraud, murder, or adulterer... saves the homosexual. It is our need for grace that brings us to Him. If we justify our sin, we're essentially saying that we don't need a Savior.

1 John 1:9-10 King James Version (KJV)
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Frankly, affirming the sin cuts them off from the opportunity to experience the grace of God that saves us all.

[mfblume]

Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

[Amanah]

Orlando, is a 2 hour drive from my home

my workplace now has a LGBTQIA Club and if I expressed an opposing viewpoint I could be fired . . .

[n david]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Orlando, is a 2 hour drive from my home

my workplace now has a LGBTQIA Club and if I expressed an opposing viewpoint I could be fired . . .

Is that what the company has in print? I don't believe a company can fire someone for their religious beliefs. In fact, I believe that's a federal statute, along with age, sex, nationality, etc.

*Update - Title VII of the Civil Rights Act:

""UNLAWFUL EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES

SEC. 2000e-2. [Section 703]

(a) Employer practices

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer -

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or

(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.""

[Amanah]

Anti-Harassment - XXXX is committed to maintaining a workplace atmosphere that will attract and retain individuals who contribute to XXXXXX’ success. Consistent with this philosophy, it is XXXX’ policy to provide a professional work environment that is free of conduct that can be considered harassing, coercive or disruptive. Harassment based on race, color, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), age, actual or perceived physical or mental disability, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy (including due to childbirth, breastfeeding, or any related medical conditions), genetic information, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, military status, citizenship status, or any other legally-protected characteristic, by supervisors, co-workers, managers, contractors or any third party who does business with XXXXX towards any applicants, employees, interns, volunteers, contract workers or anyone working on behalf of XXXXX, will not be tolerated.

[n david]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Anti-Harassment - XXXX is committed to maintaining a workplace atmosphere that will attract and retain individuals who contribute to XXXXXX’ success. Consistent with this philosophy, it is XXXX’ policy to provide a professional work environment that is free of conduct that can be considered harassing, coercive or disruptive. Harassment based on race, color, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), age, actual or perceived physical or mental disability, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy (including due to childbirth, breastfeeding, or any related medical conditions), genetic information, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, military status, citizenship status, or any other legally-protected characteristic, by supervisors, co-workers, managers, contractors or any third party who does business with XXXXX towards any applicants, employees, interns, volunteers, contract workers or anyone working on behalf of XXXXX, will not be tolerated.

Harassing and coercive (threats) I can understand, but "disruptive" could have a broad definition.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Frankly, affirming the sin cuts them off from the opportunity to experience the grace of God that saves us all

.

Would you mind clarifying the above comment?

[UnTraditional]

You cannot affirm sin and then preach the truth that people must be saved from their sins. You do not tell people that some sin is OK, and some is not. Sin will send you to Hell. Christ came to save us from the sins, taking on Himself the penalty for our sins. When we affirm sin, we shame the Cross. This goes for the liar, the adulterer, the homosexual, the thief, or the murderer. Such are false churches who affirm sin.