The church kept it’s name although they don’t seem all that Baptist any more. That may be why they survived and are thriving.

The Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chorus “Our Song” rehearses there although they perform in many venues.

“I repent, but…”

I’m going to guess that your objection the relationships of GLBT people has something to do with an idea of male-female complementarity, and a belief in the naturally subordinate role of women, which has been heavily stressed by conservative evangelical denominations in recent years. (Please note, however, that in the nineteenth century, evangelicals were on the leading edge of the women’s rights movement.) One of the sins Christ died for, imo, is the pervasive human sin of denying the full humanity of other human beings. People do this every day, for all kinds of reasons: personal gain, laziness, clannishness, opportunism, just plain nastiness. Sexism and racism are the extreme forms; so is the tendency to regard the minds and bodies of low-status people as expendable. In fact, I think that is THE sin, the one that all the others derive from. The fall from grace? One of our primate ancestors started thinking abstractly enough to put him- or herself in some other proto-human’s shoes, and thought, “Oh shit. Austrolopithecus now have knowledge of good and evil. Austrolopithecus sad, because still want bash other biped. Austrolopithecus much happier when still tiny megazostrodon, wish could go back.” We didn’t really fall from grace, we fell into the possibility of grace. It must have been traumatic. I think that’s what the author of Genesis was getting at, at some level.

Do you believe in a God who would take on all the sorrow of being human, including the worst humans can dish out, to spread the belief that some people are less than others? That is a fundamental belief of complementarians, no matter how it’s whitewashed with “separate but equal language.” It is the source of some denominations’ anti-gay sentiment. (And its secular equivalents are the source of secular homophobia.)

I believe in a God who risked everything to convey a different message, lost big time…and still rose. That’s “the Jesus behind the whole thing.” The Resurrection is preposterous, but it’s also kind of preposterous that we actually rise above “monkey BASH because monkey CAN.” None of this has a blessed thing to do with being LGBT.

Btw, you’d love us even if we pointed a gun at your head??? Are you serious? Have you ever had this happen to you in real life? I have, as part of a request for a small monetary donation. I assure you, I did not, and do not love the guy. Nor do assume he’s an inherently worthless person and going straight to Hell. Jail? I sincerely hope so.

That’s my $0.02. curt, if you reply to this, please understand that I will not be drawn into a proof-texting argument.

Your god eternally tortures the majority of people who ever lived on this planet for the innocent act of not believing in his religion and you call it mercy – that’s pretty rich all right.

Curt said “God loves us just as we are, but He also loves us too much to keep us that way.”.

If your god loved people as they are he wouldn’t want to change them. If you don’t love someone the way they are your don’t really love them at least part of them. If you don’t love someone for a core aspect of their being such as being LGBT then you don’t love that person in any substantial fashion at all.

Curt said “That being said, GLBT lifestyles are clearly devastating to the heart of God”.

Being LGBT is not a lifestyle, it is a same sex romantic and sexual attraction. That does not entail any particular lifestyle as a result. Your god is all powerful and all knowing thus he knew when he created each LGBT person exactly how they would turn out therefore LGBTs are exactly how your god wanted them to be so spare us this BS about them being “devastating to the heart of god”.

Curt said “I want to apologize to all of you who have been hurt.”.

How disingenous of you. If you really wanted to apologize to all who have been hurt by anti-gay christianity you wouldn’t be continuing to hurt LGBTs by falsely claiming our innocent lives are a devastating wrong-doing. Far from wanting to apologize for hurt, you’re eager to inflict more. You are a nasty person.

God loves us just as we are, but He also loves us too much to keep us that way. He didn’t die on a cross merely to get me to heaven; He died to make me like Him, thus establishing heaven here! Approximately 50% of pastors today in this country (southern baptists included) confess to regularly looking at pornography. That is sexual sin that breaks the heart of God, and I believe any sin that exists comfortably and without repentance in the life of a person who professes oneness with Christ is a clear sign of their distance from Him. Imitation is truly the most intense form of flattery. I’m not saying perfection; I’m saying everyone who loves Christ more than anything else on earth will hate the things that hurt Him – just as any good lover will despise the things that hurt the one they love.

That being said, GLBT lifestyles are clearly devastating to the heart of God in the same way as a pastor who is addicted to sexual sin or any other amendment to righteousness, taboo or otherwise. I am obviously well aware of the number of people who disagree with me, and I promise you that I would love you if you put a gun to my head. But I have met the Savior behind this whole religion thing, and I am infatuated with Him. His heart breaks over sin, and close proximity to His heart has a similar effect on all hearts that dare to know Him.

After all that bitterness I had against the church, I finally realized that the church’s only hope was people who love like Jesus infiltrating from the inside. Yelling divides on both sides, but praying for my enemies from the inside out wins wars. So as a recently ordained southern baptist pastor, doubling as an undercover representative of authentic, cross-inspired love, I want to apologize to all of you who have been hurt. I repent on behalf of every Christian and pastor who has ever been a poor representation of the beautiful Gospel by which we may all be saved, but I also beg you to repent. Delight the Lord’s heart despite the wretched folks who associate themselves with Him and fall in love with Him. I’m trying to do the same. grace and peace

GAYFACE!