A Florida megachurch requires its members to swear an oath endorsing the biblical concept of marriage, or they will be expelled.
Rolling Stone reported on Tuesday that the 3,500-member First Baptist Church of Jacksonville is asking its members to sign a commitment by the end of March in which they promise to reject LGBT expression and adhere to the biblical perspective of marriage and sexuality.
The commitment requires that members accept “God’s standard of human sexuality” and that marriage between one man and one woman is the sole legitimate “desire and expression” of human sexuality.
As stated in the promise, “As a member of First Baptist Church, I believe that God creates people in his image as either male or female, and that this creation is a fixed matter of human biology, not individual choice. I believe marriage is instituted by God, not government, is between one man and one woman, and is the only context for sexual desire and expression.”
First Baptist Church Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida is requiring its members to sign a bigoted anti-LGBTQ+ pledge affirming that marriage is between man and a woman and that there is only two genders to remain members in good standing. https://t.co/Nia2xCNao3
— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) January 27, 2023
It then provides a list of verses from the Bible where this perspective on sexuality is expressly articulated.
According to Rolling Stone, declining to sign the pledge does not prevent a person from attending services at the First Baptist Church, but it does hinder them from becoming members.
In September of last year, the church released a YouTube video in which the pastor, Heath Lambert, expressed his opposition to the confusion caused by the sexual revolution and vowed to require all members to agree with the church’s convictions. This was interpreted as a hint that the church would soon make a significant move regarding human sexuality.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Lambert explained that the vow is not about singling out LGBT individuals, but rather condemning the entire spectrum of sexual crimes, including “[r]ape, incest, polygamy — all sorts of things are ruled out just as much as homosexuality.”
It is fantastic to see a large church take a hard stance on the topic of marriage and sexuality and make it abundantly plain that they adhere to the biblical view of mankind.
It is encouraging to see a church stand up for God’s word in a time when even the majority of mainline churches in America are surrendering to the demands of the communist agenda.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
First Baptist is not alone in this fight. The Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, recently enacted a policy that required educators in the diocese to reject transgenderism and affirm each person’s biological sex.CONTINUE READING…