Last October, the leaders of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, developed a statement affirming traditional marriage and the gender binary and requiring all congregants to affirm the statement or forfeit their membership.
The statement, which was announced to the congregation in January and must be affirmed by mid-March, is a response to the increasing acceptance of LGBTQ lifestyles and non-traditional gender roles.
Senior Pastor Heath Lambert emphatically affirmed that the statement was not meant to denounce any individual or group but to state the Church’s position on biblical sexuality clearly.
“This positive statement," Lambert said, "is simply a restatement of what Christians have believed and taught for centuries, and it is an exercise in clarity in a sexually confused world.”
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The statement outlines the Church’s position on marriage, gender roles, and sexual practices. It affirms marriage between a man and a woman and states that “God created two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female.” It also denounces any sexual practice that does not conform to biblical truth, including fornication, adultery, homosexual practice, and transgenderism.
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The church’s statement has been met with backlash from critics who have accused the church and its leaders of “anti-LGBTQ” bigotry. Lambert has denied this charge and emphasized that the statement is meant to be “positive” and to “stand for biblical truth.” He also stated that the Church would continue to love and accept all people, regardless of their beliefs or lifestyle choices, as long as they do not violate biblical standards.
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The Church’s stance has been met with both support and criticism from within the church and from the broader religious community. While some have applauded the Church for taking a stand for traditional values, others have called it an “unjust” and “unfair” policy.
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