World wide Baptists are have a meeting in the Netherlands to discuss how to respond to homosexuality. OK. If I am a Baptist who has a more traditional understanding of Christian teaching on homosexuality and they decide to hold the meeting in the Netherlands close to Amsterdam, I am thinking the deck might be stacked. But that is just me.

Anyway, the World Wide Baptists may not agree on how to treat homosexuals but one thing that they can agree is that they will be much more civilized about their discussions than those crazy Anglicans. No no, they all agree that there is much to agree upon. Agreement all around on the point that they won’t be disagreeable.

With that said, let’s see how the discussion is going. First let’s hear from Scott Stearman, pastor of Kirkwood Baptist Church in suburban St. Louis.

“Our understanding of sexual relationships, of monogamy, polygamy and the status of women has changed radically since the Bible was first compiled in the 4th century,” he said.

“This change is not in spite of the Bible, but in fact because of the Bible,” Stearman continued. “For while there are many texts rooted in systems of injustice that we find abhorrent [such as slavery and gender inequality], the teachings of Jesus prompt us inexorably to another level of freedom.”

Hmmm. Ok. It has a nice Episcopalian ring to it. But still, it is something to think about. Let’s not be disagreeable about it. Now let’s hear from Ayo Gbode, pastor of Christ Baptist Church in Gbagada, Nigeria.

“The church can no longer stand aloof and believe that some angelic host from heaven will come and cleanse the earth of this gangrene of a behavior called homosexuality,” he said. “The church must respond, but her response must be ethical.”
…
Gbode contended that both testaments of Scripture unequivocally condemn all same-gender sexual relationships, that the church must oppose what he described as the “radical homosexual agenda” and that the church must “always be willing to assist [gays] overcome attraction to the same sex.”
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Gbode added, “I stand by the traditional interpretation of the Scripture. To me the truth of the Scripture doesn’t change. It will never change — and it will never change even if our cultural standards change.”

No no. The Baptist experience will be much different from the Anglicans. They are much more agreeable.