Southern Baptist Convention Leader Albert Mohler Admits: Clergy Won't Be Arrested Or Sued Over Same-Sex Marriage

"It's really important that you and every other pastor needs to say 'I'm not going to perform a same-sex wedding,' but let's be honest, there's not really a danger that the sheriff's gonna show up and say, 'you have to do this.' So far as I know, no pastor has been sued successfully for refusing to marry someone on other grounds- that's not the real danger. The real danger is we're going to pay an enormous social, cultural price for not doing a same-sex ceremony. We're going to be considered morally deficient. Let's admit it. We're much more accustomed to being accused of being morally superior. They've said we've been 'stand-offish' meaning better than them, now a large part of this culture thinks we are morally deficient."- Albert Mohler, speaking this week at a meeting for the Southern Baptist Convention. Mohler was appointed president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993. (Via Good As You)

Satan Loves Halloween

"The coming of Halloween is a good time for Christians to remember that evil spirits are real and that the Devil will seize every opportunity to trumpet his own celebrity. Perhaps the best response to the Devil at Halloween is that offered by Martin Luther, the great Reformer: 'The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.' On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther began the Reformation with a declaration that the church must be recalled to the authority of God’s Word and the purity of biblical doctrine. With this in mind, the best Christian response to Halloween might be to scorn the Devil and then pray for the Reformation of Christ’s church on earth. Let’s put the dark side on the defensive." - Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, lamenting that Halloween is a pagan ritual that hasn't become Christianized like Christmas has.

Southern Baptists Attack George And Barbara Bush For Witnessing Gay Wedding

"President Bush did not merely attend the wedding. He also served as an official witness, signing the legal documents for the ceremony and the Maine wedding license. Under a photograph with the former president the couple added the words, 'Getting our marriage license witnessed!' The news coverage of the Bushes’ attendance at the same-sex wedding points to a reality that must be understood—and fast. Attendance at a wedding is not a neutral act. The history and context of the wedding ceremony identify all those present as agreeing to the rightness of the marriage and acting as witnesses to the exchange of vows. This is why the venerable language of The Book of Common Prayer, used in the overwhelming majority of Christian weddings, calls upon anyone with knowledge that the proposed union is invalid to speak, 'or forever hold his peace.'

"Anyone remaining silent at that point is affirming the rightness and validity of the marriage, and all who are present are counted as both witnesses and those who celebrate the union. But, this is not just about the Bushes. The same predicament remains, even if we are not the former leader of the free world. To be present at a wedding is to affirm that it is right, whether you sign a legal document or not. No one said this was going to be easy, and this is hardly the end of the predicaments and perplexities that will challenge Christians who stand on biblical teaching in the days ahead. This is one question, however, that Christians had better think through fast. A wedding invitation might soon be headed your way." - Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptists Theological Seminary.

Quote Of The Day - Albert Mohler

"The imbroglio over Louie Giglio is the clearest evidence of the new Moral McCarthyism of our sexually 'tolerant' age. During the infamous McCarthy hearings, witnesses would be asked, 'Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?'  In the version now to be employed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the question will be: 'Are you now or have you ever been one who believes that homosexuality (or bisexuality, or transsexualism, etc.) is anything less than morally acceptable and worthy of celebration?'  An imbroglio is a painful and embarrassing conflict. The imbroglio surrounding Louie Giglio is not only painful, it is revealing. We now see the new Moral McCarthyism in its undisguised and unvarnished reality. If you are a Christian, get ready for the question you will now undoubtedly face: 'Do you now or have you ever believed that homosexuality is a sin?' There is nowhere to hide." - Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptists Theological Seminary, in a column published by the American Family Association.

Quote Of The Day II - Albert Mohler

"We've (Southern Baptists) lied about the nature of homosexuality and have practiced what can only be described as homophobia. We've used the choice language when it is clear that sexual orientation is a deep inner struggle and not merely a matter of choice." - Southern Baptists president Albert Mohler, speaking at this year's convention. Mohler also said: "Only the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ gives a homosexual person any hope of release from homosexuality."

NOTE: It's unclear if Mohler's comments were prompted by the demand for an apology made earlier this week by groups such as GetEQUAL and Truth Wins Out.

Quote Of The Day - Albert Mohler

"When we talk about same-sex marriage, we talk about something that is already legal in one form or another in basically twelve states. So whether they call it marriage, as they do in a few states, or marriage-lite as they have now in twelve states, the reality is that a good number of Americans are living where they're already facing not just the inevitably, but the reality of same-sex marriage. I think it's clear that something like same-sex marriage - indeed, almost exactly what we would envision by that - is going to become normalized, legalized, and recognized in the culture. It's time for Christians to start thinking about how we're going to deal with that." - Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, speaking on a Focus On The Family radio show.

Stand by for the wingnut denouncements.

Then End Of The (Gay) Line?

In a Slate story titled The Gay Culture War Is About To Turn Chemical, William Saletan discusses last week's story about the latest study into the gay brain and speculates that the long-feared Twilight Of The Golds world of aborting gay fetuses or "switching off" their gayness in the womb may be closer that we think.

The sample consisted of 25 straight men, 25 straight women, 20 gay men, and 20 lesbians. In overall symmetry and amygdala activity, the brains of gay men resembled the brains of straight women, whereas the brains of lesbians resembled the brains of straight men. Previous work has connected such differences to fear, anxiety, aggression, and verbal, spatial, and navigational ability. It's not just a matter of preferring men or women. The broader implication, one expert argues, is that "in gay men, the brain is feminized."

Are the differences genetic? Not likely. "As to the genetic factors, the current view is that they may play a role in male homosexuality, but they seem to be insignificant for female homosexuality," the authors conclude. "Genetic factors, therefore, appear less probable as the major common denominator for all group differences observed here."

So, what's the common factor? If the study's design rules out learned influences, and if the results in women rule out genetics, that leaves what the authors call "hormonal influences" or noncognitive differences in the infant environment. According to the Guardian, the same research team has "begun another study to investigate brain symmetry in newborn babies, to see if it can be used to predict their future sexual orientation." If it can, that will scratch postnatal factors off the list, and the search will narrow to hormones in the womb. Already, the authors point to evidence that homosexuality may be caused by "under-exposure to prenatal androgens" in males and "over-exposure" in females.

Where science leads, technology follows. Two years ago, scientists in Oregon reported an attempt to "interfere with defeminization of adult sexual partner preferences" in sheep. Their method, as they described it, was to alter hormonal inputs in pregnant ewes "during the period of gestation when the sheep brain is maximally sensitive to the behavior-modifying effects of exogenous testosterone." When the attempt failed, they concluded that the dosage should be increased.

[snip]

If the idea of chemically suppressing homosexuality in the womb horrifies you, I have bad news: You won't be in the room when it happens. Parents control medical decisions, and surveys indicate that the vast majority of them would be upset to learn that their child was gay. Already, millions are screening embryos and fetuses to eliminate those of the "wrong" sex. Do you think they won't screen for the "wrong" sexual orientation, too?

Liberals are slow to see what's coming. They're still fighting the culture war. The Toronto Star, like other papers, finds a neuroscientist who thinks the new study "should erode the moral judgments often made against homosexual preferences and rebut any argument that it is a mere a lifestyle choice." Well, yes. But then what? The reduction of homosexuality to neurobiology doesn't mean your sexual orientation can't be controlled. It just means the person controlling it won't be you.

Even some major Christians are onboard already. Last year I posted about Rev. Albert Mohler, the leader of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who said, "If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin."

Futurists have been predicting the end of homosexuality in this manner for decades.

PhoboQuotable - Albert Mohler

In the Christian Post, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, reacts to the Times Magazine article about young married gays, taking particular note of the couple that hinted that theirs would be an open marriage.

"Young Gay Rites" is itself a noteworthy signal about the future of marriage. If Denizet-Lewis is right, the legalization of same-sex marriage is changing the ways some homosexuals are living their lives. In other words, same-sex marriage in Massachusetts is changing homosexual culture in some unexpected ways.

The Christian concern about marriage is rooted in the picture that marriage provides. Marriage is a covenant and the central institution for human society. The picture of marriage is the bringing together of those who are alike (both made in the image of God) and different (male and female). Out of this picture of difference brought together within covenant comes the gifts that flow from marriage.

The tragedy of same-sex marriage is not the awkwardness and strangeness revealed in this article, but the repudiation of that picture. That repudiation represents a great loss and confusion – but it also represents a violation of God's command concerning marriage.

Denizet-Lewis's article raises at least one final thought. If the legalization of same-sex marriage is changing homosexual culture, is it also changing heterosexual marriage? We can only wonder how long it will take for some heterosexual couples to decide that "emotional fidelity" and "sexual fidelity" can be separated.

We are living in the midst of vast cultural change. It is almost as if an entire civilization is being transformed before our eyes. Reading "Young Gay Rites" should be sufficient to make that realization hard to miss.

Somebody needs to lift up that rock and holler down to Mohler that millions of hets already have open marriages.

(Via - Queerty)

Fall, Out

Slowly, some evangelicals are coming around to the belief that homosexuality is largely biology-based. However, Rev. Albert Mohler, leader of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, believes that there's still a way to "fix" the problem.

In a statement posted on his blog, Mohler advocates for advancing the study of ways to prenatally redirect the development of potentially homosexual fetuses, saying, "If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin."

Read the rest here, it's fascinating stuff, full of condemnation for homosexual "behavior", with a kind word for those us of doomed to enternal damnation because it's God's punishment for man's "fall". To Mohler, it's not our fault that we're dirty cocksuckers, God is punishing all of mankind by inflicting dirty gay babies that grow up to be porn stars. It's original sin, manifested as hairdressers and the LPGA.

Queer Sighted's Richard Rothstein has a typically brilliant reaction called Genetic Cleansing Of Original Sin. Mohler actually has a coherent thought or two in his essay, and later on his blog he even comes out against Ann Coulter for her CPAC comments. But calling for the better treatment of existing gays while calling for a way to prevent future homos from being born doesn't win him a pass. Christians still want to change us, they've just decided they need to start earlier.

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