The Southern Baptist Convention's Doctrinal Shift on Homosexuality

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) stood as one of the last denominations to reject homosexuality. Until recent years, sparked by the current Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) president, Russell Moore, the SBC has taken a slow but decidedly noticeable shift in its position on the issue, causing deep division among the ranks of the denomination.

In 2014, Russell Moore, along with other leaders such as JD Greear and Al Mohler held a meeting with "gay Christian" activists to break bread which was characterized as a "softening of tone" against homosexuality.

Current SBC president, JD Greear, was quoted as saying in 2014 before his tenure as president, "I do want to apologize to the gay and lesbian community on behalf of my community and me for not standing up against abuse and discrimination directed towards you. That was wrong and we need your forgiveness." Of course, Greear never stated exactly what that "discrimination" was that he was referring to. Earlier this year, Greear called on Christians to "stand up for LGBT rights" while insisting that the Bible doesn't speak of homosexuality as harshly as it does other sins.

In recent weeks, one of the most notable figures in women's Bible studies, Southern Baptist Beth Moore, has been under fire for her refusal to directly label homosexuality as sinful. While claiming that she holds to a "traditional" view on sexual immorality, Beth Moore recently removed a section in one of her Bible studies from 2009 that spoke of homosexuality as sinful, claiming that she "exceeded Scripture" by doing so and caused people to feel "demonized." Since then, Moore has put out a blog post attempting to clarify her position, yet still avoids directly labeling homosexuality as sinful. In fact, her blog post doesn't even mention the word "homosexuality."

In response to Moore's blog post, some homosexuals responded overjoyed at her doctrinal shift on the issue, depicting the obvious fruit of her "softening stance."

This, of course, is where these "leaders" want to take the denomination -- to a place where doctrinal purity is no longer of any concern and anyone who wants to be labeled a Christian can be so without cause for concern. Again, Beth Moore downplays sound doctrine, writing,

Again, the fruit of this mindset is a drift away from Christianity into a postmodern Utopia where all can feel welcomed without any cause for concern over their sin. The irony, however, is that Beth Moore and her followers are making truth claims in and of themselves, which are doctrinal in nature -- albeit wrong.

Sadly, many under-churched and under-catechized church members will fall prey to this type of shift from sound doctrine because they do not have the theological groundwork to defend against. The onslaught of Beth Moore-style doctrinal attacks will only grow stronger and louder, causing many of the full-time stay-at-home mom types to lead the charge in the larger apostasy toward homosexual inclusion. And Beth Moore and effeminate men will be their leaders.