Thirty Percent of Southern Baptists Accepting of Homosexuality

According to a new Pew Research poll, 30 percent of Southern Baptists agree that “homosexuality should be accepted by society” (“Nearly Third of Southern Baptists,” Pulpitandpen.org, Dec. 18, 2015). I have long said that Southern Baptist churches are the major reason why “the South” is so morally corrupt. A large percentage of Southerners are Southern Baptist, a percentage large enough to set the moral tone for the region, and that percentage was much larger when I was growing up. What you have in the “Bible Belt,” for the most part, is a worldly lifestyle covered with a thin veneer of churchianity. The average Southerner can talk a good talk about knowing the Lord, but his walk doesn’t match his talk. This is not a new thing. Much the same condition prevailed in my youth. When the rock & roll culture blasted on the scene with Elvis in the 50s and the Beatles in the 60s, Southern Baptist kids were right in the middle of it, loving every aspect of it, including the dating, the dancing, the “petting,” and the vain pursuit of worldly “cool.” Growing up in Southern Baptist churches, I can only recall a bare handful of sincere Christian young people who obeyed God and separated from the world. My younger sisters have the same memory, as we have discussed many times over the years. Those who walk in lock-step with the world will adapt the world’s thinking. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 1, 2016, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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