Megachurch pastor obsessed with gay people demands members sign “Biblical sexuality” pledge or else

The pledge rejects LGBTQ+ people and same-sex marriage.

Mark

Feb 4, 2023 - 13:24

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Megachurch pastor obsessed with gay people demands members sign “Biblical sexuality” pledge or else

A megachurch in Florida made headlines this week after insisting members sign a new “Biblical Sexuality” pledge. The statement rejects LGBTQ+ people and same-sex marriage. Anyone who declines to sign the statement will be kicked out.

The First Baptist Church of Jacksonville is led by Pastor Heath Lambert. In October, it first raised the issue of the pledge. It’s given members until March 19 to sign.

Statement on Biblical Sexuality

As the deadline approaches, some of the church’s 3,5000 members have raised concerns. So much so, the church felt moved to host a Q&A session about it last Sunday.

The pledge reads, “As a member of First Baptist Church, I believe that God creates people in his image as either male or female, and that this creation is a fixed matter of human biology, not individual choice. I believe marriage is instituted by God, not government, is between one man and one woman, and is the only context for sexual desire and expression.”

Pastor Lambert disputes the pledge specifically targets the queer community (ha!). He told Rolling Stone this week, “It does rule out the LGBTQ array of sins,” before adding, “Rape, incest, polygamy — all sorts of things are ruled out just as much as homosexuality.”

On the church’s website, a statement claims the pledge, “is an exercise in clarity so that our members might understand our most fundamental commitments in a sexually confused world. It is also an exercise in love toward a lost world that desperately needs to know God’s standard for human sexuality.”

Open Mic to answer questions

However, the church’s website also acknowledges the pledge has “inspired concern, questions, and anger.” So much so, it held an open mic session on Sunday for members to air their views.

At the session, Lambert tried to sell the concept to his flock. He downplayed the growing controversy over the pledge and the demand for members to sign.

Lambert said it contained nothing controversial from a Biblical viewpoint. He also stressed that those who didn’t sign it were still welcome to attend church. They just couldn’t be full “members”.

“You would need to be a member to be a deacon; You would need to be a member to be a teacher; You would need to be a member to hold a position on staff here of any authority or anything like that,” a congregation member told Action News Jax on leaving the event.

Online, many expressed the same view: Will Lambert’s church target the divorced next? Somehow we think not.