Transcript WELCOME TO THE MEETING HOUSE!

“”No ethical challenge facing the
churches today is more radical than
the homosexual or ‘gay’ debate.”
~ John Stott
"A very good case can be made out
that the homosexual is the modern
equivalent of the leper."
~ Pierre Berton
“I can’t explain why the comfort I find in a
gay man’s arms is greater than I could
find in those of a heterosexual woman.
It’s not an act of sex. It’s an act of love.”
~ Mel Write,
Former pastor, evangelical Christian,
after leaving his wife and children to
become more sexually authentic
“In God’s view I suspect we are all
sexual deviants. I doubt if there is
anyone who has not had a lustful
thought that deviated from God’s
perfect ideal of sexuality.”
~ Dr. Merville Vincent,
Department of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School
“For homosexual men and women,
permanent relationships characterized by
love can be an appropriate and Christian
way of expressing their sexuality.”
~ Methodist Church Report
"It's NOT OK to be gay. It will damn
the soul, destroy the life, and doom
any nation that tolerates such evil.”
~ Pastor Fred Phelps,
Westborough Baptist Church
“One should no more deplore
‘homosexuality’ than left-handedness,
for surely it is the quality of the
relationship that matters.”
~ A Quaker report on human sexuality
“While we do not believe homosexual
are responsible for their orientation,
they must decide before God how they
will respond and behave.”
~ Judith K. Balswick
“I do not deny the claim that homosexual
relationships can be loving. But their love-quality
is not sufficient to justify them. Indeed, I have to
add that they are incompatible with true love
because they are incompatible with God’s law. Love
is concerned for the highest welfare of the beloved.
And our highest human welfare is found in
obedience to God’s law and purpose, not in revolt
against them.”
~ John Stott
“We cannot directly transfer biblical
world views and understandings to
situations today. Our church
acknowledges that as a whole body we
are unclear about God’s intentions
regarding homosexuality.”
~ Yvonne Steward,
The United Church Observer Magazine
“Bisexuality? Hey, it immediately
doubles your chances for a date on
Saturday night.”
~ Woody Allen
“As stereotypical as it sounds, I now know it
to be true of me as it is for many men – I had
mistakenly equated love with sex and sex with
love. Subconsciously, I hoped that the love
disappearing from my marriage and the male
bonding I was missing could be replaced
through sexuallized love with men. How very
wrong I was.”
~ Richard Smith,
former homosexual sex participant
“Just as we may not discriminate
between persons on account of their
gender, colour, ethnicity, or class, so
we may not discriminate between
persons on account of their sexual
preference. For the God of the Bible
is the God of justice.”
~ Desmond Tutu
"All gays & lesbians are liars and
murderers at heart, like their father,
Satan.“
~ Pastor Fred Phelps,
Westborough Baptist Church
“A homosexual partnership is
essentially incompatible with marriage
as the God-ordained context for oneflesh intimacy.”
~ John Stott
“Contrary to society’s thinking, sexual
expression is not essential to human
fulfilment as the example of Jesus
Christ and countless faithful
Christians have shown.”
~ Position Paper on Homosexuality,
Little Trinity Anglican Church, Toronto
“True gay liberation (like all authentic
liberation) is not freedom from God’s
revealed purpose in order to construct
our own morality; it is rather freedom
from our self-willed rebellion in order
to love and obey him.”
~ John Stott
“For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by His
grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus.”
~ Romans 3:23-24 (NASB)
“For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by His
grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus.”
~ Romans 3:23-24 (NASB)
“Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother
conceived me.”
~ Psalm 51:5 (NIV)
“This is how we know that we
love the children of God: by
loving God and carrying out his
commands.”
~ 1 John 5:2 (TNIV)
"Those who would come after me,
he must deny themselves and take
up their cross and follow me. For
those who want to save their lives
will lose them, but those who lose
their lives for me will find them.
What good will it be for you to gain
the whole world, yet forfeit your
soul?"
~ Matthew 16:24-26 (NIVi)
“I appeal to you, therefore, brothers
and sisters, by the mercies of God to
present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to
God which is your spiritual worship.
Do not conform to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of our
minds, so that you may discern what
is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.”
~ Romans 12:1-2 (NRSV)
“Brothers and sisters, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken
hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, I
press on toward the goal to win the
prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
~ Philippians 3:13-14 (TNIV)
“Those who become
Christians become new
persons. They are not the
same anymore, for the old life
is gone. A new life has
begun!”
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
“Brothers and sisters, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken
hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, I
press on toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has
called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus.”
~ Philippians 3:13-14 (TNIV)
“Love your enemies.”
~ Jesus
"If any brother or sister sins,
rebuke the offender; and if they
repent, forgive him. Even if they
sin against you seven times in a
day, and seven times comes back
to you and says, `I repent,'
forgive them.”
~ Luke 17:3-4 (TNIV)
“Why do you look at the speck of
sawdust in someone else’s eye and pay
no attention to the plank in your own
eye? How can you say, `Let me take the
speck out of your eye,' when all the time
there is a plank in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to
remove the speck from the other
person’s eye.”
~ Matthew 7:3-5 (TNIV)
“We love because he first loved
us.”
~ 1 John 4:19 (TNIV)
“Therefore, I tell you, her many
sins have been forgiven — as her
great love has shown. But
whoever has been forgiven little
loves little.”
~ Luke 7:47 (TNIV)
“Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus.”
~ Romans 8:1 (TNIV)
“If any of you want to be my
followers, you must forget about
yourself. You must take up your
cross each day and follow me. If
you want to save your life, you
will destroy it. But if you give up
your life for me, you will save it.”
~ Luke 9:23-24 (CEV)