I really appreciate Pastor Davis’ response, as well as his challenge to those of us who are heterosexual Christians.  He says:

[It’s hard to fathom how hard it is for a struggling homosexual to darken the doors of a church building, let alone contemplate turning their lives over to a deity who is going to ask for radical, painful change. That takes a great leap of faith; probably more than most heterosexual people were required to exercise before they became Christians.]

Sometimes we blithely say “sin is sin, all the same in God’s sight” (which I’ve said often), we ignore the all sin isn’t equal in regard to how to escape its bondage.  When I became a Christian in high school, I didn’t have to turn my back on much of anything or give up much.  I really can’t imagine what it would feel like if deciding to follow Jesus meant breaking up my family and leaving my child.  I appreciate pastor Davis calling us to reflect deeply these kind of things, through the filter of scripture of course, and allow our reflection to inform our responses.

Wendi

A couple things come to mind.
First, let’s remind ourselves that homosexual behavior is not the same as a homosexual orientation.
Second, I do think it’s important to take seriously the call to discipleship. Certainly baptism doesn’t mean “I’ve got all my ducks in a row.” No. But it does mean “I’m committed.”
And so the baptismal vows have to be sincere (and the baptismal vows should not just be a profession of faith, but a commitment to change lifestyles--and I mean that for everyone). Homosexuals should become celibate. Military officers should leave the military. Pornographers should leave the industry. Advertisers should seriously consider leaving the industry. Suburbanites should share their things. Cohabitating couples should get married. And so on and so forth.

People should know (more or less) what they’re getting themselves into when they get baptized. As long as they do, they should be baptized, gay or straight.

My two cents.
-Daniel-

Good response! If someone says they trust Jesus and want to be baptized I say baptize them! The issues of sin in their lives can be dealt with apart from that, by the Holy Spirit and the community of faith working together.

I have a couple responses to this:  First you cannot love people you judge.  God might be able to but I have never met a Christian who does this well.  I think the order for us must be love first, then my words are not judgment but love.  The problem is that far too many times I start with judgment and call it love.  While the difference here might be subtle the end result is not. 

Second, because of how woven into the fabric of our media and youth culture homosexuality is, it no longer suffices to say; “it’s wrong and that’s that…” and then to brand every homosexual as a pervert or emotionally mangled person.  For the church to respond like Jesus we must respond fully with Grace and fully with Truth.  IMO I think fear, misunderstandings about homosexuality, misunderstandings about the bible and a persons pride have made this difficult for the average Christian to know how to respond or to choose any other response than judgment.

That said I would baptize anyone who has given their life over to the authority of Christ, meaning if someone was willing to go from where they are to where they need to be in discipleship, it is a yes from me.  But if someone insists that God accept this sinfulness in such a way as it remains in their life, I would not baptize them.  This is not about the sin but the heart.

Warning: Off-topic comment

Daniel.  Oh, Daniel.  Did you really just say that to be baptized a military officer should leave the military?  That one can’t be in the military and be a Christian?  That hurts!  I’m 48 and I spent half my life in the military, and I may be a minority opinion but I consider myself a Christian.  There are a lot of very dedicated Christian Chaplains in the military that would disagree with you.  

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, is that exactly what baptism in Christ is? The Ethiopian eunuch only faced the prerequisite of believing on Christ, without an examination of his past temptations, inclinations or failures. Not withstanding those musings, the gospel message is “repent and believe the good news.” How can anyone be said to actually have done that if they are defending and continuing in a lifestyle they know the Word declares sinful? It seems to me, the Romans 6 symbology for baptism would exclude baptizing anyone who wasn’t determined in mind and action to turning away from what they knew was sin. I guess I’m with CS.

I was worse than these homosexual men.  I worked in pornography.

But it wasn’t the judging other others that made me change, it was God and God alone.

We would like to think that our convictions would be enough to change other people.

God told us not to judge.  God told us to love exactly like He does.

You are struggling with something?  Fine, I still love you.  God still loves you.  We ain’t going anywhere. 

All He wants for you to do is for you to give your life over to Him and depend on Him for everything.

Then you will know how truly great our God is.

I cannot condemn Brian’s response; he replied gracefully and acted out of his conviction.  I think I would have to handle it differently, though.

We Baptists are fond of saying that baptism is just a symbol, an outward sign of an inward change.  I don’t believe it is more than that (i.e., regenerative in itself, required for salvation, etc.), but I think we can’t lightly dismiss the object of the symbolism; i.e., the “inward change”.  Baptism must certainly be more than just the conductor’s hole-punch on an already-purchased train ticket. 

So perhaps the question is not whether to baptize an openly - and apparently unrepentant - homosexual.  Perhaps we need to back up further with this individual and explore his relationship with Christ.  John came preaching a baptism of repentance; Jesus carried on that proclamation.  Recognizing that “we all sin in many ways” and that one who teaches “will be judged more severely”, I would want to take some time to explore with this individual (and his partner?) just what and who it is that he has professed faith in, and whether he is repentant and desirous of living out what Jesus taught.  One of the most profound examples of Jesus walking this tightrope was when he was faced with the woman caught in adultery; his balanced response was, “neither do I condemn you...” (grace), “...now go, and sin no more” (a call to repentant living). 

I would want to present the same call to this man: “In response to the grace of God, I accept you as you are, as does Jesus; in response to both the love and the holiness of God, Jesus says, ‘now go and sin no more’.  But I recognize that transformation is a lifelong process, and I want to walk with you through the difficult steps that will require, especially in the early days of this commitment.  I want to help you and your partner understand and deal the ramifications of the commitment you have made to Jesus - and they are many.  If you can accept this, then I will joyfully baptize you as the first step.  If you’re not sure whether you can accept this, then let’s explore together what the Bible has to say about it.”

Isn’t this an argument for baptizing babies?

Greed—the fact that our nation worships the almighty dollar through our embracing of dog-eat-dog capitalism—is scripturally more contrary to the teachings of Jesus than homosexuality.  Yet openly greedy people are baptized all the time.  How many people repent of their greed and thirst for money?

And good point about the military.  How can killing innocent women and children in the US be a capital offense but just a simple consequence of war in another country? Do we think that Jesus would draw that distinction?

When we start ranking sins, and basing baptism on our ranking of those sins, we play God.

The Pastors response was amazing, very mature and in touch with God. Its Gods job to convict them of their sin, not ours. Our job it to create a place with prayer, worship etc for God to move.

The heart of the question is of course what it means to baptized an ‘openly homosexual’ person. Many ‘openly homosexual’ Christians are also celibate. So I say, baptize ‘em! If ‘openly homosexual’ on the other hand means “I’m a practicing gay and I ain’t budgin’"… then there’s at least a problem.

My two cents,
-Daniel-

[DanielR, I do not mean to imply that one cannot be a Christian and be in the military. A number of my family members are knee deep in this contry’s war-making machine. My point was simply that military service is inconsistent with Jesus’ requirements of discipleship--a fact the Church recognized until Constantine. But of course inconsistency is something many Christians learn to live with (I am, no doubt, not an exception to this rule). I don’t want to rehash the debate over violence here, save to say the joy and fervor with which U.S. Christians fight in politicians’ wars, and kill other Christians around the world for U.S. national interests, is nothing short of appalling to me. But I’m an Anabaptist, so I’m the minority here, not you. I know that.
-Peace-]

This whole question amazes me… This is a cheapening of the gospel.  We absolutely should love everyone. And our churches should be open to those searching for Christ, regardless of their sins. But to baptize someone is to publicly recognize their commitment to following Christ. The same Christ who told his followers to leave everything behind. The same Christ who told the rich man to sell everything and give to the poor. No, we shouldn’t judge the world, but yes we need to hold up standards for Christians. Otherwise we’ll have hordes of people with no relationship with Christ convinced that they’re headed for heaven because they’ve “said the prayer” and been baptized. If pastors don’t call people to repentance and insist on discipleship, how can the Church claim to be Christian???

Two thoughts: First, I don’t get the military thing either and second, let’s stop dancing around the elephant in the room, shall we? Do you all really think that gay couples have sex like rabitts all the time? Please. Sadly, like most people, ( I am a married, heterosexual female--just FYI) we may go for too LOOONG a time without engaging in relations. Do ya’ll really think that gay couples are gettin’ their groove on every night? Good Lord in heaven, what is this, “immoral, lifestyle” that keeps being quoted?

I also know of three gay couples who live together, claim to be celibate, have seperate rooms and raise their children together for financial reasons. Gay, but no lifestyle.

Yesterday, I sat with a woman while she tearfully recounted how her fine, elder in the church, pillar of the community-HETEROSEXUAL- daddy had been raping her and her younger siblings for years before he died.

Who in the eyes of God caused heartache to the least of these? I sincerly doubt that it would be the gay couple providing a stable loving home. No, the pillar of the community, hetersexual daddy who spent years raping his daughter and left her with a pysche & soul which is now scarred and battered. That is the soul for whom the Master weeps.

Maybe we should stop debating the woulda, coulda, shouldas and start talking about real people who are hurting. And ask ourselves, if the Master was presented this soul to tend, how would he minister to them? And how are we called to minister in His stead?

Just my 2 cents--for free