Homosexuality

Bethlehem’s position on homosexuality is clear: homosexuality is unbiblical. Church elders and pastors speak against homosexuality frequently, and Bethlehem even has a document that serves as a position paper for the church’s stance on the issue, which is still available on Bethlehem's website as of 2024.¹ In this document, church elders write that “homosexual orientation is a result of the fall of humanity into a sinful condition that pervades every person.”

Despite Bethlehem’s stance against homosexuality, the position paper states that “there is hope for the person with a homosexual orientation.” This person can achieve freedom through a process “which includes recognizing homosexual behavior as sin, renouncing the practice of homosexual behavior, rediscovering healthy, non-erotic friendships with people of the same sex, embracing a moral sexual lifestyle…”  A similar process is utilized for heterosexual temptations as well, and Bethlehem encourages both heterosexual and homosexual people battling temptation to find help in the church. In terms of dealing with homosexual people, Bethlehem repudiates harassment or hateful behavior, instead sanctioning the “honest, reasoned, nonviolent sharing of facts concerning the immorality and liability of homosexual behavior,” although not endorsing unbiblical behavior by doing so. The church elders state that there is “no Scriptural support or solid medical evidence that homosexual behavior is irreversible.”

Sermons and webpages the above work is based on: 

"Our Beliefs About Homosexual Behavior & Ministering to Persons with Same Sex Attraction," Bethlehem Baptist Church, accessed July 22, 2024, https://bethlehem.church/our-beliefs-about-homosexual-behavior-ministering-to-persons-with-same-sex-attraction/.