Pastor Ben Bailey of the Central church of Christ in McMinnville, Tennessee, did not mince words when he lashed out at today's "liberal" society that is pushing some churches to adopt "relaxed and liberal views" on women preachers, homosexuality and same-sex marriage. He said God does not approve of all these things.
Speaking at The Gospel of Christ television program last Sunday, Bailey even went as far as saying that people belonging to the LGBT community are deserving "to be stoned" as punishment for their alleged sin.
Bailey also shared his opinion on why attendance in traditional churches is declining, saying this is because more and more people are now attending services in "liberal" churches.
The pastor said the liberal-minded churchgoers wanted "things like women preaching, women leading in service, where homosexuals and gay marriage were accepted openly."
"They were just looking for something liberal," he continued. "Something that didn't criticise or condemn or didn't have any hardcore standards on anything — anything goes type of mentality."
But Bailey could not stress enough that this is not what God wanted.
"He has a definite standard and it is not the liberal mindset that we see today," Bailey said. "This book (the Bible) does not condone things like women preaching... Paul said 'I do not let a woman preach or be in authority over a man,' that's not according to the Bible. If I'm out to please God, we don't find things like that in the Bible."
"God does not approve of homosexuality or gay marriage," he pointed out. "The scripture says... that is vile, unnatural and deserving of a penalty... It's an abomination that under the Old Testament deserved stoning."
"And so, is our God, the God of Bible, wanting us to go somewhere where it's liberal, relaxed views and anything goes. No, that's the effect of a very liberal society. And we need to make sure that such is not the idea or the mindset of God," he said.
