WHEREAS, God has spoken clearly throughout Scripture to the value and dignity of every human being as created in the image of God and to the goodness of his design for every aspect of human life in accordance with his will (Genesis 1:26-30, 9:6, Matthew 19:4, Luke 12:22–31, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 1 Peter 1:13-16); and
WHEREAS, All people are called to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-39) and to trust in the Lord with all our heart—not leaning on our own understandings or being wise in our own eyes (Proverbs 3:5-7); and
WHEREAS, Rejecting God’s good design for the Christian life and seeking to craft an ethic based on our individualistic will and desires is not only an affront to God, but also a grave sin of selfishness, rebellion, and pride (Judges 21:25, Romans 1:18-32); and
WHEREAS, God’s design for human sexuality is rooted in the very nature of man and woman as image-bearers who are the “crowning work of His creation” (The Baptist Faith & Message, Article III) and were designed for a life-long covenant of marriage of one man and one woman (Matthew 19:4-6, Ephesians 5:31-33); and
WHEREAS, All people, including our children, are exposed each day to countless narratives often at odds with God’s design for sexuality through mass media and various forms of entertainment, like social media, that promote ideologies that run contrary to the scientific and biological realities of the created order rooted in the dignity of every human being (Romans 12:2); and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists, in our 2018 Resolution “On Gun Violence and Mass Shootings,” have “expressed solidarity with all those victimized by gun violence” and encouraged churches to seek “every available opportunity to minister to them in the name of Jesus Christ” because “the shedding of innocent blood is a repugnant and wicked evil that transgresses the moral law of God” as well as an affront to human dignity; and
WHEREAS, The scourge of gun violence continues to plague our society, inflicting devastating pain and the loss of precious human life in our families, churches, schools, and communities across our country; and
WHEREAS, God’s glory is on display among all people that he has created, including our fellow precious image-bearers affected by disabilities (John 9:3) and how God has worked mightily through people affected by disabilities (Genesis 32:31-32, 2 Samuel 4:4, 2 Corinthians 12:9); now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Anaheim, California, June 14-15, 2022, encourage all Southern Baptists to affirm the dignity and value of every person as created in God’s image and to proclaim the fullness of the Christian ethic throughout our churches and in the public square as we seek the flourishing of all people in accordance with God’s good design for humanity; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we uphold the beauty of the Christian sexual ethic in a world that promotes dangerous and dehumanizing ideologies such as those within the LGBTQ+ movement and other sexual perversions including abuse, pedophilic behavior, and the use of pornography, all of which are fundamentally at odds with God’s design for human sexuality; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we seek to love our neighbors as ourselves, standing firm on God’s created order which recognizes that any sexual desire or attraction outside of God’s design for human sexuality is sinful and is disordered regardless of whether or not it creates feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety on the one hand or pride on the other hand; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we seek to proclaim to the next generation God’s love for all and his good design for human sexuality, modeling how to faithfully engage others with both truth and grace, and that we redouble our ongoing efforts to cultivate a heart of wisdom and discernment in the next generation especially in regards to various forms of entertainment and social media; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we reaffirm our 2018 Resolution “On Gun Violence and Mass Shootings” and earnestly pray for our local, state, and federal leaders to recognize the seriousness of the ongoing threat of mass shootings throughout our society and to take concrete steps, towards solutions that uphold the dignity and value of every human life, especially the most vulnerable among us, and to minimize the threat of gun violence throughout our society; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That the worth of every human being, including those affected by disabilities, is found in Christ, the true Imago Dei (Colossians 1:15-17), not in people’s fallen perceptions of worth or abilities.