PERTH, Scotland — The apostate leader of St. Matthew’s Church in Perth, Scotland issued an apology on Saturday at the Perthshire Pride event, claiming that the Church of Scotland has been wrong in its treatment of homosexuals, as he believes that those who identify as “LGBT” are “the people that God has created them to be.”
Scott Burton had been invited to open the celebration of homosexual pride, which featured music, dancing and drag queens.
“I am elated and over the moon to speak today,” he said, standing outside of the Perth Concert Hall. “Not just because I personally find it a massive privilege, but because as a Christian minister, I know that only too well at parade events all over the world, it is often Christian people or religious people that stand with banners that say ‘God hates f*gs,’ that ‘gay is not the way,’ and that ‘God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.'”
“And today, I want my first words to you to be ‘I’m so sorry for all of that,'” Burton said, generating applause.
“If you are LGBT, you know the church that I belong to has hurt you, again and again, in different times and in different ways,” he stated. “And because of what this LGBT community has suffered over time, quite honestly, I am absolutely amazed that the first person you call to speak today is a clergyman.”
According to The Scotsman, Burton went on to advise that he stands with those who identify as homosexuals and that he believes they are as God created them to be.
“We stand in solidarity with every person here who has been damned and denounced spiritually, psychologically, emotionally and physically by those who try to make out LGBT people are somehow second-class,” he said.
“They are not second-class and I, and a growing number of people within the Church, believe that they are the people that God has created them to be. Love changes the world for the better and I hope and I pray that Perthshire’s first-ever Pride event is going to be a day of love, not hate.”
Burton also told local television station STV that his message to the people on Saturday was that “God’s undeserved favor is for you, not matter what.”
While those present at the event applauded Burton’s remarks, others have expressed concern that Burton is actually hurting and not helping those who need to be told the truth in love.
“If this is a ‘tactic’ to make the Church more appealing, then sorry, that’s not our job as Christians,” one commenter said. “We are not to give a ‘watered down’ version of the truth. We are not in ‘marketing and sales.’ We are not here to market a false product! We are here to tell people the TRUTH!”
“The truth is the world is living in sin! … [Y]ou are not ‘special the way you are’; you are ‘flawed’ and in need of redemption, and the method by which you are redeemed is through the shed blood of Jesus, through which your sins are cleansed.”
As previously reported, the Scriptures teach that all men are born with the Adamic sin nature, and have various inherent inclinations that are contrary to the law of God, being utterly incapable of changing themselves. It is why Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, or they cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” he declared. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
2 Corinthians 5:15-17 also teaches, “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. … Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
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