It is one thing to talk about “fairness” when it comes to allowing gays and lesbians to marry; it is quite another to claim biblical authority for such relationships.
President Obama cited the Golden Rule about treating others as you would like to be treated. In doing so, he ignored the totality of Scripture and the notion that the Lord alone sets the rules for human behavior.
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The same Book that informs Obama about the Person he told Pastor Rick Warren in 2008 is his “Savior,” also speaks to the beginning of human life (he has done nothing to limit abortions), fornication between adults of the opposite sex (no word yet on his position on that subject), marriage and adultery.
I recently wrote that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people who believe the Bible is God’s Word to impose their beliefs on those who disagree with them. But it is something altogether different for those who disagree with them to claim the Bible doesn’t say what it actually says. Obama apparently hopes there are sufficient numbers of biblical illiterates — and he could be right about this — who either don’t notice his sleight of hand, or don’t care.
Thousands of years of human history have sustained marriage between one man and one woman. Even human biology testifies to a natural order.
Genesis 2:24 says “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. The two shall become one flesh.” Jesus, Whom President Obama likes to selectively quote when it suits his earthly political agenda, honored traditional marriage at a wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1). He also reaffirmed the Genesis passage in Matthew 19:5.
Paul, the Apostle of Jesus, wrote in Ephesians 5 about husbands and wives, male and female, that the marriage union between a man and woman is an illustration of how Christ and the church are one (Ephesians 5:32). The Bible also teaches that since God made us, conceived of marriage and created sex to be enjoyed within the marital bond, He gets to set the rules and establish the boundaries for human behavior — not because He is a curmudgeon who wants to deny us pleasure, but because He knows what is best for us.
Liberal theologians have tried to modify, or even change, what is contained in the Bible, and there are those in our time who are following their example with the issue of same-sex marriage. People are free to accept or reject what Scripture says, but not to claim it says something it does not. In modern times, that’s called spin. In an earlier time, it was called heresy.
The Apostle John warns in Revelation 22:18-19 about the punishment awaiting anyone who adds to or subtracts from Scripture. Deuteronomy 4:1-2 has a similar warning. There are also warnings not to preach “another Gospel” (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4, among others).
As he seeks to justify his position on same-sex marriage and other issues with at best a questionable use of and at worst a denial of Scripture, President Obama might be said to be preaching another gospel. This could possibly lead to a fissure in his solid support among African-Americans, costing the president votes in November. It will also likely galvanize the culture warriors. Minorities mostly vote for Democrats, but they don’t like their faith denied. That could cause some of them to stay home on Election Day, or even vote for Mitt Romney.
The negative reaction the president received from some of the African-American ministers he called last week after declaring his support for same-sex marriage should serve as a prophetic warning.
Examiner Columnist Cal Thomas is nationally syndicated by Tribune Media.
