Roberts asked the president if First Lady Michelle Obama was involved in this decision. Obama said she was, and he talked specifically about his own faith in responding.
“This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, you know, [the First Lady] feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”
As John McCormack put it on Wednesday, Obama is basically claiming that he’s following the example of Jesus Christ in backing legalized same-sex. That might surprise more than a few Christians of many denominations, because the teachings in both the Old and New Testament speak against the practice of homosexuality. The only reference to marriage by Jesus himself concerned its temporal nature (Luke 20, Matthew 22, Mark 12 all reference the same incident) rather than eternal, but Paul was a little more direct in 1 Timothy 8-11:
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Paul was even more clear in Hebrews 13:
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
That makes it pretty clear that Paul didn’t contemplate the definition of marriage as including same-sex unions, especially considering the context of Timothy.
There may be secular rationalizations for legalizing same-sex marriage, and not everyone believes in the Gospel or the rest of the Bible, in either Testament. But to claim that Jesus’ teachings and the Christian scriptures support the legalization of same-sex marriage is to demonstrate one’s total incompetence at understanding
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
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