I have very strong views about the issue of same-sex marriages but would like to open the floor for people to air their views. What do you guys think of President Obama’s public declaration of support for legalizing same-sex marriages? He puts it down to his evolving faith. Do you think he is right in claiming that the source of his conviction on this issue is faith or is he just trying to please voters? Do you think our faith or beliefs should evolve with culture as Obama suggests or is truth an unchanging rock solid foundation on which one builds their life?
Obama said his support for same-sex marriage is consistent with his Christian beliefs.
“[Michelle and I] 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,” Obama said. “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 dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”
President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama at the “Obama Home States Inaugural Gala” at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The quote contrasts with his 2004 interview with WTTW, a Chicago public television station, in which he invoked religion to come out against same-sex marriage but for civil unions.
“What I believe, in my faith, is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before God, and it’s not simply the two persons who are meeting,” said Obama, who was then campaigning to represent Illinois in the Senate.
Ralph Reed, a prominent Christian Republican strategist and founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said Obama’s support of same-sex marriage will fuel conservative religious voters to vote against him in the November election.
“At a time of high unemployment and severe economic distress, President Obama chose the week he launched his re-election campaign to flip-flop on same-sex marriage. Combined with his administration’s opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, it reveals a president who is tone-deaf and out-of-touch with the time-honored values of millions of Americans,” Reed said in a statement. “This is an unanticipated gift to the Romney campaign. It is certain to fuel a record turnout of voters of faith to the polls this November.”
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said in a statement that “God is the author of marriage, and we will not let an activist politician like Barack Obama who is beholden to gay marriage activists for campaign financing to turn marriage into something political that can be redefined according to presidential whim.”
Can we as Christians really remain silent on this matter? The institution of marriage is being redefined right before our very eyes and little or no consideration is being made for what the Originator of marriage actually thinks. The foundation of every society is the family unit. Tamper with that and you tamper with the moral fabric on which society is built.
This issue requires that we pray earnestly for our Presidents, policy makers, legislators and key stakeholders. Beyond that, we ought to support those who are vocal about championing biblical truth in this area. Who knows, God may raise you up to make a difference at such a time as this.
Please do share your thoughts on this issue. It affects us all and our generations to come.
Related articles
- Much enthusiasm, muted criticism in Jewish reactions to Obama’s gay marriage support (timesofisrael.com)
- Same-sex marriage front-and-center in presidential race – CBS News (cbsnews.com)
- Across country, black pastors weigh in on Obama’s same-sex marriage support (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Sen. Paul: I didn’t think Obama’s ‘views on marriage could get any gayer’ (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
- BREAKING: Cardinal Dolan Laments Obama’s Support For Same-Sex “Marriage” (illuminati360.wordpress.com)
Thanks for opening the floor on this important issue. I was very surprised when I heard what Obama said. Honestly, I am not sure if he is sincere or simply trying to please voters; however, on swayed towards the former. I believe he is misinformed about the Bible and what it says about marriage. Obama’s direct statement on this issue is very important primarily because of his influence, so as Christians we must not fold our arms and hope everything will be all right. We can make a small difference by praying about it and joining other Christians in petitioning our governments to protect the current status of marriage i.e. man and woman. This is not my opinion, it’s simply the what the Bible says.
I look forward to reading the insightful comments of other people.
Cheers
A similar debate has been going on in the UK where the very same bill was proposed to legalize same sex marriages.
I can’t say I’m surprised by Obama’s u-turn its to be expected. I’m almost certain left to him, in his sound-mind as true Christian, he wouldn’t even consider this. But I reckon there’s some puppeteering going on and he’s meeting obligations and fulfilling certain expectations.
When it comes to politics I try to look at te spirit perspective and If something is definitely wrong by God’s standards it’s obvious there’s only one person behind it.
I know we’re in the last days and certain things had to be out in place before Chrisy returns. We can’t fight all of it, but we must certainly not be a part of it.
Mr Obama’s convictions an actions are ultimately between him and his God and a time will come when he will have to give account for them. That goes to all of us.
Obama did not flip-flop on same-sex ‘marriage’ he supported it as early as 1996, but kept it hidden for political reasons and recently came out for political reasons. I have not a clue why some Christians support SS’M', selective Christianity I suppose
Really in the grad scheme of things Obama’s personal convictions though influential doesn’t decide whether gay people will be together or not. Regardless of who passed this legislation, it was bound to happen because society is increasingly liberal and tolerant (in most cases anyway)
I guess it’s just politics really to change / voice your personal convictions as and when it will wield votes.
Wow…I’ve been very enlightened by your comments guys. MsLuffa makes a very valid point in saying that in the grand scheme of things, Obama’s viewpoint will not deter society from snowballing down into a cesspool of liberalism and unbiblical tolerance. There is a monumental shift going on in our generation and unfortunately, Obama just seemed to choose the path of least resistance. I don’t really know when he started forming his views but what is relevant to us today is that he has openly declared his stance. What is even more important is that he claims his stance was determined or informed by his faith. We serve and worship the same God. We believe in the same holy scriptures. We both surrender Lordship of our lives to Christ. So why is it that I totally disagree with Obama? Truth is absolute and not relative in my opinion. The bible describes Christ as a stumbling block. We live in an age of tolerance where Christians are fingered out as backward thinking because we choose to speak out for the truth. I also agree with Nnamdi in the sense that we cannot simply foldout arms and wish all of this away. Prayer is always the safest and most influential place to begin. From the throne room of God, we may receive divine strategies on how to make a difference to the situation in practical terms. Like Davide said, it’s selective Christianity to apply some parts of scripture and withhold some of it from the Lordship of Christ. He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. We live in interesting times as MsLuffa pointed out. We will do well to get our radars up and receive instructions on how to proceed successfully. Thanks guys
Well spoken! This is part of the shaken that is biblical spoken. The separation is about to happen in the christian world! I’m displeased at our president decision on SSM. Prayer is what we are called to do but as for me he won’t have my vote this time around! I’m for team JESUS! THE WORD OF GOD WILL ALWAYS STAND!
Amen Felecia! We certainly need to heed the Lord’s call to watch and pray in these times.
Hi Watchman, I have shared just recently on this issue on my Blog so I will not share in detail now but I will leave a link that explains fully why God hates the act of Homosexuality even if Obama claims God is in agreement with what He calls evil.
Although I agree passionately with the need to be Loving and tolerant of others I cannot water down God’s warning that people who practice Homosexuality are in grave error and danger and are also putting others in danger. I believe in light of the Scriptures ( see below ) that God is not accepting of this type of behaviour the same as with all sin, but I do not in any way agree that He does not have compassion and Love for those who do wrong and we must too but we are called to rebuke and warn them with God’s Truth not our own agenda and we are to obey Him in this as His vessels and as part of the Body of Christ, not to do so is not Love and is disobedience. God’s Truth is very clear about this as He longs for all those who sin to repent and turn from evil and do good by The Holy Spirit’s empowering.
Romans 1:26-27 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Christian Love from both of us Anne.
Sorry Watchman forgot the link …
Blog Post – http://freedomborn.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/was-it-adam-and-eve-or-adam-and-steve/
Christian Love – Anne
Hi Anne! I couldn’t agree with you more.tolerance that will lead my neighbours to hell is not love. Will definitely be reading your post on this topical issue. God help us
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A couple of things stuck out to me! My concerns with Obama’s announcement were that he said his faith backed his position. Also that the issue is about same sex-marriage, not just unions. He is slipping in faith, if he hasn’t slipped to make such professions, and repentance is necessary.
About Obama, as I don’t know him personally (I bet that shocked you right!!?) I can’t tell much about his faith. What I can categorically say is that he is wrong about faith in CHRIST being consistent with approving of homosexual marriage.
Then I’m concerned about how this is about endorsing same sex ‘marriage’. Shocking because I seem to recall that some years back the issue was civil unions. This war may be manifesting in the hearts of man, but it started somewhere else. The assault as you said Watchman is on the institute of marriage, not something man made, but something YAHWEH, thought of, designed and ordained.
Societal degradation and breakdown is spiritually hinged on the weak family units. Satan knows this and what we see is not random. It is a very strategic attack that has played out since gay rights was initially just about not being castigated (which was largely true in the sense of hating the sin, but not the sinner.)
Obama does have an influence. If I said what he did last week I doubt Freedomborn would have blogged about it, even if I said it on CNN. Obama’s may not be the influence that ‘started’ this, but it is nevertheless a significant influence, just based on the order of the world and the position he holds.
For example. who knows the immature but sincere struggling Christian that has been fighting a battle against homosexuality that now accepts what this ‘favored Christian leader’ has said. I believe that everything we do can be influential depending on things like who we are and the audience. Also, words by spiritual design are very powerful. The create and break strongholds. Even if it was out of line with Obama’s beliefs to confess it as he did is to deny Christ. Peter was warned not to speak of JESUS and he basically said no can do.
As for the inevitability of this and what we can do about it. I was praying for someone recently and got stopped short when I was going to say “it’s the least we can do”. If I live by faith in the omnipotent GOD, then prayer is one of the potent things I can do.
The Bible does say that “Prayers offered by those who have God’s approval are effective.” So I mentally agree with Ms luffa’s point about the inevitability of some deterioration, particularly given humanity’s current trajectory. However, like Nnamdi intimated my spirit says as long as GOD’s word gives a way, the inevitable can be prevented. All it takes is for one with ‘GOD’s approval’ to offer prayer. It should have been inevitable that Tabitha and Eutychus were dead. But Peter and Paul by faith in GOD were able to divert ‘inevitability’ somewhere else.
Let’s separate the reality from the Truth. It’s possible to acknowledge both, but accept and live by only the Truth. Sometimes we can change our realities. Other times, like in the end days as Ms Luffa pointed out, we can’t. Both times though, intimacy with the Truth will guide us safely and we will know the way to walk.
Grace and Peace
Dude you hit the nail on the head on so many levels. You’re right. Obama does have an influence. Definitely more than the average man so what he says does have an impact. If we link it to the scripture that says there’s the power of life and death in the tongue then we have a different proposition altogether.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man available much. Let’s not give up hope that as salt we can at least delay the degradation of society before the inevitability of biblical prophecy regarding the end times kicks in.
Thanks bro
hey guys, what did you do last night? Want to know what Obama did? Took a trip to NYC to a LGBT pride event hosted by Ricky Martin at $30,000, a plate and raised millions from the gay crowd for his campaign. Funny world we live in when a man claims to be a Christian has the same views on same-sex ‘marriage’ as the editorial page of the New York Times. Silly. Thank you.
Its a funny old world Davide. Really is.
Surprisingly, I find myself in agreement with Anne and many of the rest of you in this matter of Obama and his gay marriage opinions. He is the leader of the free world, a declared Christian, and someone who is obviously citing values contrary to biblical teaching. It’s really impossible to get any other interpretation except the obvious out of the book of Romans and other various scriptural references regarding homosexuality. Those who do are reaching; a doctrine that “tickles the ears” comes to mind. It’s a little depressing to me, to see the continuing steady decline of our values and morality here in America.
Thanks for a positive post about this, however, Watchman. God *will* prevail, no matter how things look at the moment.
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Hi warrioress. They say when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. Whilst the influence of America may be waning across the globe, it is still mightily influential. In Nigeria today, the American culture has penetrated our society so much so that we have almost forgotten who we are. It has influenced our movies, music, family life and much more. I love it in so many ways but in some ways it poses a threat to the moral fabric of our society. This issue of same sex marriage is one of those. We’re now taking our cue from America and there is no doubt that Obama’s endorsement will worsen the situation. But like you rightly pointed out, God will certainly prevail. He will need every dedicated believer to answer the call to be salt and light. The degradation should at least be slowed down by our influence. Thanks for your comment warrioress.
I voted for President Obama in 2008, and if the Lord should say the same I plan to vote for him again here in 2012. With that said, I totally disagree with him concerning same sex marriage. But here is why I plan to support him again, As president, he swore upon oath to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution, not the Bible, but the Constitution of the United States. He is not the pastor of the United States; he’s the president of the United States. He merely stated what he believed although it was most likely political in nature. He didn’t call for any legislative change. He is a Constitutional expert and as such he is speaking strictly from that aspect which says “all men are created equal.” However, biblically speaking same sex marriage is indeed against the will of God, Racism is also against God’s will and throughout American history we elected a few racist into the White House but that I know is another story.
Thanks for sharing your insights with us Spencer. You would know a lot more about the American Constitution than I can ever pretend to know as I’m thousands of miles away in the African continent. My prayer for Obama is that he is able to use his position to lead his nation in the fear of God. I’m not necessarily saying he should rub his faith in people’s faces or not respect other people’s choices not to follow the Christian faith, but once you make the proclamation that you are a follower of Christ, then even the office of the president of the United States cannot supersede the throne room of God Almighty. He therefore should not be promoting anything that God is vehemently opposed to or he may risk becoming politically correct and spiritually wrong. One cannot have two masters. It’s easier said than done I know but I’d like to think that we can have leaders who will not be afraid to stand for the truth as evidenced by their actions. Thanks again Spencer
I think Jesus never pushed anyone to believe in HIm and the Father. Instead, He tended to the souls of many. He taught us that the last will be first and the first will be last. Therefore, we should do our best to imitate Him. The Lord said that He wants mercy and not sacrifice. We then, should try our best to follow His lead. Therefore, we should not force Christians to believe what other Christians do, or push other believers to understand the Bible the way some Christians do. In that same vein, we cannot rule as to who is Christian and who is not, because that is embedded in a person’s heart. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, (Matthew 6:21).” Jesus knows what is inside everyone’s heart.
Therefore, some heterosexual Christians cannot keep cutting off the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender Christians from Christian Churches or from expressing their Christian faith the best way that they understand it. None of us is without error, and that includes scholars, Bible translations and interpretations. In the same way that the Christian right cannot be forced to believe in the theology of the left, and although they have tried, the Christian left cannot be forced to believe in the theology embraced by the right. After all, “Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip, Rev. Gary Shane Hibbs, Ph.D.” I have not seen any group that has been more persecuted in our times that the GBLT community.
And so, some Christians need to stop the bullying that is unfortunately done in God’s name. They need to stop excluding the GBLT community from society and its institutions, because those institutions belong to us all. As people created by the same God, they need to stop isolating, oppressing and humiliating the GBLT community for their expression of their faith, or for how they were Created as individuals, because yes, they were born that way. Ultimately, it is a matter between every single Christian and God. One thing is to provide an opinion, another is to push an opinion and then punish those that do not follow.
No person has the right to define how any person feels at the core of their being. Therefore, no straight person has the right to define who a GBLT person is at their core, in their spirit, by insisting that they have a choice in how they innately feel. In the same way, GBLT people have no business asking a straight person to change their sexuality or their gender identity although I have never seen an instance in which this has been proposed. I have never heard of a GBLT person demanding that a straight person turns gay, lesbian or transgender, for religious or any other reason. Heterosexual people cannot switch, because being heterosexual is part of who they are, embedded in their being and biology, and this is regardless of their particular faith or religion. In the same way, GBLT people are the way they were created. To live a lie to oneself, or a life filled with lies does not come from God, for God is truth and love. We should then not interfere with HIs Creation, HIs Wisdom, and the purpose for which He created some people different from others. We know that he majority is not always right, every creature He has created has a purpose, and who are we to interfere with that purpose. I believe that people should rather concentrate in improving their own souls, believing what they believe, sharing it, but letting others do the same freely, and without imposing any societal repercussions.
In addition, as CITIZENS, everyone should have the same rights whether Christians, members of another religion, or no religion at all. GBLT people suffer discrimination in the workforce, in many social settings since childhood (if they even had or have access to those), and ultimately even in their own homes discriminated by their own Christian family members. In silence they suffer the isolation and desperation brought about by a society who thinks that they have been supposedly helpful. Well intended Christians and many scholars who in their purest of hearts feel that this is the way they should go about practicing their faith and “guiding,” GBLT people. By forcing them to renounce who they are, forcing them to be celibate, denying them the blessing of a family, friends and yes even membership to a Christian Church. If a person cannot love or accept him or herself, how can he or she love others? Jesus says, “You shall love thy neighbor as yourself, (Mark 12:31). Think about that for a moment.
I realize that I am a Christian who is incapable of understanding everything in Scripture. There is much to learn, and when we say that we understand everything, we stop learning. Therefore, I much prefer to bless everyone and leave the judging to God. In addition, I also understand that there is a current debate among scholars concerning the interpretation of Scripture covering this subject. It is important to note that debates about what constitutes and what does not constitute “The Law,” had been in existence since ancient times. During HIs time, Jesus had to clarify, teach, and even rebuke the Pharisees and the Saducees. I would never then dare to judge any GBLT person, on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity. This is precisely because I fear the Lord, and because I cannot claim to know another person’s spiritual journey or their intimate personal relationship with God.
There are mysteries in the Bible, but the Lord promises that one day God will reveal His secrets to those He chooses to reveal them, and that not one rock will be left unturned. It also says that there will be people in Heaven that some people would have never thought would be there. You see, the heart of a person is very important, and only God can see and judge the heart. It is disappointing and heart breaking that many Christians have chosen and dared to judge and sentence the GBLT community.
Unfortunately, in the name of God many horrible events have occurred throughout the ages and many people have been unjustly persecuted and have even been burned and died at the stake. In those days, people also thought they were doing the right thing. But Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me, (Matthew 5:11).
I much prefer to do no harm. I leave the judging to God. I concentrate in perfecting myself in my Christian faith by practicing my love for God and for others. On these two commandments hang the Law and the Prophets, (Matthew 22: 40). Do this and you will live, (Luke 10:28). Every person will have to face God one day and give account of what they have done on Earth. I believe that God will ask us these things: Have you loved Me and others as I have commanded you? Did you help your neighbor, or helped the sick, or fed the poor? Or, did we live to judge others? Because in the same manner that we have judged, we will be judged. The third time Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep, (John 21:17).”