According to President Obama the Golden Rule was his reason supporting same-sex marriage. Is this a justified position from a Christian perspective as Obama posits? I don’t think so.
Ed Stetzer wrote a piece on the latest research that, sadly, 64% of Americans believe legalization of same-sex marriage is inevitable. Stetzer reminded us of Obama’s Golden Rule comment. What Obama actually said was quoted in a 2010 USA Today article. The President stated that he and Mrs. Obama are:
both practicing Christians and obviously [same-sex marriage] 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.
Interesting how Obama can reference his Christian faith as a reason to support a law, but when someone on the right does the same they get blasted. (That’s another discussion.) Ironically, Obama invokes Christ’s sacrifice throws in a “but” and moves to the Golden Rule. There are no “buts” between Christ’s sacrifice and His teaching of the Golden Rule.
What Jesus said is recorded in Matthew 7 and Luke 6:31. The Gospel of Matthew reads, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 ESV). On the Law and the Prophets Jesus also said:
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
Not only are there no “buts” between Jesus’ sacrifice and His teachings, but His teachings are to be followed in conjunction with His sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice frees believers from sin and enables them to follow His teachings.
Finally, we love our neighbors as ourselves second to loving God with all our being. We love our neighbors in light of God’s commands including keeping others from and warning them about sin. Therefore, for a Christian to truly do unto others as we would have them do unto us leads to a rejection of same-sex marriage.
Besides, if Obama does not desire to marry another man, how is he “doing unto others”?
For what it’s worth…
Mark
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The above article was posted on March 12, 2013
