Barack Obama defended same-sex civil unions Sunday by referring Christians against the practice to look at Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which he contends supports gay civil unions.
"I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in a hospital or transfer property to each other," Obama said, referring to unions that provide all the legal benefits of marriage but the title, according to Christian Broadcasting Network. "I don't think it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state.
“If people find that controversial, then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans,” the Democratic presidential candidate contends. “That's my view. But we can have a respectful disagreement on that."
Media agencies speculate that Obama was referring to Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”
Obama was responding to a question posed by a local pastor during an appearance in Nelsonville, Ohio. Pastor Leon Forte had asked the candidate how he plans to win the support of evangelical voters who disagree with him on moral issues.
But not all Christians were happy with Obama’s use of the Bible to defend civil unions.
Pastor John Barner, manager of pastoral care at Focus on the Family, said:
"We are always saddened as evangelical Christians when others who identify themselves as Christians do not have the high view of Scripture that we believe is so important. We believe isolated portions of Scripture should not be used to justify a personal preference or a social position that goes in a different direction than the overall message of Scripture.”
The FOTF pastor said the Scripture is “pretty clear” in defining and affirming that marriage is “an exclusive, lifetime relationship between a man and a woman.”
“The compromising positions of these candidates are a disappointment to us as evangelical Christians,” he added.
Sen. Hillary Clinton has also expressed her support for civil unions.
“It’s a personal position,” she said in August, according to FOTF. “I am absolutely in favor of civil unions with full equality.”
Denny Burk, professor of New Testament at Criswell College in Dallas, also criticized Obama for insinuating that the Sermon on the Mount should be given greater emphasis than the teaching in Romans about homosexuality.
"The fact is that Jesus appointed Paul to bear his name before the Gentiles (Acts 9:15), many of whom were living in homosexual sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)," Burk said, according to the Baptist Press.
"The passage in Romans condemning homosexuality was not obscure to first century readers living in the Roman Empire. It’s only obscure to modern readers when they are looking for biblical grounds to justify that which God condemns,” the New Testament professor argued.
“As a matter of public policy, the best way to honor God’s intention for marriage and human sexuality is to keep monogamous, heterosexual marriage privileged in law,” he said. “Unfortunately, the policies of Senator Obama fall far short of the biblical ideal."
Amid ongoing questioning about his religion, Obama defended his personal faith while responding to the Ohio pastor, saying:
“I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian. I’ve been a member of the same church for 20 years. I pray to Jesus every night and try to go to church as much as I can.”
The Illinois senator explained that he hasn’t been home on Sunday for several months now.
The dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Russell D. Moore, cautioned Christians to not jump to conclusions about Obama.
"Conservative evangelicals and other social conservatives should not see Senator Obama's statements here as necessarily bad news," Moore said in a statement to Baptist Press. "He is acknowledging that his theological presuppositions affect the way he views governmental justice issues. We should be willing to engage that conversation, even when (as will often be the case) we have something very different to say.”
Obama’s pro-same-sex union comments came three days after he released a letter to the gay community vowing to use the “bully pulpit” as president to “treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws.”
Comments
<<<Evil comes disguised as light.>>>
That can go for a lot of things, some Organized Religions comes to mind. It's all perception based on assumptions.
<<Obama endorses partial birth abortion, gay marriage and other unbiblical things.>>
Where does it say anything negative in the Bible about partial birth abortion, and gay marriage? Oh, nowhere. Therfore it is not unBiblical. It is RELIGIOUS TRADITION and the creed of SOME Christian followers that makes that claim.
<<He is evil and both he and his wife hate this country.>>
More perspectives based in propaganda without evidentiary supported with FACT.
<<He bends Scripture as Satan did in the garden with Eve to trick and decieve.>>
The scriptures were not written when Adam and Eve were in the garden. Adam and Eve were illiterate and had no idea in the garden that there would one day be a Bible, therefore Satan could not have possibly bent scripture it hadn't been written yet.
<<<Where did they learn that from? Nowhere. It's a inborn trait. They steal because they see something they want. They may not know that either of those is a sin (or immoral if you choose that word). It's up to someone to point out that it is wrong. >>>
I would have to say they learned it from their parents, adults or siblings, thus making the point I have been stating ALL along, they learn lying, stealing and violent behavior from their parents, adults or siblings. It doesn't prove YOUR point when I state that children practice lying, or have the capacity to lie, they lie when they have developed speech, right? So it's pretty obvious that when they can speak, they have witnessed enough instances of parent or adult behavior to poorly or accurately model what they learn. YES, lying is a commonplace behaviour, and children are subject to lies all the time. The problem is that children learn to lie through experiencing others lie. It's a problem because they model what they see in adults.
<<<But keep talking about the children lying speech. You are continuing to prove my point. Children are born with the ability to lie, steal, etc. They lie because they don't want to get caught.>>>
How does it prove your point to say that by the time children speak they have learned to lie. By the time they speak, they have had enough modeled behavior experience from their parents and the adults around them which proves my point. If someone learns something, that means it is not innate- thus making it reasoned behavior.
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied
Evil comes disguised as light. Obama endorses partial birth abortion, gay marriage and other unbiblical things. He is evil and both he and his wife hate this country. He bends Scripture as Satan did in the garden with Eve to trick and decieve.
Yes, but there are many psycholigist that would say that humans are born with the desire to do wrong, such as lie, steal, hit, etc, etc...
But keep talking about the children lying speech. You are continuing to prove my point. Children are born with the ability to lie, steal, etc. They lie because they don't want to get caught. Where did they learn that from? Nowhere. It's a inborn trait. They steal because they see something they want. They may not know that either of those is a sin (or immoral if you choose that word). It's up to someone to point out that it is wrong.
you said,
<<<I could find just as many psychologists who agree with me as you can find who agree with you.
We are all born into sin.>>>
Only a religious or theological psychologist would say something as ridiculous as "WE ARE ALL BORN INTO SIN."
From everything I am finding, it looks conclusive that LYING is a learned behavior- one that is reinforced bt how the parent deals with the situation. We learn to behave or not- sorry, but saying the Bible says so, is not working for me as FACT, nor is your anecdotal experience. You can believe in the Bbile and blame "sin" as the reason children behave the way they do, but YOUR theories don't jive with science, psychology or child development experts.
QT,
I didnt say anything about psychologists who believe in God, did I?
Young children learn from experience that stating an untruth can avoid punishment for misdeeds, before they develop the theory of mind necessary to understand why it works. In this stage of development, children will sometimes tell fantastic and unbelievable lies because they lack the conceptual framework to judge whether a statement is believable or even to understand the concept of believability.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie
Young children learn from experience that stating an untruth can avoid punishment for misdeeds, before they develop the theory of mind necessary to understand why it works. In this stage of development, children will sometimes tell fantastic and unbelievable lies because they lack the conceptual framework to judge whether a statement is believable or even to understand the concept of believability.
The capacity to lie is noted early and nearly universally in human development. Social psychology and developmental psychology are concerned with the theory of mind, which people employ to simulate another's reaction to their story and determine if a lie will be believable. The most commonly cited milestone, what is known as Machiavellian intelligence, is at the age of about four and a half years, when children begin to be able to lie convincingly.
PART 2 innate means: existing in, belonging to, or determined by factors present in an individual from birth.
Behaviors are learned, children are not born with an established set of Good and Bad.
<<<If I really thought this argument was worth it, I could find just as many psychologists who agree with me as you can find who agree with you.
We are all born into sin. Children do not know it's wrong until they are told it is. >>>
The theology which you parrot says children are born into sin. Psychologists who are actually impartial to the Bible, G-d and religion disagree with you and other psychologists who believe in the Fallen Humanity theory of Bible Talk.
I just wonder where my 3 year old son, who had never been in a day care, and never saw me to it, learned to steal? He didn't learn it from anyone. He was born with it...like every other baby. If I really thought this argument was worth it, I could find just as many psychologists who agree with me as you can find who agree with you.
We are all born into sin. Children do not know it's wrong until they are told it is.