According to Monsignor Charles Pope, President Barack Obama “has flunked theology” and “refashioned Jesus” by using his faith to defend his support for “gay marriage.”
Msgr. Pope, who blogs about culture and current events for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., said that Obama has presented an “incomplete” picture of Jesus as “a nice and affirming person, who spoke of Love” without regard for Scripture’s “consistent teaching” against homosexual acts.
In a May 10 blog post, Msgr. Pope explained that while Christ does love us immensely, despite our failures, he “also summons us to repentance and a life that is increasingly free from sin and conformed to the truth by his grace.”
Obama made headlines on May 9 when he made an unprecedented statement in favour of “gay marriage.”
“I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts.
In justifying his decision, Obama cited his religious beliefs, saying that he and his wife, Michelle, “are both practicing Christians.”
The president acknowledged that “obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others.”
However, he said, “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.”
Msgr. Pope warned of the theological danger in presenting Jesus as a “rather harmless hippie who went about talking about love and inclusion,” while ignoring that he also spoke about morality and sin, including sexual sin.
There is much more to Christ’s teaching than simply the Golden Rule, he observed, and the faithful must respect “the overall trajectory of the Scriptures.”
The very definition of heresy is to “pick or choose,” he said.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, observed that Obama had previously used his Christian faith to support marriage as a sacred union that should not be redefined.
He pointed to a 2008 presidential debate exchange between candidate Obama and pastor Rick Warren.
When asked to define marriage, Obama replied, “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian, it’s also a sacred union. You know, God’s in the mix.”
In now citing the Golden Rule, Obama “twists Scripture” to justify what is actually a “rejection of biblical Truth,” said LaBarbera.
Critics of Obama’s unprecedented announcement have suggested that the move was done to gain financial support from gay activists.
Christians of numerous denominations have panned the president’s appeal to faith as a justification for his position.
Bryant Wright, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Baptist Press that Scripture “is very clear that from the beginning, God intended marriage to be between one man and one woman.”
Msgr. Pope explained that while there are certain rituals, punishment rules and dietary restrictions that can be seen to fall away or be fulfilled later in Scripture, teachings of divine moral law “remain unchanged and are continuously articulated at every stage of Biblical revelation.”
Homosexual acts, along with fornication and adultery, are described as sinful in both the Old and New Testament, he said. Nowhere in Scripture are they “ever affirmed.”
In invoking his Christian faith to defend a redefinition of marriage, Obama “has flunked theology” and “refashioned Jesus for his own purpose,” he said.
Mgr Charles Pope’s Blog can be followed here: http://blog.adw.org/2012/05/the-president-gay-unions-and-the-problem-of-selective-christianity/
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