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DALLAS—It didn’t take long for response to President Obama’s endorsement of homosexual marriage to emerge from Texas pastors and ministry leaders.
Obama cited his Christian faith in his May 9 announcement and stated that the Golden Rule weighs heavily in his faith alongside Christ’s sacrifice.
Only a couple of hours after the president’s announcement, First Baptist Church of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress was at the Dallas-Fort Worth Fox television affiliate’s studio opposite a lesbian pastor of Dallas’ Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ, a nationally prominent gay-affirming congregation.
Jo Hudson, who said she was raising a young daughter with her partner, was seated next to Jeffress for the nearly 16-minute news segment.
“I think it is a great, historic day,” Hudson said. “Certainly, for people who have been marginalized and made second-class citizens in many ways, this is an important statement.”
But Jeffress countered that the problem with gay marriage is twofold: It violates God’s plan for marriage according to Scripture, and “it destabilizes our country by devaluing marriage.”
In Matthew 19, Jeffress said, Jesus gave God’s blueprint for marriage—one man and one woman.
“And any deviation from that pattern, whether it be adultery, cohabitation, unbiblical divorce, polygamy or same-sex marriage, is a deviation from God’s standard.”
Calling gay marriage a counterfeit, Jeffress said, “If you are going to expand marriage to include anything and everything, you have devalued the real thing.”
Toward the end of the interview, Hudson objected to Jeffress’ characterization of Christian doctrine because “not all Christians believe what Dr. Jeffress believes.”
Hudson then clarified that she believes that God’s Word and God’s revelation are open and changing.
Jeffress responded, “Polls change and people change, but God’s Word never changes, and we cannot condone what God has condemned, which is anything outside of marriage.”
OTHERS PASTORS RESPOND
Tony Mathews, pastor of North Garland Baptist Fellowship in Garland and vice president of the African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, said he was already getting questioned about the president’s announcement at mid-week church services on May 9.
“Marriage, and its definition, have been biblically defined by God Almighty—and God does not need (nor does He welcome) human editors attempting to rewrite what’s in His book. President Obama is wrong on this issue,” Mathews wrote in a response titled “Who’s Right on This Issue, God or President Obama?”
“On this issue, it boils down to something really simple,” Mathews continued. “Do you trust God who thousands upon thousands of years ago decisively (without ever wavering) established and defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5)? Or, do you trust a president who has been in office for only four years—a president who on this issue has wavered, been indecisive, and has within the last 48 hours ‘evolved’ so drastically that he’s willing to ignore that 32 states have already adopted God’s definition of marriage?
“Finally, what’s even more troubling is that he wants the rest of us to ‘evolve’ as well. Since he said that it’s his Christian values that have led him to make this decision, I’m praying that he will read the Christian guide, namely, the Word of God, and correct his ways on this issue of marriage.”
Bob Stith, the Southern Baptists’ national strategist for gender issues and a former Southlake pastor, said Obama’s endorsement “is a completely wrong-headed approach,” but Stith said his announcement wasn’t a surprise for those who have been watching closely.
“It challenges the foundation of the home that has been in place for thousands of years and in virtually every major civilization. With our educational institutions teaching this error to children from the earliest ages, we are facing a crisis of unimaginable magnitude,” Stith warned.
Regardless of what government leaders do, Christians must remember they can often affect change on the micro level and through interpersonal relationships. In doing so, believers must speak wisely on the issue, he urged.
Citing the environmental factors that often contribute to homosexuality, he said the church must equip parents to help their children “from the early years on.”
“We absolutely must be about rebuilding the foundation of the home. We can’t settle for an annual sermon on the home or an occasional workshop. We should be preparing our children from middle school on for the challenges and rewards of living a Christ-centered life in the home. It really serves no good purpose to criticize Obama if we aren’t doing all we can to safeguard the foundations. This would certainly include stemming the epidemic of divorce within the church,” Stith said.
Other Texas pastors and ministry leaders also commented on the president’s announcement.
—“Marriage is of God, not man,” wrote David Hartwig, pastor of First Baptist Church of Sterling City. “Both Old and New Testaments affirm this. For the president to deny this is nothing short of public and purposeful rejection of the authority and veracity of God's Word. For the president to endorse and legitimize what God calls sin is both rude and foolish. Additionally, he has intentionally fueled the continuing assault on Christian principles that our country was founded upon. We should not be surprised though, the president is doing nothing less than what he said he would if elected. Sadly, we may be getting what we asked for.”
—Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington and a prominent supporter of the Texas marriage amendment in 2005, wrote on his blog: “President Obama has betrayed the Bible and the black church with his endorsement of same-sex marriage. The Bible is crystal clear on this subject, and the black church strongly opposes same-sex marriage. His endorsement is an inadvertent attack on the Christian faith. America is now a candidate for the same judgment received by Sodom and Gomorrah. This was a sad, sad day and a very bad decision, by our beloved president.”
McKissic added: “The black church should galvanize, mobilize and address this matter with the same (if not greater) intensity, velocity and resolve as we did the civil rights movement. If we don’t, our children and grandchildren will pay a far greater price in suffering from a governmental sanction of same-sex marriage than we would have under segregation.”
—David Fleming, pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, told the TEXAN by email: “I was already planning a series entitled ‘Functional Families,’ but President Obama certainly has provided a heightened sense of interest and urgency with his recent and public support of same-sex marriage.
“It is deeply troubling that our president is still evolving on something as fundamentally important to our society as marriage and the family. President Obama says he consulted with friends and neighbors, his wife, and even his two daughters as he ‘evolved’ in his thinking on same-sex marriage. Sadly, our president is following those he should be leading instead of standing on biblical and moral convictions as a leader. God has already defined marriage as a sacred union between a man and a woman for life. I vote we follow the Lord and lead our friends, neighbors and children in His clearly prescribed ways.”
A recent poll from LifeWay Research showed Americans are almost evenly split on whether or not homosexuality is sinful. Forty-four percent of the more than 2,000 respondents chosen as a cross-section of the American populace said it is sinful, while 43 percent said it is not. Thirteen percent were unsure.
According to Baptist Press, younger Americans ages 18 to 29 were the least likely to look favorably on a church teaching homosexuality is sinful, while those 65 and older were most likely to look favorably on a church teaching that homosexuality is sinful.
