Obama's Golden Rule: Say anything for a vote

While running for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Barack Obama responded to a questionnaire saying he favored legalizing homosexual "marriage" and wrote that he "would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." In 2004, he said he opposed homosexual "marriage," based on his faith, and didn't consider it a civil right.

For the record, homosexuals have the same rights of citizenship as the rest of us. What they want is the special right to redefine a foundational institution. But putting that aside, sources reported that Obama's stance changed again (when in fact it hadn't). Some politicians will say anything for a vote, and Obama falls into that category.

On Tuesday, May 8, 61 percent of North Carolina voters chose to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. After Vice President Joseph Biden publicly stated that he supported homosexual "marriage," and Amendment One won at the polls, Obama supposedly was under pressure to make a public statement. An excerpt:

"This is something that, you know, we've talked about over the years and [Michelle], you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we 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."

Forget being "at odds with the views of others" for a moment, Mr. President, and focus on what God has said about marriage and homosexuality. That God instituted this union between a man and a woman, who become one flesh, is no mere trifle. It is part of His divine, created order, and homosexual "marriage" is outside that order. The Apostle Paul calls homosexuality unnatural and shameful, and those who commit the acts bear the punishment. Why punishment? Because homosexuality is a sin. How, from the whole of Scripture, does Obama find support for that which sent Christ to the cross?

Obama conveniently ignores the context of the Golden Rule. In His Sermon on the Mount, Christ gives us an exposition of the law and a call to faith and repentance from sin. The concept of the "rule" goes back to before Christ and means we ought to treat others the way we'd want to be treated. It doesn't mean that because heterosexuals can marry, we should redefine the word and upend the institution so that two men can call themselves "married."

With an eye toward the presidential election, Obama, who claims he's a Christian, invoked Scripture to support that which the Bible clearly condemns.