President Obama Has My Christian Vote
My Biblical Break-down of Why I’m Riding with Obama
Yesterday, President Obama came out of the closet to say: “For me personally it is important for me to affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
And then the world imploded. Or you’d think it did based on the outraged reactions from conservatives and liberal Christians alike. Predictably, Fox Nation immediately condemned President Obama’s statement as a “declar[ation of] war on Marriage”:
And Rush Limbaugh echoed the same sentiment. (Do we have to count Rush Limbaugh as a Christian?) And of course, social media offered up this gem:
When I announced my support of President Obama on Twitter, this random non-follower told me I wasn’t actually a Christian:
O, RLY?
And another person posted this message on Facebook:
That last reaction is based on the rest of President Obama’s statement that the Golden Rule of Christianity — treat others as you want to be treated — led him to support legalizing same sex marriage:
“In the end the values that I care most deeply about and [Michelle] cares most deeply about is how we treat other people,” he said. “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—treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president, and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”
How dare he?!
I am not disputing what the Bible says about homosexuality in any way. The text says what it says and says it more than once. I am not enough of a Bible scholar to make any argument for what else God could have possibly meant by including those statements repeatedly in the Bible and so I won’t. What I am saying is that what the Bible says about homosexuality should have no bearing on our reactions as Christians to gays and lesbians having the legal choice to marry in America, and here is my four-point Biblical explanation for that:
1) Matthew 7:12: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” It may be very hard for some Christians to put themselves in the shoes of gays and lesbians, so I’m not going to ask you to do that. But I will ask that you consider what it would be like if:
- Your husband or wife was forbidden by law from coming to your hospital bedside as you lay dying;
- Distant relatives were left to make decisions about your health care because your husband or wife wasn’t legally recognized;
- You were unable to have children and then because of your caste and not your character you are legally forbidden from adopting children with your husband or wife;
- You were forbidden from marrying the person you’ve chosen to love based upon the religious views of a Muslim / Buddhist / Taoist / Hindu /*insert religion that is not yours*.
For all of our Constitution’s original flaws, we can celebrate that We the People came together over time and made the Constitution better, including creating the First Amendment which prohibits the government from having any established religion. THIS IS A GOOD THING because your religion might not always be the religion of the majority at the moment. Though Christians in office should do their best to legislate in a Christian way (read: in a way that MEETS PEOPLE’S NEEDS, i.e. providing food, shelter, clothing, and health care), legislating the Bible is neither a good idea nor is it fundamentally Christian. Here’s why:
2) Revelation 3:20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me”; 2 Corinthians 9:7: “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”; and Joshua 24:15: “Choose you this day whom you will serve.”
There are some very important action words in these scriptures describing what Christ wants us to do in regards to Him: a) hear and open the door to Christ; b) DECIDE c) CHOOSE. Each of these scriptures underscores the principle theme of Christianity: it is a free-will CHOICE God grants to us. He does not force Himself onto us but desires that we would know Him and become so in love with Him that we would CHOOSE Him, CHOOSE His way, CHOOSE to honor Him with our life, our words, our deeds.
The choice for Christ is individual, it is intimate and extremely personal. God designed it that way and He did so for a reason. I don’t pretend to know WHY He didn’t just make us all good, obedient, non-sinning folks, but that’s obviously not for us to know. The important thing is that God gave us free will — not the government and not the world. As the song goes, “the world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away!”
3) Mark 10:9: “Therefore, what God has put together, let no man separate.” Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 11:34: “And the REST will I set in order when I come.”
I know that some Christians are genuinely concerned that their own marriages will become void if gays and lesbians get married. Seriously, people, “Let not your heart be trouble, neither let it be afraid.” If GOD joined you together, what does that say of the ultimate power and authority of the almighty God if someone else’s distant activities can separate you? Paul said he is CONVINCED that nothing can separate Him from God, and as Christians, there is no Biblical basis for us to feel like someone else’s activities can make us unholy. Our choice to react to someone else’s activities is the ONLY thing that can make us unholy in the sight of God.
God said the REST — everything not perfectly clear in the Bible — He will set in order when He comes back for us. If HE has a problem with ANY kind of sin, please believe Him when He says He’ll handle it.
Finally,
4) Acts 2:42-47: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If Christians really want to have a “Christian nation,” they’ll act like it. And by “act,” I mean Acts 2:41-47, above. Because the believers in the first church in Acts were so generous and kind and loving to one another, providing and sacrificing for one another, the LORD touched the hearts of those around them and ADDED Christians to their numbers DAILY. That’s the sign of real Christianity. Real Christianity is contagious! If your behavior is not rubbing off on others, check the water cause something in it ain’t clean. If we want people to live a Christian life and abide by the Bible with the spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit convicting them, we kind of have to do those things ourselves first!
I don’t want to come across as too hard on Christians who are upset about President Obama’s statement supporting same-sex marriage. I understand how difficult it is for Christians who just want to live by the Bible to navigate exactly what we’re supposed to do in every situation that the Bible has not clearly laid out for us. We ARE supposed to call out other Christians when they say something wrong in the name of Christ. We ARE supposed to call out sin in love to those with receptive ears. But this is an issue that is not as black and white as “thou shalt not have pre-marital sex” (which, ironically, is an issue that does NOT seem to inspire in Christians a desire to picket or amend the Constitution).
But what is real is that there are people in this country who are hurting. There are kids who are committing suicide because of the way they are being treated and that is CLEARLY not what God wants for any of His children to do, since Christ came that we might have LIFE and have it more abundantly. So as straight Christians (and some of you extra hype people that might be in the closet yourselves) something’s got to give.
I don’t pretend to know exactly how Christians should navigate these muddy waters of legislating in a Christian way but NOT legislating the Bible. It’s a tightrope walk, to be sure. But I do know that Christ has called us to feed His sheep, clothe them, visit them in jail, shelter them, and provide for their most basic needs: to feel loved and cared for and respected as human beings. We are equally God’s children and as such, we are all equally eligible to receive the grace, peace, love, forgiveness and hope of Christ. If we as Christians — whether in our policies as legislators or our daily lives — strive to remember these things and do as President Obama has done, “treat people the way you want to be treated,” we will consistently please God. And isn’t that the whole point anyway?
Peace and blessings to everyone as they choose their life paths based on their convictions. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Oh yeah, and we’re voting for Obama.
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I’ve been following your blog for some time…and debating whether to stop following you for some time after I read your support on abortion…but now i’m convinced that you are more concerned with making your christianity fit the times and the status of the current world view of our society. Yo are right that the Bible is murky on some things….but this issue isn’t one of them. The issue isn’t about how should non christians vote…its about how Christians should vote. If you really think christ would say his followers should vie for two men should marry each other….then your Bible must be different from mine…i wonder how you feel about polygamy or multigamy (which may be the solution for bisexual people) following your logic. Should prostitution and cocaine use also be voted legal since “we should treat others how we want to be treated?” And we shouldn’t “judge” ? This Christian won’t be voting for Obama (and not just cause of this issue) or Romney for that matter…nor will this Christian follow this blog anymore
Yes we do not live in a theocracy…but I am entitled to vote according to my beliefs. Why are you trying to dictate to Christians that they shouldn’t vote according to how they believe? Non Christians vote as they please…so why shouldn’t Christians?! Vote as you see fit dcdiva and don’t try to twist the word to suit your own will..that would be like me looking for scripture to justify why I should sleep with my boyfriend or take two husbands
Thanks for reading and commenting, @MJ! If you can point me to a scripture that says “Thou shalt ignore your government’s separation of church and state and vote for the Bible to apply to non-believers under your own judgment and authority,” I’d be happy to concede the point. Since I doubt you’ll find it, let’s just say that the Bible is murky on what you should do in a situation like this and we’ll have to glean what to do from what we know of the nature and character of God and His requirements of us as Christians.
And if you’d stop supporting a President who has 80% of your best interests at heart for the 20% of his non-policy-impacting personal opinion, I’m not at all surprised or offended that you’d stop reading my lil ole blog! Though that abortion post was awhile ago, so thanks for sticking it out! I hope you were blessed by something!
I think you misunderstood this post and the post on abortion. The issue is not how to deal with your OWN sin, it’s how Christians should deal with the perceived sins of OTHERS, an issue which, no matter how much you huff and puff, you have ZERO control over. If you stop gays and lesbians from getting married, they’re still going to be gays and lesbians, so what are you proving? If that somehow makes you feel better about yourself and your walk with God, then say that, but don’t say that there’s a scripture to back it up and then not provide it.
I also think you might misunderstand bisexuality. I’m no expert myself, but I don’t think they want two people at the same time…And the issue isn’t what I think or you think, it’s what God thinks. Whatever His thoughts on polygamy, He sure let it occur for quite some time in the Old Testament…
It’s been argued that prostitution is a victimless crime, and it’s also been argued that if drugs were legal like the drug of alcohol is legal, then there’d be less crime and deaths or something…that’s not really my area and you kind of lost me there.
When did I say “we shouldn’t judge?” Now I feel bad for writing this long response because it’s becoming clearer and clearer that you made up a post to respond to that I didn’t write. alas.
In any case, I’ll end this the same way I ended the post: “Peace and blessings to everyone as they choose their life paths based on their convictions.” I’m doing the same.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Aunty! I will say this is probably the first time that I’ve heard a Christian argue that Christians should do something because it’s what non-Christians are doing. wha?
And no dictating is coming from me. Everyone must live life according to their own convictions. I really do appreciate your comments!
Read your post on Ebony.com. I agree with you, but I must offer one correction: your reference to 1 Cor. 11:34, “And the REST will I set in order when I come.” It’s not God or Jesus talking to his followers and saying he’ll give us more information at the second coming. It’s Paul telling the Corinthian church that he (Paul) will give more instructions about the order of The Lord’s Supper when he comes back for a visit. I don’t mean to “Bible thump” you; I know you said you’re not enough of a bible scholar to debate some of Christianity’s murky issues, but the context of that particular scripture is easy to understand and was irrelevant to the point you were making in your piece.
Thanks, Mariam! And I don’t consider it Bible thumping at all! I’m glad you read and know that scripture.
To me, this is like taking Paul’s scripture, “I am convinced [that nothing can separate me from the love of God]” and then me adopting that stance as my own. I didn’t come up with it, someone else said it but it still applies to me.
In the same vein, Christ is absolutely clear that He will set things in order when He returns. Does He say it in a nice neat little package like in 1 Corinthians? Not that I can think of off the top of my head. But it’s all God’s word which is why I felt comfortable making that scripture applicable to God. And in that vein I found it relevant to my overall point that there’s nothing to worry about, God has everything under control and He will work everything out in due time.
Thanks again for reading and commenting! I so appreciate you
Specifically as it relates to President Obama earning my vote or not…as a Christian, that decision should always be bathed in prayer. As Christians, we will never find a “perfect candidate” to meet every single interest that we as citizens have. With that being said, I do find it rather humorous that there was an uproar from the Christian community regarding his support of gay marriage yet most of us (myself included) had nothing to say as it relates to his support of the right for a woman to abort (KILL) her unborn baby. We (Christians/church) very subtly minimize and maximize certain sins as if God has a category system of sin. I digress, bc that’s an entirely different conversation, lol.
My disappointment in Pres. Obama had absolutely nothing to do with the “President” supporting gay marriage. My disappointment stems from a professed Christian supporting gay marriage. As a President, yes your job is to do what’s fair for all. However before any of us step into whatever roles and positions we hold, if you’re a Christian, you’re a follower of Christ FIRST. Whether you are the President or a John Doe, if you’ve openly confessed Christ to be your Savior, your first priority is to please Christ. We cant be salt and light in a bland and dark world if we are tasteless and dark and blending ourselves. I can only imagine the internal struggle that one faces in a role like this, remaining true to your faith while making decisions for a nation, which is why we WE should constantly pray for our leaders.
Do we really understand what covenant & marriage is?!! The institution of marriage is a direct reflection or representation of Christ’s relationship with His Church. That’s huge!!! If we the church allow government to re-define what Christ honors (covenant), sad to say, we’re losing horribly. But again, that’s an entirely different conversation.
As Christians, our convictions & our belief is in something GREATER than the Constitution of the U.S. If President Obama were anything other than a Christian, this public support would not have shocked me, it would’ve been expected. But again, regardless of your position or title, Christ is who you’re seeking to please, not man. Given his large platform it saddens me that for some, he’s the only Bible they will ever read, and if that’s the case, he’s misleading them tremendously. BTW, I still love my President too 🙂
Thanks so much for reading and for your thoughtful commentary, Renee’! Yes, I absolutely agree with your statement that “our belief is in something GREATER than the Constitution of the U.S.” Absolutely!!!
However, the key words in that sentence are “our belief.” This post and President Obama’s statements deal with what Christians should do to those who do NOT share “our belief.” Christians arguing that we should basically strive to make it illegal to be anything other than a Christian in America just doesn’t jive with the Bible or God’s nature and character. We chose to be Christian — why are we not allowing other people to do the same?
And you’re also absolutely right that we pick and choose which sins we care about. It is human nature to deflect and self-protect, I guess. It is scary and painful to examine our ownselves and scrutinize our own flaws, which is why we desperately cling to other people’s. But on judgment day, we are all alone with God and there’s no deflecting. Might as well deal with our stuff now and get it fixed!
And to your last point, love teaches us to assume the best about people. I assume President Obama was genuine in his decision to get out of the way of gays and lesbians getting married, which is why he stopped defending Bush’s Defense of Marriage Act in court. Is getting out the way the same as support? I think that’s very subjective.
You’re right, the first priority for Christians is to please Christ. But I can’t pretend that HOW to please Christ is cut and dry in every situation. It certainly is not for me. So as a Christian, I can only act based on what I am SURE will please God, and that is to treat everyone with kindness, respect, and allow them the basic human dignity to make their own choices for their own lives, irrespective of my personal convictions.
Thanks again for reading and especially commenting!!!
I applaud this post and I love it.
You used the Word to guide your words and that is what I most respect.
it is interesting to note that on NPR, I heard a representative of the Concerned Women of America, a conservative Christian advocacy group say that Obama was attempting to reverse a 3000 year tradition for marriage.
When in reality, marriage has evolved and change over years. Mary, the mother of Jesus was between 12 and 14 when she married Joseph. For the majority of “traditional Christian marriage”, women were viewed as property. Is this what we want to maintain??
Great post again, DC District Diva!!
Thank you thank you Crystal! Someone also mentioned, “what’s next, POLYGAMY?!” LOL. I wanted to say, you mean, “What’s FIRST?!” Marriage has certainly evolved over time, and though I don’t recall God specifically telling Abram or Jacob or Solomon to have multiple wives, He certainly didn’t stop them, and He definitely allowed them to face the consequences of their actions: Solomon was deeply troubled because of all of his wives, Jacob’s family was in complete turmoil because of the competition between his wives and their children, Abraham’s children are STILL fighting each other to this day, Ishmael/Isaac Palestine/Israel! We skip these little inconvenient truths, though.
I read as many comments here as I could,and I would like to say please,that LOVE and tolerance are two distinctly different concepts.GOD loves his people but in no way does He tolerate sin of ANY kind.He did NOT ever allow anyone in his word,Old testament and New,to sin without consequences and that is precisely why they had results of their actions as we do today.Our leaders are not perfect but if any of us KNOW that God does not approve of same sex marriage because the two become ONE flesh,then we as Christians have an obligation not to accept their beliefs.This is not forcing anyone to accept ours just because we choose not to vote for Obama,however by our president not taking a stand for God’s commandments and only making decisions based on love,he is denying Christ’s OTHER qualities of purity,discipline and intolerance of sin.We cannot have it both ways.We have to either stand for God or NOT stand for God.We can love people but we don’t have to adopt their ways.If Obama claims to be Christian,maybe he should have chosen a different career choice than to say it is ok for gays to join in a very Godly institution as marriage.God did not give us a bible of confusion and is very specific on what is sin and what is not.I refuse to believe that it is “gray” in areas.We either serve Christ or we serve the world.We cannot do both,out of LOVE,though we can have love for all.That in no way implies that love is easy and allows us to allow anything just because people believe they are not doing any wrong.I respect your right to your opinion and thank you for allowing me to post.
Sure and thank you for stopping by and commenting. i just don’t know, based on your comment, whether you actually read my post or not, so I’m not sure how to respond.
If you can point out in the Bible where God explains specifically what Christians who are in non-religious leadership positions and are not gay ought to do when it comes to same sex marriage, then I’ll concede your point that it is a black and white issue. If you can’t find it, please concede that it is gray. I don’t want to rewrite my blog post in the comments, so I won’t. But my argument was not “love and tolerance” as you say, so I’m just not sure how to respond to the rest of your comment. The trouble is, we are not a Christian nation; We are a nation of Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Buddhists and non-commital “spiritual” people, among other beliefs. One of the best ways I’ve heard it explained is: “say your religion forbids you to watch the NFL. That’s fine, but you can’t go and ban the NFL for everyone.” Make sense? The difference between being a Christian and being a Christian who is also a leader of non-Christians is that as a public leader, you take an oath to follow the Constitution, which allows in the First Amendment the right of people to practice freedom of religion or non-religion without that right being infringed upon by the laws and actions of the government. Plainly, Christians cannot demand non-Christians follow the Bible. And for the reasons I’ve stated above in this post, Christians shouldn’t want to.
Thank you for this. I agree with you and I’ve had a hard time articulating my view points to other people so this is very helpful!!
Good morning, as a Christian, this is a very difficult year for deciting on the next president! Many people are torn…watch the movie “Act of Valor” I was brought up republican and changed to being a democrate for many years! I’m now independant, but this movie does shed some light…very interesting!!! I do have a change of heart on “War!!!!” I felt, the main reason are troops were fighting was to protect our oil and we really should not have a large number of troops there ! Also, we are pretecting the civilians as well ,but at some point the people of the different countries need to stand up and learn to fight for their own country!!!! This movie shows…the innocent people..being forced to be human shields!! Please watch the movie!!!!
“God Bless”
As a Christian we have to decide on whether we will follower Christ every sec of the day. And yes we fall short at times but that is why we have the holy spirit to convict us. Its for the true followers that are striving to hear God say well done faithful servant. And by voting for someone that is completely against Gods will for our nation just because of all the other things that will benefit middle class is truly a person that is depending on man and not God. Vote with a conscious. Think about all those babies that will be aborted after the mothers carry them so long they decide they don’t want them. so when they survive they will be left to die in another room because Obama says long term abortions will be in if he’s in office. Some of them dont come out dead. Do your research. That is murder and heart less. If people would just get saved and serve God then we wouldn’t be going through all this. This is Gods judgment. And for that person to use scripture to justify all this you need to repent and get right with God. Because knowing scripture and not fighting for what you believe does not make you saved. God made man and woman to be one not man and man or woman and woman. so again you blaspheme God with trying to justify his word to follow man. Please repent before its to later…
Is this the same woman who was stalking my Facebook page and sending me all sorts of random messages? Didn’t I say goodbye to you already? You have a sick and sad desire to be acknowledged as right and I’m just not going to fulfill that need for you ever so please get your validation and attention elsewhere.
Only true Christians will follow the Lord. Obama is not a Christian nor has he ever been. He only wants to please man and not God. And the blacks would sell their soul to satan to have Obama in office, and that is what they did. And that’s a shame, they can make any excuses they want to ,or try to twist God’s holy words,but it will not work. They sold themselves out just because he is black. What a shame that they would put a man before God.
ROFLLLL at these bitter “White Tears” you’re spilling on my site. You’ve won the “first racist troll on DistrictDiva.com” award! But let’s be clear: the prize is simply my laughter at your crazy comment. Can you be a “true Christian” and still be a hardcore racist? Guess you’ll have to work that out with Jesus but I”m betting NO.
Oh this was so refreshing to read. Since Obama is married to a woman and has been for years, I’m finding it awfully hard to understand why people are so upset. There is no evidence that he is in any way endorsing the lifestyle. I don’t think that people understand that there is a difference between encouraging people to do something deemed as sinful, and acknowledging that the law should have no authority to stop them. God does not do this to us, He gives us free will. So why should government attempt to elevate itself above God by doing something that not even God himself does? President Obama was not telling men and women across the country to join up and marry amongst themselves, he was only stating that they have the legal right under the law to do so. And the truth of the matter is that they do. The same people who wanna jump up and down, misquoting the Constitution are the same ones now who are refusing to acknowledge its governing supremacy when it comes to this issue. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that we all do something sinful on a daily basis. We have the ability to do so because our free will was God-given, no legislation will ever be able to take that away from us. Most of us can get away with things in terms of the law (even though we know better), but God sees all things and will deal with us accordingly. If homosexuals are doing something wrong, then God will deal with them because their decisions were made by them alone.
Me personally, I have my own sins to worry about. I’m sure President Obama realizes the same about himself; hence why he’s not about to try to stop people from sinning when it’s clear what the biblical position is on homosexuality. We cannot police what other people do with their own lives when it has nothing to do with us. All we can do is make sure that they know what God’s laws are. If they choose not to listen, all we can do is love and pray for them and hope that they will choose to live in the will of God.
Hi Ashley! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! I’m right there with you on this opinion. Bless you!
I have no issues with gay marriage but honestly obama is a crappy ass president …he is terrible …
Hey Michelle, thanks for reading and sharing your opinion!
What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this web site daily,
this website is really pleasant and the people are really sharing
good thoughts.
There are a lot of people who think there are saved and that they are Christians, but they are not. No one can go against God’s laws and go with man made laws that go against God. They are not real Christians and they are just fooling themselves.