A Respected Jewish Scholar's Take on the Gay Marriage Debate

Dennis Prager -- Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality

Questions that Church-Going African Americans Have to Answer?

Blacks and same-sex marriage (OneNewsNow.com)

In this article Star Parker suggests that the President's decision to endorse gay marriage has lead African Americans to ask themselves afresh the question: will blacks who believe the Bible literally support political black leaders who disagree with their beliefs. Star Parker calls this the Sunday (morning worship)-Tuesday (political election) gap.

I have another question for church-going blacks. Will the open denials of a literal reading of the Bible by black religious leaders like Al Sharpton, Cecil Murray, etc cause church-going blacks to decide if they will continue attending churches that don't believe the Bible literally?

What do you think?

My Open Letter to President Obama in the News

I'm grateful to the Our Weekly, LA Sentinel, PACE News, and the Watts Times for running my Open Letter to President Obama Concerning Gay Marriage. It is critical for Christians to engage our culture in this conversation and speak the truth in love. God has called us to be the light and salt of the world. This means that Christians need to speak to let the light of the Bible shine through us, and we need to touch our culture in order to have a preserving influence. 

Here are two online versions of my article.

http://ourweekly.com/los-angeles/two-views-same-sex-marriage

http://www.lawattstimes.com/component/content/article/52-featured/73-gay-marriage-the-debate-continues-an-open-letter-to-president-obama-concerning-gay-marriage-from-pastor-bobby-scott.html

An Open Letter to President Obama Concerning Gay Marriage.

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 On Wednesday, May 9^th 2012, Mr. President you reversed your position on gay marriage and said, "At a certain point 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."

 

With all due respect, Mr. President, your position to advocate redefining marriage is dangerously wrong. And if I may, please let me, as carefully as I can, clarify my position so that I am not misunderstood as a hate-mongering bigot.

As Dennis Prager has cogently argued, if a group affirms that the ideal for children is to grow up with a father and mother rather than in a single parent home, that doesn’t mean

• that they hate single moms
• are being demeaning to people who have had a divorce
• believe that there is no hope for people raised in single parent homes

Non-sequitur and ad hominem arguments against advocates of traditional marriage are irresponsible. They vilify people without addressing their concerns while refusing to acknowledge the real consequences of legalizing gay marriage.

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The Bible teaches that God made male and female equally in His likeness and different by design so that a male and female could come together as one flesh and procreate. Even atheists agree that marriage must include male and female. Therefore, Christian and non-Christian Americans affirm the timeless definition of marriage. Those affirming marriage between a male and female therefore are not trying to limit anyone’s rights or change anything. They are requiring valid compelling answers to the questions: (1) why change it? and (2) on what basis would a group morally seek to change the definition of marriage?

Contrary to the contention of the left, love alone is not enough to validate the radical position of overthrowing the God-given ageless definition of marriage. If love becomes the sole criteria for marriage, then gay marriage advocates are left without any rational argument against keeping brothers from marrying their sisters, or three best friends from getting married, etc. No one would contend that people who oppose polygamy are hatemongers denying those who advocate polygamy their right to happiness. All societies must place some boundaries around the definition of marriage and no modern society has so radically sought to alter that definition as America is doing today. Are left thinkers right that there are no fundamental differences in maleness and femaleness? A male and female bound together in marriage is not the ideal family to procreate and raise children? Having two dads is the same as having a mother and a father? Thankfully, Mr. President, most Americans not only think that you are wrong but know so.  

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Second, as an African American, I am stunned that you would cloak gay marriage with the heritage of civil rights. The legal protection that homosexuals have today strongly argues against any need to classify homosexuals as a group that warrants the special legal attention granted to blacks through the civil rights movement. Yes, it is evil when homosexuals are bullied and attacked for being gay. BUT what court (for that matter job, school, media outlet etc.) in America would not prosecute such perpetrators of that bigotry with anything less than the full weight of the law? How does that remotely compare to the smiling-in-court, cigar smoking, celebrating murderers of Emmett Till who walked out of court FREE?! It is simply wrong-headed to try to equate the legal status of both groups.

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Finally, Mr. President, as a professing Christian, you should know from the Gospel that while Jesus loves all sinners (homosexuals & heterosexuals), He is also Holy and He does not allow sinners of any kind to define what is right in their own eyes. Jesus calls all sex outside of the monogamous covenant union of marriage between one man and one woman sin. Jesus’ loving response to sinners was to pay the debt that we never could and to give His righteousness to all who believe in Him as a gift of His grace. So any heterosexual or homosexual who turns from their sin to trust exclusively in Him, Jesus will save. Mr. President, I pray that you will see the error of your decision and reaffirm what you once said you believed and all the cultures of human history have affirmed—marriage is the covenant union designed (not evolved) by God between one man and one woman.

Sincerely,

Pastor Bobby Scott

fyi, a shorter version of this letter was sent to the President. I will post any response that I receive.