Posted on 02/27/2011 8:24:18 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Though many Christians are going to try to deny "the obvious," evangelical leader Dr. Albert Mohler believes gay marriage is going to become normalized.
"I think it's clear that something like same-sex marriage is going to become normalized, legalized and recognized in the culture. It's time for Christians to start thinking about how we're going to deal with that," he said Friday on the Focus on the Family radio program.
Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was speaking in response to the Obama administration's decision this week to stop defending the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act – federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman – in the courts.
Conservative groups and Christians have criticized Obama for going against his duty as president to defend the law.
"When a president takes oath of office, he's upholding ... defending the laws of the United States of America," said Mohler, who also noted that DOMA had passed as a bipartisan effort.
"The White House has clearly made a calculation that it can do this now with far less political risk than it could even two years ago."
Though Obama has always expressed his desire to repeal DOMA, his personal view on marriage had been traditional.
While on the campaign trail, running as the Democratic presidential nominee, Obama asserted his belief that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. He added, while being interviewed by Pastor Rick Warren, that "for me as a Christian, it's also a sacred union. God's in the mix."
Recently, however, he has stated that his views on gay marriage are "evolving."
The Obama administration has been pro-gay since taking office two years ago and Mohler noted that there has been a long trajectory on the issue of gay marriage pointing to this day.
With the Justice Department now pulling its defense of DOMA, pending legal challenges against the federal law will likely result with the nullification of DOMA, Mohler predicted.
"You can say, the cards are pretty much stacked against DOMA," he illustrated.
He warned that when Christians feel threatened, they have to be careful not to lash out with a predictable response.
The Southern Baptist made it clear that he was not saying that they are giving up. Marriage is still an institution Christians need to save, particularly in their own community. But Christians also need to start learning how to deal with the shifting culture and even face the fact that they may lose a few from their flock.
"I think we're going to be surprised and heartbroken over how many people are going to capitulate to the spirit of the age," he noted. "We're going to find now that there may not be as many of us as we thought."
Nevertheless, Christians must be prepared to make marriage one of the many topics where parents have to have "the talk."
"It's interesting now that the world is so morally upside down that when we talk about marriage we have to make a distinction between natural marriage – heterosexual marriage – and this new thing that people are calling marriage," Mohler said.
"We have to prepare our children to be in a context in which they're going to be in a playground with children who have two dads or two moms or who knows what kind of combination will come."
Ultimately, the worldview or the belief that God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman only makes sense if one understands the Gospel, Mohler pointed out, which raises a critical point:
"This whole situation reminds us that we are, first of all, to be Gospel people who are fellow sinners ... saved by grace, with the responsibility to share the Gospel with others."
This does makes sense to me. However, I’m not going to call it ‘marriage’. I suppose I’ll be first in line at the re-education camp, then.
I think you got things derailed by mocking my Church’s rules as meaningless.
I know it made you feel better. But perhaps you might have taken the distinctions seriously and been willing to learn something.
But you knew it all already.
So, happy derailment.
Agreed. And in a sane world, such thinking would carry weight. But we have crossed the boundary of sanity into moral anarchy, in case you haven't noticed.
States may reserve the right to deny the existence of "homosexual marriage," but when it is deemed the same as marriage by the federal government, you have instant portability supplied with a sledgehammer as power. States won't be able to rely on their marriage amendments, with all the many federal stipulation attached to receiving federal funds. And with the new sodomization of our military, do you really think homosexual servicemembers won't be able to import their perversion with added power?
I know it made you feel better. But perhaps you might have taken the distinctions seriously and been willing to learn something.
Amazing that you know how I feel. Omniscience is exclusively ascribed as an attribute of God, but I guess snarkiness knows no reverence for the holy.
“When one capitulates to the language of the enemy, then he denigrates himself, he needs no help from me. If this article, from a Christian source, mind you, is misquoting him, then they need to be held accountable. Until then, I will critique what is said on face value. I am in no way denigrating Dr. Mohler for his past accomplishments and his conservative stances - he truly has been a bastion of conservative, Christian values throughout the years, and I’m very familiar with him, coming from a Southern Baptist background myself. Which makes it all the more gut-wrenching when I hear such a champion of true Christianity speak in such terms. He should know better.”
He DID NOT DO WHAT YOU ARE SAYING HE DID. Once again, READ the article - check out the broadcast on Focus on the Family. Either you are an ignorant fool or a liar. Shut up about Dr. Mohler. What you are saying is not “opinion” IT IS LIBEL.
Forget about broadcasts. I heard a portion of something he was talking on Christian Radio and “assumed” it was Focus...but I cannot confirm that. I have given you a direct link to his blog. The man is very brilliant and reading him takes more than a mere perusal.
He is abudantly clear that he doesn’t like the situtation. He properly explains how we got here.
Just found the link. Listening now.
“I never mocked your church’s rules as meaningless - as written, they are glorious. I’m saying that they routinely violated, as you yourself confessed.”
Actually you did not stop where I stopped. You went on to say that routine violation means the Catholic Church is no differnt than the other churches who have capitulated.
There’s where we differ. I stick with abusus non tollit usum. You throw out the use with the abuse. In effect you did say that our rules are meaningless because they are routinely violated.
By analogy, a city with no laws is the same as a country with laws that are routinely violated. It’s nice rant, but in practice, you know as well as I do that the very existence of laws alone first permits one even to identify abuse. Without laws you can’t even begin to diagnose the problem.
See, the very fact that some divorced and “remarried” Catholics leave the Church because of the rule about not receiving Communion and that a few, at least, stick it out and abstain from Communion for the sake of their kids, making the best out of a bad situation, and that others, however few, abstain from sex in order to be able to receive
all of those, despite the many others who violate the rules, indicate that having the rules makes a difference. At the very least, everyone knows that the Catholic Church has rules about remarriage after divorce that other churches once had but no longer do—a handful of Fundamentalist groups excepted.
But fine distinctions are bothersome. Let’s just rant.
I’m sorry I was wrong about your feelings. It’s good to know that you felt worse, not better, when you mocked our rules.
You make a good point with laws making all the difference. I know that most Protestant churches don’t have codified “laws” that address sexuality within marriage (although some do,) but be assured that all but the most modern, heretical inventions of Christianity do indeed have these “laws” in place, in the form of Scripture itself. That we violate these is beyond doubt, but they remain fully valid and aren’t nullified because of our serious misbehavior.
Thanks for the link. Will be reading it this evening.
I do believe that Mohler, from his statements on the broadcast, vastly underestimates the goals of the radical homosexual movement, as do most conservatives. He seems to think that "marriage" will be it, and that the most we have to worry about is our children seeing two homosexuals "sharing" a child that they claim as their own. If that were it, we would be safe inside our churches and church schools to go about our own business.
But it's much more insidious and diabolical that even he makes it out to be. Homosexuals have it in for the Church, for the God who unequivocally condemns their acts. They won't stop at "marriage." They won't stop at adoption. What they want is to completely subjugate the Church to their world view, essentially destroying it. Mohler never gets to the point of even bringing up the possibility that Churches will be forced, by law, under the claims of "non-discrimination" and "hate crimes" statues to perform these "weddings" for the homosexuals, to complete the normalization. He seems to think that Christians will be able to keep doing what they do without interference.
And if anyone thinks this is too far out to imagine, just try to remember a couple of short decades ago when we couldn't even fathom the idea of legalized same-sex unions attempting to counterfeit marriage.
AMEN to that lj!
There is no excuse for ignorance about the evils of the “gay” agenda at this point. There have been three decades to learn. A person who is ignorant has been hiding their head in the sand.
I became alerted to it in the late 80s and decided to study up. I knew then that pedophilia would be the next “frontier” and unfortunately I was right.
I realized that it was about more than “privacy” when the AIDS activists started with their diabolical campaigns in the mid 80’s. What else can you think of that evil?
Yea, what you say.
The early Christians were willing to die rather than deny Christ.
Are we so weak in our faith that we are not willing to even be inconvenienced by being even a little out of step with the secular culture?
Giving in to evil, or compromising with it, is helping it!!
Absolutely. The entire agenda has been about revolution, from the beginning. Destruction, intolerance, domination and utter control - that’s what they want, and they’ve been clear about admitting it. they want to turn the world into a disgusting fag bath house.
Anyone who doesn’t know this is a fool.
“I do believe that Mohler, from his statements on the broadcast, vastly underestimates the goals of the radical homosexual movement, as do most conservatives. He seems to think that “marriage” will be it, and that the most we have to worry about is our children seeing two homosexuals “sharing” a child that they claim as their own. If that were it, we would be safe inside our churches and church schools to go about our own business.”
My goodness, it was a short radio broadcast, and I doubt he had the time to say what “you” wanted him to say. The man has been writing on this issue, and all moral problems, for many years. At his blog he has over 200 things he has written about homosexuals. Also, he can’t start hurling accusations, true of not, without there being reprocussions.
Whatever, based upon a short article, you falsely accused him a capitulation...you are wrong and should apologize. If you still thing Professor Mohler has capitulated...you are just not able to be reasoned with, and you are HURTING efforts by Conservative Christians to stop the normalization of homosexuality rather than helping. God takes a dim view of His own being slandered. You sir, are out of line to do so.
Now IF you feel they should go farther....that is opinion...I’m inclined to agree with you. However, to say “compituation” is just wrong.
BTW - I have been watching the creeping homosexualization of this nation keenly since the 70s (especially during the Carter admin).
The REAL problem is that churches are full of persons that have accepted the world’s views and don’t understand why this is wrong. It isn’t just over the topic of homosexuality. All forms of sexual immorality have been winked at for some time. How can we effectively clean up society, and witness to them, when our churches are full of unrepentant persons living in heterosexual immorality...and doing so in comfort?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.