State of the Union: Making Man the Authority

Gay marriage, transgender issues, and climate change were just some of the items that US President Barack Obama mentioned during his recent State of the Union address. The President’s comments on these issues show that he is basing his thinking, and trying to make sure that America as a whole bases its thinking, on man’s word. God is clearly not the authority in his mind—man is. Sadly, this is a reality across America as our culture is becoming increasingly secular and is rejecting the Christian and biblical foundation that once permeated the nation.

Civil Right or Moral Wrong?

The President said this of gay marriage: “I've seen something like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our country, a civil right now legal in states that seven in ten Americans call home.” Gay marriage is not a civil rights issue—it’s a morality issue! Marriage is not open for President Obama, the White House, the Supreme Court, or anyone else to redefine. The government did not invent marriage—God did. Marriage is God’s creation and therefore God—and only God—has the right to define what marriage is and is not. And, according to God’s unchanging Word, marriage was designed to be between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4–5). So, far from being a civil rights issue, gay marriage is an issue of who is the authority: man or the Creator, God?

Actually, people who want a relationship between two men or two women recognized as a marriage are borrowing the concept of two people in such a relationship from the Bible—back in Genesis where God created two people. However calling a romantic relationship between two men or two women a “marriage” is simply a perversion of what true marriage created by God in the first place is all about. The devil so often tries to counterfeit what God has done. If people want to have romantic relationships other than a man and woman for life in a marriage bond, then that’s up to them, but it is not a marriage. They will have to answer to the Lord for their actions. The goal of continuing to try to force the idea that gay marriage is a civil rights issue is to eventually make it illegal to speak against gay marriage like the Bible does. Yes, this could become a major Christian persecution issue in the culture. That would be a blow to freedom of religion and free exercise of religion.

Transgender Community Gets Historical Shout-Out

President Obama also became the first President to ever recognize the transgender community in a State of the Union address:

There's one last pillar to our leadership—and that's the example of our values. As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we're threatened . . . That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We do these things not only because they're right, but because they make us safer.

This reference excited members of the transgender community. According to the  Washington Times, “President Obama is being lauded by members of the gay community for becoming the first president to ever use the words ‘lesbian,’ ‘bisexual’ or ‘transgender’ in a State of the Union address” and reportedly the executive director of the Transgender Law Center is calling it a “historic” occasion. A writer with Slate says, “This shout-out is a considerable victory for both bisexual and transgender Americans, who have struggled to achieve mainstream recognition—especially in Washington—for decades. It’s an especially exciting achievement for the trans community, which just closed out a year of astonishing victories, both political and cultural. With his respectful, equality-minded embrace of the trans community on Tuesday, Obama likely gave this once-maligned group a significant boost in visibility. 2014 was an amazing year for trans rights. 2015 may be even better.”

But what this comment from the president really shows is that he values man’s opinion over God’s Word. Yes, all human beings should be treated with dignity because they are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), but in approving of these behaviors he is clearly disregarding what the Bible has to say about marriage and gender. Sadly, when he says “we . . . condemn the persecution of . . . people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender,” what he likely means is that those who dare to stand up for biblical values related to marriage and gender will suffer persecution at the hands of the government. This is something that is becoming increasingly common across our nation and will undoubtedly only continue to rise.

What would President Obama say to Jesus about His statement in His Word that “from the beginning of creation,‘God made them male and female’”(Mark 10:6)?

God did not make them “male, female, transgender, bisexual, lesbian, and gay” from the beginning! Certainly Christians should show love for those who disagree with God’s Word in regard to gender, but part of that love is pointing out that participating in, promoting, and celebrating gay, transgender, bisexual, and lesbian lifestyles are sinful actions.

It seems that President Obama wants to make it illegal for Christians to be able to call sin, sin!

“Women’s Right to Choose”?

In the address, President Obama said, “We still may not agree on a woman's right to choose, but surely we can agree it's a good thing that teen pregnancies and abortions are nearing all-time lows, and that every woman should have access to the health care she needs.” According to Fox News, President Obama had threatened to veto a bill that was going to ban abortions after 20 weeks. The bill is no longer up for consideration, but the President called the bill “an assault on a woman's right to choose."

A statement issued by the White House one year ago said, “one we recommit ourselves to the decision/the guiding principle: that every woman should be able to make her own choices about her body and her health . . . Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.” I guess everyone deserves the same freedom, that is, except unborn babies. I encourage you to read more in a previous blog post about the Roe v. Wade decision, why our world is so full of death and sorrow, why you should choose life for unborn babies, and how you can choose eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ..

Also, notice that we see increasingly President Obama use the word abortion as a synonym for health care. Abortion is not health care—it is sin!

What's Really the Greatest Challenge to America?

Well, climate change was also mentioned during the President’s address:

And no challenge—no challenge—poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change. 2014 was the planet's warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn't make a trend, but this does -- 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century. I've heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they're not scientists; that we don't have enough information to act. Well, I'm not a scientist, either. But you know what -- I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we'll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.

Now, while the president makes it sound as if the danger of climate change is utterly settled and indisputable, this is simply not true. Many scientists—including over 9,000 PhD scientists—don’t think that climate change poses a significant threat to our planet. Actually, as we’ve stressed before, what you believe about climate change will be influenced by what you believe about the age of the Earth. Most of those who hold to long ages believe that the climate has been relatively stable for many thousands of years. According to them, any change in the temperature is dramatic and is likely man made. But, when you start with a biblical worldview, you have a completely different picture of Earth’s past. The world was recently created and was destroyed by a global Flood about 4,350 years ago. This dramatically changed the climate—including causing an Ice Age! When you start with the Bible, the ice cores that are generally interpreted by secularists as a record of Earth’s climate over thousands of years were laid down quickly during the post-Flood Ice Age. So, the question of climate change is directly influenced by what you believe about the past. And what you believe about the past is influenced by whose authority you ultimately accept—man’s word or God’s Word.

Actually, “no challenge—no challenge—poses a greater threat to future generations” than a neglect of God’s Word! Without God’s Word, we can’t hope to understand where we came from, why we’re here, what our problem is, what the solution is, and where we’re going. Without God’s Word, we have no basis for morality, human dignity, freedom, hope, or purpose. And, most importantly, without God’s Word, we don’t have the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

We need to pray for our leaders, especially President Obama, that they would submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and start basing their thinking on God’s Holy Word, not on man’s fallible ideas. And we need to be bold in standing on the authority of the Bible from the very first verse. We need to be salt and light, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to a dying culture.  And remember this:

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:12–17)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team,