President Barack Obama, using the full power and prestige of his political high office, issued the following signed declaration on June 1, 2009:
Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.
He does this every year with hardly a peep of dissent from Christians or from churches. I wonder how much dissent there would be if he had declared…
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Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the USA, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the US, do hereby proclaim January 2012 as Christian Repentance Month… or Traditional Marriage Month?
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I realize this is impossible, but why? What has happened to us? Do we really value “transgender pride” over traditional marriage or Christian humility?
As a Christian, I have a serious beef with President Obama’s pride-full declarations every year. Christians know that lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender behavior is sin. We also know that such sins can be forgiven. But we tremble in dire trepidation when we see willful pride wedded to such sin. It’s not the ‘L’, ‘G’, ‘B’ or ‘T’ that will keep such sinners out of heaven for eternity; it’s the “pride!” Sinful pride is the slave master that keeps us shackled to our sin. It prevents the humble repentance that could turn LGBT sinners (and any sinner of any kind) back to God and true freedom.
Yes, LGBT people who repent can go to heaven. Such people were among those in first century Corinth who were washed and sanctified in the name of Jesus and became members of that early church instead of LGBT people (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), by God’s grace. We will see them in heaven!
Why would the President use his high office to manifest such a declaration on us? Does he not understand that Christianity renders the pride he seeks to impose on us unthinkable? As Christians, we are called to love LGBT people and minister to them as Jesus would. We treat them kindly and respectfully as human beings capable of free-will choices just like we are. We love them regardless of our disagreement with their choices. But we are NOT called to honor their sin or engender pride in it. That is Satan’s mission, not ours and certainly not a President’s.
Pride in sin is the deadliest of all spiritual poisons on the tips of Satan’s swift arrows. There is nothing the devil hates more than a sinner repenting, which is why he loves sinful pride. It undermines the Christian gospel at its core. Satan’s mission is not just to get us to sin. He knows that those who sin (you and me) can still get into heaven if they (we) humbly repent. His main mission is to get us to be proud of our sin, thus heading off our repentance at the pass.
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The views expressed on this blog are personal and belong to Joel Solliday unless otherwise stated. They are not, intended to characterize the views of the Lewiston Church of Christ or other organizations to which I may refer.