Rick Warren Clarifies His Take on Gay Marriage
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Wed, April 08, 2009
- Viewed 124
- (48) comments so far
Here’s part of the transcript:
“You know Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told in the first place. I am not an anti-gay or anti-marriage activist. Never have been, never will be. During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement. Never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop. 8 was going.
“The week before the vote, somebody in my church said, ‘Pastor Rick, what do you think about this?’ And I sent a note to my own members that said, ‘I actually believe that marriage really should be defined - that that definition should be saved between a man and a woman.’ And then all of a suddenly out of it they made me, you know something that I really wasn’t. …
“I wrote to all my gay friends, the leaders that I knew and actually apologized to them. That never got out. There were some things said - everybody should have 10% grace when they say public statements and I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest which I absolutely do not believe. And I actually announced that. All of the criticism came from people that didn’t know me. Not a single criticism came from any gay leader that knows me and knows that for years we’ve been working together on AIDS issues.”
Any thoughts?
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Russell Mckinney on Mon, April 13, 2009
Mark said, “Obviously it isn’t all that important to God.” It was important enough that He made it a capital punishment offense in ancient Israel (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). It was important enough that He leveled the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah for rampantly indulging in the “abomination” (Genesis c.19; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Jude 7). It was important enough that He had Paul not only condemn it but give its origins (Romans 1:18-32). It was important enough that He had Paul address it in letters to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:8-10) and the church of Corinth (1 Cor. 6:9-11). And as for the argument that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, I offer two passages. First, there is Matthew 5:17 where He says, “I didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it” and then talks about every “jot” and “tittle” of the law being important. Those two verses from Leviticus are certainly more than jots or tittles. Wouldn’t the Sermon on the Mount have been a great time for Jesus to say, “You know, down through the centuries God the Father has lightened up on his opinion of men lying with men. That was just a hardline stance for those rough days of the Old Testament period”? But Jesus didn’t say that. Second, there is Matthew 19:4-6 where He expressly defines marriage as being between male and female. Here again He had a perfect occasion to redefine the world’s traditional view of marriage. But, instead, He upheld that traditional view. Mark is right about Christians breaking the commandments every day. No one is defending that either. But please don’t try to make the case that homosexuality isn’t all that important to God.
Ken on Mon, April 13, 2009
The “law of the open microphone” states: Let someone have a microphone for as long as they want it, let them continue to talk and sooner or later they will “stick their foot in their mouth”.
I have been very supportive of RW over the years but just maybe he just needs to “shut up” and just pastor his church family and stop trying to be the spokesman/pastor for evangelicals in America.
Brian L. on Tue, April 14, 2009
Mark,
Jesus also made no mention of rape, domestic abuse, child abuse, pedophilia, and genocide.
Are we to gather from your argument that Jesus didn’t think these were important?
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