Obama “Instructs” Christians

On May 12, President Obama, during a panel discussion for the Catholic-Evangelical Summit on Overcoming Poverty at Georgetown University, made remarks on poverty at this Washington, DC-based school. You can read the full text of the panel discussion on the White House website.

Secular and Christian media have reported on this panel discussion. I wanted to single out just some of the comments President Obama made and respond briefly to them in regard to the President’s inconsistencies concerning his blatant disregard for Scripture.

At one stage the President referred to “my own Christian faith.”

During the discussion he made these comments:

And there’s noise out there, and there’s arguments, and there’s contention. And so people withdraw and they restrict themselves to, what can I do in my church, or what can I do in my community? And that's important. But our faith-based groups I think have the capacity to frame this—and nobody has shown that better than Pope Francis, who I think has been transformative just through the sincerity and insistence that he’s had that this is vital to who we are. This is vital to following what Jesus Christ, our Savior, talked about.

Before that he stated,

And I think it would be powerful for our faith-based organizations to speak out on this in a more forceful fashion.

This may sound self-interested because there have been—these are areas where I agree with the evangelical community and faith-based groups, and then there are issues where we have had disagreements around reproductive issues, or same-sex marriage, or what have you. And so maybe it appears advantageous for me to want to focus on these issues of poverty, and not as much on these other issues.

Even though others on the panel alluded to Scriptures that mention humans being made in “God’s image” (one of two times Jesus or God was referred to in discussion), actual Scripture references from the Bible were almost completely missing from the discussion (except for Amos 5:24 quoted at the end). The word Bible never occured in the discussion, and the word Scripture only once. One of the panel members referred to Scripture in regard to Jesus discussing poverty—though no specific Scripture reference was given.

Why should the President care about poverty anyway? You see, if the Bible is not the absolute authority of God, aren’t his opinions on poverty just that—opinions? The reason I care about poverty is because God’s Word instructs me to care, and all humans are made in the image of God as God’s Word tells me. All humans are my relatives, because as God’s Word states all humans are descendants of Adam and Eve. For instance, just one of many verses of Scripture about helping the poor states,

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse. (Proverbs 28:27)

You might say, “But the President talks about his ‘own Christian faith.’” But what does that really mean, since he does not accept the Bible as the Word of God, upon which Christianity is based? What is the Christian faith to him?

The President also addressed “faith-based organizations” and told them they need to “focus on these issues of poverty” and not as much on “reproductive issues” (abortion) and “same-sex marriage.”

The President, however, has exhibited blatant disregard for Scripture when it comes to gender issues:

But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” (Mark 10:6)

The President has exhibited blatant disregard for Scripture in regard to marriage:

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4–5)

The President has shown a major disregard for Scripture when it comes to the deliberate killing of millions of children in their mother’s wombs. Humans are made in the image of God:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

We are totally human from the point of fertilization:

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13)

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalms 51:5)

Abortion is killing a child in a mother’s womb:

Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. (Genesis 9:5–6)

Now, President Obama said concerning poverty, “This is vital to following what Jesus Christ, our Savior, talked about.” Yes, Jesus did instruct His followers to reach out and help the poor (spiritually and physically), but the President is totally inconsistent, because he ignores what Jesus clearly states about marriage and gender and children in their mother’s wombs. He obviously picks and chooses which parts of Scripture he will use. He does not believe the Bible is the authoritative Word of God in all matters of life and practice!

Yes, we need to pray for our President and all those who are in government:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” (1 Timothy 2:1–3)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken