From President Obama's speech to the "Human Rights Campaign" on Saturday, October 10, 2009:

 

"My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians -- whether in the office or on the battlefield," President Obama said. "You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman. You will see a nation that's valuing and cherishing these families as we build a more perfect union -- a union in which gay Americans are an important part. I am committed to these goals. And my administration will continue fighting to achieve them."

 

"Despite the real gains that we've made, there's still laws to change and there's still hearts to open," he said. "There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors, even loved ones -- good and decent people -- who hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes, who fail to see your families like their families, who would deny you the rights most Americans take for granted. And that's painful and it's heartbreaking. And yet you continue, leading by the force of the arguments you make, and by the power of the example that you set in your own lives -- as parents and friends, as PTA members and church members, as advocates and leaders in your communities. And you're making a difference."

 

Mere rhetoric?  I think not.  On the White House website, the President's position on civil rights includes the following:

 

"He supports full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.  He supports repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security, and also believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/civil_rights/)

 

So what about us Christ followers who believe the Bible? (e.g. 1 Timothy 1:8-11)  Are we good and decent people holding fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes and thus bringing pain and heartbreak to the President?  According to his own words, yes.  And it is our hearts he desires to open.

 

We were warned.  Preachers in decades past told us that we were frogs in a pot.  Put a frog in boiling water and he will jump out, they would tell us.  But place him in cool water and slowly bring up the heat and he will never know he is getting cooked.

 

I think the frog is almost done.  Tonight (Tuesday, October 13) the Game Show Network revives "The Newlywed Game" with special celebrity guests including George Takei (Sulu of "Star Trek" fame) and his male spouse, Brad Altman.

 

What do we Christians do?  Run screaming into the night?  No, we have not been given a spirit of fear. (2 Timothy 1:7)  Launch a political attack?  No, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. (Ephesians 6:12)  Then what?

 

Pray.  Preach.  Evangelize.  Live holy lives.  It is time for a spiritual revival.  It is time for the church to look and act like the church.  It is time for professing Christ followers to look and act like Christ.  It is time we believe and practice 1 Timothy 2:1-6.  It is time that we answer the call of the ancient hymn:

 

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.