TOM ASCOL (PASTOR, GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH): I believe that Ted Cruz is acting out of the best of intentions here; I just think he's misguided. And you're correct. This is a classic example of how confused not just our society at large is, but how confused Christians within churches are about the matter of God's law and God's gospel.
Of course we believe that the only way you can be made right with God is through faith in Jesus Christ, who came into the world, lived a life of obedience to God's commands, and died on the cross on behalf of all who trust in him. That's the gospel. That's good news. That's grace.
But the God who gave us the gospel also gave us his law. He's the one who determines what's right and what's wrong. And though he had special purposes for Old Testament Israel — he gave them special laws for that special time, and we should not try to recreate Israel because God had a purpose in place for them in their era — but those laws that he gave to them could not be horrific and wrong and grotesque because they came from God.
And that was my concern with what the senator said was any law that criminalizes homosexuality is grotesque, and God created laws for Israel that are very clear, saying that homosexuality is a criminal act — and that cannot be an unjust, immoral, wrong, grotesque law. And we need to look at that.
And if we understood law and gospel better in our churches, we'd be teaching it better and people like Sen. Cruz, who’s a member of a Baptist church in Houston, I believe, maybe wouldn't be so confused about it.
So that was my main contention, is wanting to show that what he said was actually a slam against God, who gave that specific law at one point in time to his old covenant people, Israel. And it has been some concerns. It has merit for us to consider about what is right and wrong for all time.
JENNA ELLIS (HOST): And that's such a great point.