Pope Francis Learns What Rick Warren, Russell Moore, N. T. Wright Think about Marriage [POWERFUL defense of marriage - watch the VIDEO!]

Pope Francis Learns What Rick Warren, Russell Moore, N. T. Wright Think about Marriage

Warren turns Vatican conference into 'revivalist meeting,' while Moore explains why marriage crosses theological boundaries. - Morgan Lee

Christianity Today | 18 November 2014

Humanum IT | Rick Warren's speech.

"There is always a danger in being the 28th speaker in a conference," said Rick Warren during his speech today at Pope Francis's marriage conference. "What's left to say?"

Apparently plenty, as Warren's speech—which he said he wrote from scratch the night before after yesterday's speakers covered his previously prepared main points—was “probably the first time ever the synod hall resembled a revivalist meeting,” tweeted David Quinn, an Irish Catholic columnist. The Saddleback Church senior pastor reportedly received a standing ovation following his remarks defending marriage between a man and a woman.

"As Christians we seem to be known more for what we're against than what we're for. I want to change that,” said Warren. According to his prepared remarks obtained by CT, he explored why Hebrews 13:4 commands that "marriage is to be honored by everyone" and laid out an "action plan" for conference attendees. In true evangelical form, his eight steps are in mostly alphabetical order:

Affirm the authority of God's word

Believe what Jesus taught about marriage

Celebrate healthy marriages

Develop small group courses to support marriage

Engage every media to promote marriage

Face attackers with joy and winsomeness

Give people confidence

Teach the purposes of marriage

"It is a myth that we must give up biblical truth on sexuality and marriage in order to evangelize," said Warren in his conclusion, which noted how Saddleback recently baptized its 40,000th adult convert. "In the end we must be merciful to the fallen, show grace to struggling, and be patient with the doubting. But when God’s Word is clear we must not—and we cannot—back up, back off, back down, back out, or backslide from the truth."

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, also addressed the conference, acknowledging that the gathered audience came from different—and potentially warring—countries and represented a variety of faiths.

“But all of us in this room share at least one thing in common,” said Moore. “We recognize that marriage and family is a matter of public importance, not just of our various theological and ecclesial distinctive communities, since marriage is embedded in the creation order and is the means of human flourishing, not just the arena of individual human desires and appetites.”

Moore's full speech can be read here and highlights watched here. N. T. Wright's comments can be watched here. Videos of other speakers can be watched here.