Posted on 02/24/2014 5:51:18 AM PST by xzins
Jesus Christ would absolutely bake a cake for a gay person. He’d bake a cake for a straight person. He’d bake a cake for a girl, a boy, a person who isn’t sure what they are, a black person, a white person — Jesus would bake that cake if it, in some way large or small, drew that person closer to Him.
And Christians should too.
Christians should show love and compassion to gays, straights, and everyone else. Christians should show God’s love in hopes of drawing people to a relationship with Christ. 95% of that may just be relationship building, but it should still be done.
If a Christian owns a bakery or a florist shop or a photography shop or a diner, a Christian should no more be allowed to deny service to a gay person than to a black person. It is against the tenets of 2000 years of orthodox Christian faith, no matter how poorly some Christians have practiced their faith over two millennia.
And honestly, I don’t know that I know anyone who disagrees with any of this.
The disagreement comes on one issue only — should a Christian provide goods and services to a gay wedding. That’s it. We’re not talking about serving a meal at a restaurant. We’re not talking about baking a cake for a birthday party. We’re talking about a wedding, which millions of Christians view as a sacrament of the faith and other, mostly Protestant Christians, view as a relationship ordained by God to reflect a holy relationship.
This slope is only slippery if you grease it with hypotheticals not in play.
There are Christians who have no problem providing goods and services for a gay marriage. Some of them are fine with gay marriage. Some of them think gay marriage is wrong, but they still have no problem providing goods and services.
Other Christians, including a significant number of Catholic and Protestant preachers, believe that a gay marriage is a sinful corruption of a relationship God himself ordained. Because they try to glorify God through their work, they believe they cannot participate in a wedding service. Yes, because they believe they are glorifying God in their work and view it as a ministry, they view providing goods and services as a way to advance, even in a small way, God’s kingdom.
Herein lies the dispute of the day. The latter group does not stand in the way of the former group providing cakes, flowers, and pictures for a gay wedding. Some of the former, however, believe the government should compel the latter group to violate their conscience. They only see the transaction through the customer’s eyes as if the vendors are passive participants.
That’s the problem.
We are not talking about race. We are not talking about restaurants. We are talking about a specific ceremony people of faith believe God himself created and ordained. Should the state force people to violate their conscience in that regard?
It is not staggering that there are aggrieved gay rights activists who think the state should be able to force people to recognize as normal that which most Christians view as sinful. What is staggering is the number of Christians who apparently think the State has the right to decide and enforce this issue.
You might think Jesus would bake a cake for a gay wedding. I think you are wrong. I do not think Jesus Christ would participate in the ratification of a sin — and a marriage between two people of the same sex is a sin. Are you really going to tell the millions of Christians in the United States who think otherwise that not only are they wrong, but the state should be able to force your opinion of what Jesus would do on them? In your pride, you might think 2000 years of Christian orthodoxy and the majority of practicing Christians in the world today are wrong — but don’t think among people of practicing Christian faith you are in the majority.
I understand if you are not a believer and define yourself based on your sexual preference that you think the government should legitimize you by forcing others to treat you in a particular way. But it boggles my mind to think any Christian should want the government to force their view of Christianity on another believer.
If you think the government should be able to force Christians to provide goods and services to a gay wedding or risk losing their business, why not command a preacher’s service? If a Christian baker cannot opt out, why should a preacher be able to opt out? And why not take from churches their tax exempt status if they fail to participate?
Christians should serve. But the government should not force them to.
I can tell you were Jesus baked. John 21. That’s as good as it gets.
Now, I do have a quasi-reference for carpentry:
Luke 12:18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
Luke 14:28 NIV “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
This particular example is another way of asking "what would Jesus do?" as that question offers each of us a way to view our daily issues and problems from a Christ centered way of thinking, regardless of the example or whether or not Jesus Himself actually did the example at hand.
You seem to be enjoying your argument, so please forgive my intrusion.
1 co 6:9-11
John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
>>That’s pretty much where the author comes down. Cake = fine. Wedding cake = not fine.
Yeah. That’s where he’s wrong. A wedding cake is not a sacrament. It is just an over-priced, usually stale cake with greasy icing.
If a man asks you to walk a mile, walk two with him, etc. If the wedding cake is that important, then Jesus probably would bake the cake. But, he would certainly tell the homos to stop sinning and he wouldn’t bake them one every day as they continued in their life of sin.
Jesus isn’t the super-tolerant guy that the Liberals think he is. He isn’t the super-critical guy that the Conservatives think he is. He is the loving guy that would do just about anything for anyone out of love, and out of that same love, he would admonish and correct their life choices in very plain and hard-to-misunderstand language.
“And why not take from churches their tax exempt status if they fail to participate?”
THAT my FRiends is something we Christians have control of. We should immediately opt out of The Church’s tax exemption, pay the taxes and usher the government OUT of The Church.
Jesus forgave sinners and told them,”Go and sin no more.” In the context of homosexual relations, this would require celibacy,
Read the entire article.
That’s a misstatement. Churches don’t have a tax exemption.
Members of churches get deductions for gifts to churches. That’s the only “exemption”. They can disallow deductions for gifts to “XYZ Church”.
Oh, that metaphorical analogy stuff always gets me confused when discussing baking.
He might bake the cake but would first cast out the demons and then tell the formerly gay couple to go and sin no more.
Matthew 10:15
Matthew 11:23
Matthew 11:24
Mark 6:11
Luke 10:12
Luke 17:29
IIPeter 2:6
Jude 7
Revelation 11:8
There are two parts to this drama. The participants and those that find the perversion acceptable.
If I owned a bakery, and some person I knew to be a homosexual came in and asked me to bake them a cake, I’d gladly do it. But if they asked me to decorate the cake with homosexual propaganda or things I considered immoral, I wouldn’t. Just like if some person I knew to be a member of the Klan, Nazi, or communist wanted their cakes decorated with symbols of their particular ideology. In short, I would not be opposed to selling my merchandise to obnoxious people...but if the obnoxious person insisted on decorations that offended my sense of decorum, then no.
If there are demons. Could just be that the gay is a self-avowed, practicing sinner with no demonic help required.
I’m not convinced you read the article.
Did Erickson say he would or would NOT bake a gay wedding cake?
Actually, he wouldn’t; because processed flour, butter and sugar are unhealthy, and baking in an oven powered by the gas/electric grid isn’t “green.” So, no. He would support the local pita maker by eating their bread and giving them the endorsement.
/sarc
Excellent post, Driftless!
In fact, I’d have a lot of cakes baked for customers just to buy. I wouldn’t ask their credentials every time one of them brought a cake to the cash register.
Rotflol!
He gave her salvation, then He told her to sin no more. He did not make her live the rest of her life free of sin before offering her salvation.
I’ve been reading your posts. You seem to be picking the fly poop out of the pepper as salt is being discussed. I will not take up conversation with you.
As recorded in Gods Word Jesus baked no cakes. He did not come to
serve man but to save. Jesus served no one but God. The question isn’t a question of love but one of how sinful can we be and get away with it. I think God has enough mercy for all of us who hear His voice and love Him.
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