More Thoughts on Baking and Other Important Stuff
There was something else I wanted to mention in regard to the current posts about the question of whether a baker or a photographer should be “forced” to bake or take pictures for a homosexual wedding; if the baker/photographer believes that homosexuality is a sin. What kind of biblical counsel do we really have here about what he/she should do? The closest thing that I can find which gives some guidance is when the Pharisees demand that Peter and John stop talking about Jesus. We read this in Acts 4: 18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Throughout church history we have seen men and women defy the state and its law when it conflicts with the command of scripture. So, when Peter and John were forbidden to teach about Jesus, it was a pretty “easy” decision for them to go against that command. They had been commanded by Jesus to teach others about Him. But the baker/photographer issue is not so clear. If the state says that you have to bake the cake, is there a command of God that the baker must violate in order to do so? I personally don’t think so. And what I see in the Bible is that we are to obey the government unless obeying the government causes us to disobey God. Since the baker can bake without condoning homosexuality or participating in it, I’m not sure the baker can refuse to obey the state in this case. But if the baker refuses to bake the cake, he/she needs to be ready to take the consequences of his/her actions.
Any thoughts?
For me, it’s not just baking a cake for a homosexual,–I would not have a problem with that. It is asking me to participate in their celebration of immorality since it is for their wedding. In the U.S. no small business owner should be forced to participate in business that involves them in going against their conscience.
2 quick (non-Biblical) quotes:
Albert Einstein: “Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”