I tweeted a link to a column by Matt Barber detailing how fascists were going after people for not supporting the neutering of marriage, and I got a response about how the column author was hateful, not about how the column was in error. So I wrote back:
@pauls_view Affirming the Biblical teachings that marriage is bride+groom & sex is for marriage, & resisting fascism is not hateful.
@pauls_view Affirming the Biblical teachings that marriage is bride+groom & sex is for marriage, & resisting fascism is not hateful.
This brought three tweets back from Pauls_View @pauls_view:
@PlayfulWalrus The bible says this about marriage. Can't pick and choose. See picture and versus pic.twitter.com/SkZ4XBwQonI could write out a long explanation myself, but Alan Shlemon did a great job with these videos responding to stuff like this:
http://strplace.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/challenge-response-you-want-the-biblical-view-of-marriage/
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And...
http://strplace.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/so-youre-against-same-sex-marriage-because-its-sinful/
You don’t have to watch the videos to consider what I wrote and what the response was I wrote that it is not hateful to 1) Affirm Biblical teachings on marriage and sex, and 2) resist fascism. The responding tweet does not prove my statement wrong. Rather, the graphic is based on either sincere or deliberate ignorance of that the Bible is teaching in context, including its historical context. One should not “pick and choose” in an arbitrary way, but rather use discernment based on careful study and reflection to determine what was actually being communicated, and to whom. I have driven to a place where the only way to move forward was a right turn. At a different intersection, there was a sign that forbid a right turn. If some people read traffic signs the way they read the Bible, they couldn't drive.
@PlayfulWalrus You can have your religious views but treating great people like they are lesser and discriminating is WRONG.Neither I, nor the columnist, treat people like they are lesser. Discrimination is not always wrong. It is important, for example, to discriminate between the letter A and the numeral 1. This tweeter was discriminating against my tweet. Notice he says something is wrong, invoking morality.
@PlayfulWalrus Discrimination in the name of religion is still discrimination. People used the bible to persecute jews & keep slaves. Wrong!That people have done evil and claimed they had Biblical justification does not mean that the Bible justified their evil actions. That the Bible teaches murder is wrong does not mean we can't or shouldn't behave, or have laws, as though murder is wrong. That Democrats in the USA used to oppose abolishing slavery doesn't mean nobody should support the platform of the party.
These responses were a diversion from the issue. The issue at hand was the claim that religious freedom, in this case the religious freedom of someone who believes that marriage unites a bride and groom, can't coexist with empowered fascist marriage neutering advocacy.
Ms. Stutzman is the Christian owner-operator of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash. She is, by all accounts, a lovely, sweet, elderly woman who both employs and regularly serves open practitioners of the homosexual lifestyle. Sadly, she has become the latest victim in a fast-growing string of secularist attacks against Christians and other morally minded people. If “same-sex marriage” becomes the law of the land, I can assure you that we will soon see a virtual explosion in the same kind of anti-Christian persecution Ms. Stutzman now suffers.Same-sex couples (or triads, or quads, or whatever) don't need flowers for their ceremonies, but there are many other places where they can get their flowers. Why should this woman be forced into an association and transaction in which she doesn't want to engage? The fascists are hoping that people will not see this coming. However, if they get what is apparently their goal, no individual will be free to not affirm and celebrate brideless and groomless pairings as "marriage". Your business will be shut down. If you work for someone else, you’ll be fired or sent through a re-education process. If you are clergy, your church (or equivalent) will lose its tax-exempt status while others keep theirs. If you are a student you will be failed, expelled, or sent though a re-education process. It doesn't matter if that isn't what any given same-sex couple wants – it is what the Leftist radicals will use the force of law to impose, if they can. They've already demonstrated that.
Recently, one of Ms. Stutzman’s frequent homosexual customers requested that she provide flower arrangements for his same-sex “wedding.” She politely declined, saying that her Christian conscience and “relationship with Jesus Christ” prevented her from any involvement with counter-Christian “same-sex marriage.” She was, quite simply, a Christian being Christian. The two hugged and parted ways.
Unfortunately, in our ever-”progressive” culture, being Christian has fast become a most dangerous proposition. As each homofascist demand is checked from liberals’ sin-centric wish list, it only gets worse.
As a result of her constitutionally guaranteed religious free exercise, Washington State’s newly elected Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed charges against Ms. Stutzman, seeking both a monetary judgment and an injunction to physically force her to violate her Christian conscience. He would compel her to either lend her artistic expression in support of counterfeit “gay marriage” – something Christianity steadfastly recognizes as mortal sin – or face further charges.
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteMs. Stutzman has voluntarily chosen to establish a business of public accommodation. Nobody forced her to become a florist. But as a florist she has extended a tacit offer (and has a legal obligation) to accommodate the public - even folks she doesn't like.
ReplyDeleteIf her religious beliefs are in conflict with her obligations as a business of public accommodation, she is free to choose whichever is more important to her.
I'll point out, she is also free to express her opinions to the customer at any time; before, during, and after any transaction. She is free to announce - for example - that the purchased flowers can't possibly be for a wedding, unless both a bride and groom are present. She is free to suggest that the customer seek reparative therapy. She is free to suggest that the customer confess and repent. And she is certainly free to NOT recognize the marriage of the patrons in question. There's a wide range of freedom in there - it just stops short of allowing her to force others to comply with her beliefs.
The gentleman in the video seems to have contradicted himself.
ReplyDeleteAt 00:30 he tells us that marriage isn't something we can define. Rather, its something that we describe.
I think he loses all credibility when, at 09:05, he tells us that even with polygamy, you have a "one man, one woman" kind of thing going on. Because polygamy describes one man being married to many women.
And he totally loses it when he tries to convince us @ 9:28 to dismiss biblical polygamy because it is never prescribed, it is merely described.
But remember what he said in the first place. That marriage isn't something we define, it is something we describe. And he tells us that the bible describes marriage as polygamous ... but asks us to disregard that. Curious.
SSMers applaude this sort of arbitrary governmental action. The SSM campaign relies on the abuse of judicial power, yes, but also the abuse of executive power as in this case. No harm was done to any particular individual. There really must be a lack of standing in this so-called charge against the florist. -- Chairm
ReplyDelete