In The News

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You have probably heard of the gay couple who walked into a floral shop to order flowers for their "wedding." The Christian owner refused to comply with their request, not because they were gay, but because she did not want to provide flowers for a same-sex marriage. The same scenario has happened in respect to wedding cakes, and photography. Nor related to same-sex marriages, but nonetheless just as important, the same thing has taken place with restaurants, taxi cab drivers, and tee-shirt shops being requested to make shirts for things like Gay Pride Festivals. As a result there have been some law suits filed against businesses.

After looking at some websites and reading comments posted by readers here are some things to mention.

1. Store owners are generally accepting of gay people, as individuals, but the line is crossed if they have to actually attend a gay wedding, as would be the case for a photographer, or deliver flowers or a cake to the location. The distinction is made between the PERSON and the ACTIVITY.

2. Business owners have a right, without government interference or customer intimidation, to conduct their business as they see fit, and to use discretion as to whom they provide services. Some businesses have signs posted saying, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."

3. Instead of going to another place to do business, gays have sometimes chosen to target particular establishments, then whining to someone at the ACLU or some other legal defense person, to make a case against some business owner.

All of this is, not only putting Christian business owners in compromising positions, but also making them look judgmental, and now we have the government getting involved. Does this leave the gay community off the hook? Absolutely not!

To the gay community...

You cannot expect the Christian community to accommodate your desires, nor SHOULD they. The majority of Christians have a deeply rooted and biblically based belief in morality, which includes marriage between a man and a woman.

Don't go to a business where you think there might be an issue. You do not have to make a case out of it. Maybe some business would not serve me if I had, say, a bad case of body odor. I would either go home and take a shower, or go to some other place of business. For me to make a case out of it would be, quite frankly, stupid, and a waste of my time and money. There are some businesses that won't wait on people walking in without wearing a shirt. The point is that there are many reasons why a business may not serve a customer, and it is not limited to gays.

How about some gay people opening up their own flower shops, bakeries, or photography studios? That could easily take care of this whole problem.

Now a brief word to the business owners...

I am not letting you totally off the hook either. I am on your side, but I want you to think about something. Do you believe that it is also wrong to have sex before marriage? If so, would you provide wedding flowers, a cake, or photos, for a couple walking into your business, and the young lady is obviously already pregnate? Christians should not pick and choose what is sin, and what isn't. It is very commendable to take a stand for morality, especially when it may mean a possible loss of revenue for a business, but it must be consistent.

All Christians must seek to hold our convictions even though it may come across as intolerant or judgmental. This, of course, applies not only to homosexuality, but also any other lifestyles, habits, addictions, etc, that you and I consider to be wrong.

Let us also take to heart what it says in II Timothy 2:24-26. "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."

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