It's Not Just a Wedding Cake

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I, as a Chrisitan would bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple because it's "just a cake".  I told him I wouldn't, but it's not the reason you may think. 

Yes, a wedding cake is just a cake.  It's made of flour, eggs, sugar, and decorated in a way that can be sculpted in ways that are simply amazing.  Then it is cut by the bride and groom and eaten by the guests.  Pictures are taken of it, and a ceremony of the bride and groom feeding each other is done.  That's about it.  You know, thinking of it, I don't even remember what my cake even looked like.  To be honest I can't remember most of the night either.  So what's the big deal then? 

Well, for me its a much deeper issue than just cake and causes more trouble than we realize for Christianity and not from homosexuals, but from the Lord Himself.  It's a matter of conscience, not ours, but of our weaker brother.  Here we go to 1 Corinthians 8:1-13.  What was happening here is that people were buying good cheap meat at the pagan temple that was sacrificed to idols.  These were choice cuts at a really reasonable price.  Some Chrisitans were buying it because it was good cheap meat, and some were not because they believed it became evil and would defile their conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7).

According to 1 Corinthians 8:4 says concerning eating things offered to idols, that an idol is nothing in this world, and that in verse 8 it says, "food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we better, nor if we don't eat are we the worse." Since idols are not really anything, than the food sacrificed to them is not anything either.  It doesn't draw us closer or further away from the one true living God.  Food in and of itself cannot help you keep your salvation, nor take it away because its meat sacrificed to an idol that's not anything either.  But if we go on if the weaker brother's conscience says, "do not eat meat sacrificed to idols" and he sees a stronger brother eat meat (which doesn't bother his conscience), it would encourage the weaker brother to violate his conscience which would be sin.

So let's bring this to what I am talking about.  Let's say I am a Christian baker and a homosexual couple comes in and asks me to bake a wedding cake.  Since gay "marriage" is not really marriage in the eyes of God and is nothing (like an idol), then a cake made for a gay wedding (like meat sacrificed) is in an of itself not evil either.  I won't lose my salvation if I make it. and according to 1 Corinthians 8:9 I would have liberty to do so.  Follow me?

But, lets say that a new believing Christian really believes gay "marriage" is wrong and his conscience says we should not even consent to go to a homosexual wedding because it's evil and that no Christian should ever consent to be associated with something like that. But let's say he hears that you, a long-time Christian believer is baking a cake for them, and then says, "Well, Frank is baking a cake for them and maybe gay 'marriage' is not bad. You, as the baker, caused the weaker Christian to abandon his conscience and sin.  1 Corinthians 8:9-13 says then that not only do I sin against my weaker brother, but I sin against Christ as well. 

But what is the harm really of making a weaker brother stumble?  Jesus said in Mark 9:42:

"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."

Let me clear that up.  It would be better for you to die a grusome, agonizing death than to stumble a little Christian, even the most insignificant one.  Drowning to a Jew was the worst form of death imaginable. So in a sense, it would be better for you to lose your baking business than to stumble a weaker Chrisitan.  That's my point. 

Back to reality.  Let's face it, this country is full of weak Christians.  When it comes to bible knowledge, discernment, and keeping things in context with historical/gramatical hermenutics, there are very few.  The bible knowledge of the majority of American "Christians" is pretty shallow, and is made up of sermonettes, morning devotionals, and TBN.  So it would be benneficial rather to not bake the cake in the first place and offend the non-believer, than to bake the cake and offend the weaker believer. 

I hope that cleared up any confuison you might have had.  It's not that I don't want to see people unhappy or ruin their day. I just don't want to offend more important people to me, which is my brother, and my Lord.

Everyone In St. Louis Is DEAD!!!

Today I read an article from CNS News on Planned Parenthood's 2014 fiscal year report that they performed 327,653 abortions this past year.  This works out to:

• An average of 37 abortions per hour. 
• 1 abortion every 90 seconds. 
• 487 more abortions performed this year than last year. 

No offense to CNS News, for these statistics are gruesome indeed.  But I don't think that they really capture how dreadful these numbers are.  I don't think the human brain can really grasp the magnitude that 327,653 human beings lost their lives last year.  Lets face it, when it comes to numbers we cannot grasp the concept as in the trillions of dollars of U.S. government debt.  Lets put it into a more grievous perspective. 

• More children died by abortion at the hands of Planned Parenthood this year than the entire population of St. Louis, Missouri. Imagine the entire population of St. Louis, MO city dead.  Whether it be by biological warfare, terrorism, nuclear bomb, or zombie apocalypse it doesn't matter.  100% of the population is DEAD. Every single man, woman, and child gone forever. 
• If we buried each child aborted this year by Planned Parenthood in a 3 ft by 2 ft grave side by side (which is very conservative estimate) the graveyard would measure 1,965,918 square feet.  This is equal to over 34 football fields side by side!!!
• If we erected a mausoleum for all the babies murdered by Planned Parenthood this year alone...it would be the size of the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium which is 2.3 million square feet.  Think about that the next time you go to a pro NFL football game.  

But you know what's sad about these statistics?  This is ONLY the abortions performed by Planned Parenthood in the United States this year.  This would mean that the abortions performed by hospitals, doctors, other abortion agencies, and in other countries goes well beyond this number.  

So what if a terrorist cell killed every person in St. Louis, MO next year.  Would it matter?  Would we notice?  Would we care?  Would our government pay the terrorist to help plot and kill its own civilians with money from taxes? Well, it's happening right under our noses. It's happening right now.  Are you sick yet?  Like Mark Cahill says, "Do you care?  Do you care enough to do something about it?  If you don't care enough to do something about it...you...do...not...care."  

Think about it.  

You're A Loser!

I remember being called that a few times while sharing the gospel.  Most of the time it was while I was open-air-preaching downtown at the Des Moines Farmers Market.  I can still hear the disdain in the young man's voice and the laughter of his friends around him.  There was even those moments when I actually believed what they were yelling and said to myself, "What am I doing?  Is this even making any difference?"   The other day I saw this quote by Martin Luther and it really struck me. 

 "The righteous man always resembles more a loser than a victor, for the Lord lets him be tested and assailed to his utmost limits as gold is tested in a furnace."  

Martin Luther. 

I think about some of the conversations I have with friends in the mission field and how they feel like losers. Many of them gave up good paying jobs.  Some move thousands of miles away to live in third-world countries to minister to people who are eating dirt on the bottom of the totem pole.  Or those who have jobs in ministry, serving local ministries to teach other welfare cases like themselves about Christ.  Others who don't have hobbies or play sports but thrive on studying and teaching God's word and serving others who can't give back, and those who do give back, give them grief, steal from them, and stab them in the back. Or those who instead of baiting a hook and fishing for actual fish, fish for men with gospel tracts out on the street and look like fools in the eyes of the world.  Talking with these men and how disheartening it must be to give all you can and then at the end of the day, month, year look back and see what looks like a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" with not one piece of fruit on it.    

But giving up is not an option.  For to them and to me the bible is full of those who by quick glance are perceived as losers, but are actually winners. Men like John the Baptist, who lived in a tent eating bugs and whose only comfort was itchy clothes of camel skin coat (Matthew 3:4), but to God there was no greater prophet than him (Luke 7:28). Or Moses, who was abandoned by his mother (Exodus 2:1-4) and stuttered (Exodus 4:10), only to answer the call of God lead His people out of the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 3:1-10) (Exodus 14:30-31).  Or Paul [Saul], who had everything going for him as a Pharisee in training (Philippians 3:4-6) only to give it all up for Christ who is way better (Philippians 3:7-11).  Or Jesus, who was born among dirty animals in less than a barn(Luke 2:6-7).  Yet, He was God in the flesh and savior of the world. 

No one wants to be called a loser.  No one strives to become one.  It's not the end game for any of us.  It's not part of our plan.  The plan though is that if you are a Christian, a child of God, God will use all things together for good to those who love Him  and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  He uses the weak, the dumb, and not so talented (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).  God puts the last first, and the first last (Matthew 20:16).

This gives me great comfort knowing that no matter what I do, or who I am, it will not be in vain.  Not only that, but why do those go to great lengths to help others?  Because of their love for God, and their love for man.  It's the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.