Have you heard of Kim Davis yet? If not, and you are in evangelical circles - you will soon. She will be called an example and someone to look up to.
It’s already begun, today I saw a post on social media about her story that had the John Knox quote “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God” attached. So here’s the situation on Ms. Davis. The Supreme Court has ruled (June 26, 2015) that homosexual marriage is a constitutional right. You might not like that, evidently Ms. Davis does not. She has repeatedly refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. The religious freedom injunction that Ms. Davis filed was denied and a court order was issued requiring her to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals. She again refused and when asked by what authority she refused, she replied, “under God’s authority”. Today she was found in contempt of court and jailed, below is her statement on the matter: "I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. For me it is a decision of obedience. I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will. To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s Word." Is Kim Davis courageous? ….yes absolutely! Is Kim Davis devout? …I have no doubt. Is Kim Davis right? …I’m not so sure. To her first assumption that she was acting “under God’s authority", I tried to find a scriptural example to support that and I could not. LET ME BE CLEAR – I believe homosexuality is sin. Therefore, I also believe that homosexual marriage is sin. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter what I think, the Scriptures declare it is sin. So is adultery. So is theft. So is unforgiveness. In fact let me give you a Biblical example that I did stumble on. In ancient Israel under Roman occupation, tax collectors were real scum. The Jewish tax collector for Rome was considered guilty of betrayal and cowardice. They did some really bad things like stealing way more than was required by Rome and kept the rest for themselves. So one day Jesus, was walking by and he saw a tax collector named Levi and Jesus said, “Follow Me.” What happened next is truly amazing: “And leaving everything, he (Levi) rose and followed him.” Luke 5:27-32 Notice that Levi left everything. He did not remain a tax collector. I wonder why? Why didn’t he stay a tax collector and start refusing to collect unfair taxes and defy Rome in that way? It’s simple, if he was going to defy Rome…and he was…and he did…then he was going to do it in a way that made a difference. Matthew preached the Gospel for years in defiance of Rome. Then by most accounts, while preaching, in about 70 A.D. he was arrested and executed on the spot being nailed to the floor and finally beheaded. Now many modern evangelicals submit Kim Davis as a similar example. Levi didn’t refuse to collect unfair taxes, he up and quit, “leaving everything” and took up the call to follow Christ. Kim Davis could really serve God by stopping this nonsense of going to jail for refusing to issue a paper that doesn’t mean anything more than a deed of sale. If she is going to give up her life in the name of something bigger than herself, in the name of Jesus; then why doesn’t she resign as County Clerk make her statement of good conscience and then dedicate her life to spreading the Gospel? She could dedicate her life to feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and those in prison and lifting Jesus’ name high. She has the religious freedom, protected by law, to refuse to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals and all she has to do is resign. “leave everything” like Levi did. I say there are better ways to serve the Kingdom of God, then to sit in jail over misguided notions. Why is it misguided, someone might ask, I say it is misguided because God doesn’t care about marriage licenses issued by the United States, He cares about the hearts of the men and women applying for those licenses. The only way to reach them, is to preach and live the Gospel of Christ, then the Holy spirit can break the heart of the sinner and draw them to salvation in Jesus.
1 Comment
Jo Ann Crawford
9/4/2015 09:06:03 pm
This is exactly the way I felt about it when I saw it on the news.
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