Religious Freedom and Business Owners

I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that this topic is still fighting for center-stage. This time it is in the form of an absurd law-suit targeting a Christian couple's photography business for declining services for same-sex ceremony. After finding a favorable alternative for the desired photography, the offended party decided to sue the Christian couple for discrimination wherein the state courts ruled against the refusing photographers. Apparently, owning a business obligates the owners to provide demanded services. At least, it does in New Mexico...

Reading the story from a conservative newspaper, it is also not surprising that the majority of the comments fall on the side of the couple's rights with a small portion vilifying that position as being the same as old time segregation. People. We've been here before and it's just going to keep coming up. The right is terrified of the liberal encroachment upon their moral conscience and the left if offended that the right would even consider that liberal alternatives are inappropriate. As I've said in a previous post, there are unfortunately bigots on both sides of the fence. I also said there, and say again here, that I don't care to try to stare down either set of bigots.

Most of the comments after the Deseret News article are actually fairly tame if rather irritated at the situation. I confess that I also find it concerning that the government thinks to rule on a matter of moral conscience and I came across many responses stating many of my own thoughts on the matter. They also make the points as clearly as I could hope to so I shall refer you to them rather than quote them here. (I highly recommend reading through comments - they are my favorite part of controversial issues as the debate gives a broader perspective than I could create with only my own thoughts to work with and have not infrequently caused me to adjust my own position on a matter.) I have made it about 100 comments in and it occurs to me that one issue has so far been missed.

What has been a bit surprising to me is not that atheists or others in the LGBT community attack the Christians in saying that Christ loved and sat with the sinner so 'they/you must not be good Christians' but that other Christians are attacking from the same ground. One might suppose that this is evidence on the side of the suing party, but everyone seems to be missing the fact that there is a relative issue directly addressed in the New Testament dealing with this.

In Romans 14, Paul takes the Romans to task for the contention arising around the issue of meat sold in the marketplace. The truth was, though, you couldn't actually be sure which meat had been offered to idols and which had not. Therefore, it became a risk in buying and eating meat that one might end up with meat that had been used in the offerings. Some only saw it as meat and did not find offense in the buying and eating of it. Others felt that to eat of that meat meant they were participating in the pagan worship and, after all, is not the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"? It went against their conscience and so they avoided contact with it. It became an even bigger issue when eating at the house of one who saw no problem with it (it's only meat after all) and they were then placed between holding to their beliefs and not offending their fellow Christian friend.

So what does Paul say about it? Mostly he agrees that God knows that meat is meat is meat, but he also says that it is uncharitable for those who are unbothered to force those who are disturbed by the origin to hold to one or the other for he says that it is the conscience of the person that determines their reality. If to eat means to participate in pagan worship, then that person is right to avoid the meat and their friends would do well to respect and support them in maintaining a conscience void of offense. If the person has a clear conscience knowing that not knowing leaves them innocent of accidental 'participation', they are likewise uncondemned of God in that thing. 

19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
 20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
 22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
 23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

I honestly can't say whether I would have been willing to accept an obligation to participate in an event that is clearly stated as against God's law. I think it's easy to understand that it could feel like being forced to witness idolatrous offerings (even greater than the risk of meat of unknown origin).  Many would say that is discriminatory and Jesus says love everyone, but there is a difference between loving a person and participating in improper events. One (attacking) commenter condemned (illogically as it has no evidence outside of the speaker's imagination) the photographers because they 'would deny service to provide individual portraits to homosexuals which proves they are discriminating and were right to have lost the suit' (not exact words, but the gist of the statement). Honestly, I doubt the sexual orientation would have had any bearing on services provided outside of the union ceremony. Yes, we are to love everyone, even the sinner (aren't we all?). That does not equate to being forced to support the sin. And a concerned Christian can be easily understood to have such a reaction in this situation.

Government cannot dictate every element of the business sector without becoming their own entity of monopoly and therefore tyranny. Free enterprise dictates that if a business chooses to engage in undesirable practices, they will face the natural consequences from the consumers by losing business. It is their right to do so. It may not lead to commercial success, but in the 'pursuit of happiness', if one values his values more than his monetary gain, I see no justification for the government stepping in to say otherwise.

As Christians, how can we think to condemn and force a straying from the dictates of conscience of another Christian? Are we not all metaphorically part of Christ's body? Has the hardened skin of the heal a right to condemn the sensitivity of the eye-lid? I could say I fear the way the tides are turning if I did not understand what we have been warned and prepared for its happening ahead of time. Those of other persuasions often mock such feelings and outlooks, but truly, time will tell all things. I simply hope that all who are not interested in the impending violence, figurative and literal, will seek to support and strengthen each other in the ways of peace taught not only by Christ but by the other main religions as well. And that we will focus on it without tearing ourselves down in the process. 

I believe my God is the same God the Jews and the Arabs worship and that He will truly guard those with an honest heart. I warn that we lose integrity when we target others in a misguided sense of superiority and that leaves us vulnerable to falling further. Let us not fall, but let us stand together and stand strong against the coming times.

(Mormon Articles of Faith # 10 & 11)

10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. 

P.S. I included number ten because when America finally implodes, and the rest of the world is in their own chaos, Mormons are taught that Zion will be a place of refuge for those who do not wish to fight and that will not just be for Mormons, but for all those who do not follow, nurture anger and hate. It will be a refuge for all the pure in heart. This may sound absurd and fantastical to any non-Mormon readers out there, but after having seen Jericho (TV show - fascinating!), I greatly desired to tell these fictitious people there is an alternative of safety. So maybe you will consider it a strange and ridiculous belief right now, but should the time come where you recognize truth to what I'm saying here, know that it is an option of safety.

Q & Agency

So it happens that I am exploring the Star Trek conglomerate since it seems to be the primary source material for modern science fiction stories. I was quite surprised to discover a great delight in the Original series that I have not so far found in The Next Generation. Of course, it would naturally leave me with a bad first impression, despite the delightful Patrick Stewart. This is due to the baddie in the very first episode who later played a future Stargate SG-1 baddie (a rather despicable, slimy sort which, unfortunately for the actor, seems to be showing a pattern of type-casting).

The character of personal disgust seems to be named 'Q' and has just shown up again. And what to my wondering mind should appeal, but an insight on agency and this whole mortal deal. [Yeah... just as I don't care for writing, I also have an ironic dislike for poetry...] Anyway. Whoever this 'Q' is, he's clearly a being of power far greater than even the higher advancement of humans some 300 years hence. And he seems to think that all things should follow according to his will, his intentions. He also is free with kangaroo court judgment and generally allows his superior power to convince himself of his own general superiority. Rather 'might makes right' of him.

As a number of stories in our current era have explored, we fairly well recognize how bogus that claim is. Unfortunately, these stories exist precisely because there is a portion of people among us in this mortal realm who live as though it were true in hopes of forcing it to be true - that if they can become the powers that be, then by simply declaring it so: so it will be. It smells rather of megalomania and god-complex.

Which brings us round to the real God. So many wonder why, how He can allow bad things to happen, especially to good people, if He is a good god. If God were really just a Q, then the reactions of so many people to their 'unanswered' (simply because they have not yet heard it, not because there is no answer) question in turning away from such a being would make perfect sense. But God is not Q, and Q is a perfect example of why there is so much bad 'allowed' (allowed but not received with any level of pleasure).

In Romans 8, we read:

 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

In Mormon understanding, we are literally a combination of body and spirit and while our bodies have mortal parents, our spirits are also literally children of God. He is not only God, but Heavenly Father. Before mortality, we lived in heaven with an immense family of spiritual siblings. But like Wendy, it was time for us to leave the nursery. Wendy, of course went on an adventure to Neverland where she came to realize that to truly live, she had to face the hard unexpecteds of life; that as happy as Peter seems, such an eternity was really an eternal sentence of stagnation.

God, of course, wants more for His children. He gathered everyone together for a ginormous family council and laid out the plan: we go to earth, learn to balance both spirit and body, learn, grow, and do so with a sort of amnesia allowing us to discover what we ultimately, in the deepest, truest way possible, want for ourselves. Unfortunately, as most of you will admit, the learning curve includes making mistakes. Also, media has made it quite clear the propensity teenagers have for partying and getting into trouble when the parents are out of town, or rebelling simply to prove they can.

Now God is a perfect and pure being and His very nature means that anything impure entering His presence would ultimately be burned to a crisp, so to speak. But then how could He send us away knowing full well we could never return for the impurities mortal life would inevitably collect? Enter the Savior. One who lived perfectly could show the way that would help us overcome the impurities because He went through the crucible Himself. If we would turn to Him and follow His way, we can return both to our bodies at the resurrection, and to our Eternal Family and even our mortal families. This, like all things in our mortal life, is our choice - it is the agency which is central to God's plan. For He would not force anyone to heaven, however much it pained Him to be separated from His child. If they wished it, the Peters could ultimately choose Neverland over life.

Lucifer, however, had a different idea. He liked the idea that he could claim power and actually could 'force' everyone to heaven. How he imagined he could pull that off is up for debate. Also, since that would mean that he had managed to do what God would not, then clearly he would be the true power, even greater than God Himself.

Let's see. Claiming superior power. Claiming subsequent authority to force everyone else to act according to his will? Sound familiar at all? To anyone? Oh, yeah - Q! Megalomaniac extraordinaire. Good for us, Lucifer's posturing did not actually place him higher than God. But he did betray his motives and being unwilling to submit to God's decision that Christ should come and we all should be allowed to choose our own ways for ourselves, Lucifer defiance literally drove him from God's presence (remember the whole 'no impure thing can survive' part?).

So Lucifer was cast down with his other die-hard followers and they are rather hateful to mortals cause we moved on and got bodies when they declined. Rather like the spiteful, self-centered, immature temper-tantrum of one who thinks that no one else ought to be able to move on when they've clearly just orchestrated the 'biggest show-stopper ever!' So they like to distract and tempt and generally complicate and muddy and make it as impossible for anyone else to move on as they can.

That, combined with the natural troubles of life - health, adolescence, old age, employment, natural disasters, and learning to deal with others who are also trying to figure things out means that life's kind of a mess. Add the creepy mortal versions of Q who still try to imagine the failed plan can succeed and life can actually be downright scary.

Until you take into account the God knew that it'd be a mess from the beginning. You don't introduce toddlers to a toy room and expect them to leave everything in perfect order. Remember that He provided a Savior who could, and would, teach and lead the way to any and all who would listen, who would help us with our bumps and bruises, who would cheer us on and surprise us with His attentive gifts, and who will happily present us to the Father once we've made our way to that point on the path. And then we'll remember why we chose to come. For as Star Trek repeatedly proclaims - we are a curious people. We seek to learn, to grow, to explore. Ultimately, we seek to become.

3 Nephi 28
 10 And for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one;

Writings from 2011: Balancing Haste With Procrastination

One of the verses in the Bible that often comes to mind during times of change is found in Isaiah 52:12.

"For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward." (sic)

I include the second half because it helped me understand the first half. I'd always read it to mean, much in Treebeard's manner, "Don't be hasty." Take proper time to prepare and act without rushing about in a foolish frenzy as that can cause mistakes. I also saw it as a call for patience as I tend to get anxious if I can't get things accomplished soon after I realize it's needed. That verse helped me realize that things are in God's hands and to let myself have peace while waiting on His timetable.

Then, a year ago, I connected both parts. The second talks of the Lord preparing where you are going (what is 'before you') but also managing what is left behind. Tying up loose ends, so to speak. Seeing the duality of the last part, it finally registered that the first could also be talking of two things.

Instead of 'haste' and 'flight' being synonymous, both warning against impulsiveness in important situations, these words are also bookends. Where 'haste' could be seen as jumping the gun, could not 'flight' be the result of delay, of leaving yourself without enough time to act, to live?

While I am inclined to be hasty at times, I am not a procrastinator by nature. However, balancing these two elements is still difficult. It is much the same as balancing faith and action. You must employ faith to avoid a hasty over-reaction, and you must employ action to avoid the necessity of fleeing at the last minute in an unprepared frenzy. It is learning to keep this balance which gives a greater peace, and therefore fullness, to life.

In accepting that life happens at its own speed, we come to recognize that peace. By embracing change and our own responsibility to act and make choices for ourselves, we learn and grow. And if we will trust in a God of love and power who has our best interests at heart, we will find greater peace, strength, and wisdom than we ever could manage on our own.

[Stories with related elements: The prodigal son - impatient to receive his inheritance and pursuant troubles; Last Holiday with Queen Latifah - finally starts living after being told she only had one month left to live.]