By Dale Weckbacher:
John 3:16
For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life.
NKJV
There is little doubt that John 3:16 is the most well-known
and quoted verse in the Bible. This
verse speaks of the mercy and grace of a loving God that could have destroyed
mankind but instead gave His only Son as a sacrifice for their sins. Because Jesus, God’s Son, has paid the death
penalty for mankind’s sin, salvation and eternity with God is now
possible.
However, what many may overlook in this verse is that
receiving this gift of eternal life is contingent upon individuals choosing to
believe. In other words, God does not
force his gift of salvation on mankind but instead gives us the opportunity to
choose to accept or reject His free gift of salvation. This is because God created man in his own
image and part of that image is the ability to choose.
As we study the Bible, we see that it is full of accounts of
individuals faced with choices. In some cases,
individuals make wise choices such as when Peter chose to seek forgiveness from
God for his rejection of Christ as opposed to Judas who chose suicide over his
betrayal of Christ. We also see Joseph
who chose to run away from the sexual advances of Potiphar's wife as opposed to
David who gave into temptation when tempted by Bathsheba. Life is full of choices and the Bible
encourages us to make wise decisions by showing us examples of both good and
bad decisions made by individuals and the consequences of these choices.
The founders of our nation respected the God given ability
of each individual to choose. I am sure
they understood that this meant people would make both bad and good choices but
understood that the preservation of the right to choose was worth the cost of
bad decisions that undoubtedly would be made.
This is why I believe the founders of our nation would support the right
of any business to refuse service to any individual if providing that service
would violate their religious liberties, guaranteed by the first amendment of
the Constitution.
The current debate in Arizona over senate bill SB1062 is
being wrongfully hyped as an anti-gay bill when in reality it is designed to
protect the religious liberties of businesses in Arizona. (1) If people in the gay community in Arizona
believe that Governor Brewer’s veto of the bill means that businesses will be
forced to provide services to them they are wrong. This is because there is already a law on the
books in Arizona, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), protecting
religious liberty. All SB1062 did was
provide clarification should someone be sued for failing to provide services to
someone based upon their religious beliefs.
(1)
In fact, the text of SB1062 never specifically mentions gay,
lesbian, or same sex marriage and is a general bill covering a broad range of
religious beliefs. (2) If this legislation were, as some believe, a
bill designed to target gays and lesbians, would it not specifically mention them. The truth of the matter is that the debate on
this legislation once again illustrates that there is an attack in our country
on religious liberty, especially the religious liberties of Christians and
Jews.
If you disagree that such an attack exists let me cite the
example of the owner of a gay bar in West Hollywood California who denies
service to any legislator voting against the gay rights agenda. (3) However, in Colorado a bakery owner was
ordered by a judge to bake a cake for a gay couple, in other words he is
prohibited from denying them service unlike the gay bar owner in West
Hollywood. (4) The only difference in these two cases is
that one is a gay bar owner and the other is someone with deeply held religious
beliefs. Both the bar and bakery owner’s
rights to refuse service to anyone are protected by the first amendment of the
constitution but the bakery owner is having his rights denied, demonstrating
the double standard in our society where religious liberty is concerned.
We supposedly live in a free society where both business
owners and customers have the right to choose where to spend their money. If a business owner does not want to invest
his time and money providing a service that violates his religious beliefs, the
law allows him or her to do so under the first amendment right to freely
practice his religion. If a customer is
denied service by one business they have the right to communicate their
disagreement with the businesses decision by taking their money and business to
a competitor that will provide them service.
Choices are an important part of our daily lives but
whenever the government intervenes and limits choices, our liberties are
threatened. The fact that some
businesses may deny services to gays and lesbians represents an opportunity for
them to start their own businesses that provide the services they have been
denied. This is the power and beauty of
the free market.
1. Nazworth, Napp. Issue Analysis: Arizona Bill
Does Not Give Businesses License to Discriminate Against Gays. www.christianpost.com.
[Online] The Christian Post, February 24, 2014. [Cited: February 26, 2014.]
http://www.christianpost.com/news/issue-analysis-arizona-bill-does-not-give-businesses-license-to-discriminate-against-gays-115093/.
2. Yarbrough, Barto,
Worsley. SB1062. www.azleg.gov. [Online] State of Arizona
Fifty-first Legislature, 2014. [Cited: February 27, 2014.]
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/2r/bills/sb1062p.pdf.
3. Angeles, CBS Los.
WeHo Bar To ‘Deny Entry’ To Lawmakers Who Back Anti-Gay Legislation. losangeles.cbslocal.com.
[Online] CBS Losangeles, 25 February, 2014. [Cited: February 27, 2014.]
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/02/25/weho-bar-to-ban-lawmakers-who-support-anti-gay-legislation/.
4. Fields, Liz.
Judge Orders Colorado Bakery to Cater for Same-Sex Weddings. abcnews.go.com.
[Online] ABC News, December 7, 2013. [Cited: February 27, 2014.]
http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-orders-colorado-bakery-cater-sex-weddings/story?id=21136505.
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