Our nation has undergone significant change in the past 20 years. We have witnessed moral and societal decay (Rom. 1:26-27), including the legalization of homosexual marriage via the Obergefell decision (June 26, 2015, a 5-4 ruling).[1] As a result, Jack Philipps (owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop of Colorado) has spent the last 10+ years fighting lawsuits because he refuses to make cakes for events that violate his religious convictions.[2] The first lawsuit was filed by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (C.C.R.C.) because in 2012 Jack refused to make a cake for a homosexual wedding.[3] Jack had done business with one of the men previously and was willing to make other items, but not one that violated his Christian convictions. A second lawsuit was brought later (also filed the C.C.R.C.), against Jack because he refused to make a cake in June 2017 celebrating the “gender transition” of a male lawyer. The lawyer ordered his cake on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case involving Jack’s first lawsuit. This same lawyer later requested a cake depicting Satan smoking marijuana, which Jack also refused to make. The attorney conceded that his order of the satanic cake was to, “correct the errors of [Jack’s] thinking.”[4] The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Jack on June 4, 2018, which resolved the first lawsuit.[5] In March 2019, the state of Colorado dropped the second lawsuit against Jack. A few months later, the attorney (involved in the second lawsuit) filed a separate lawsuit in Colorado State Court over Jack’s refusal to make the “gender transition” cake. In October 2024, the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed the third lawsuit. It is difficult to imagine that Jack has faced his last legal challenge. Why has he refused to cave on his convictions, you may wonder? Jack runs his business for the glory of God. He commented, “We don’t want God to be part of our lives on just Sundays. We want Him to be part of our lives every day.”[6] Throughout the legal challenges, Jack has been represented by Alliance Defending Freedom.[7]
Aa result of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 there have been over 63,000,000 unborn children whose lives have been ended in the United States alone.[8] On June 24, 2022 we witnessed the overturning of Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) via the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision[9] (a 6-3 ruling).[10] Christians and pro-life advocates wondered if this day would ever come. The Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case resulted in abortion legislation being decided by the states. Many celebrated the decision and others lamented it. How can human beings see this issue so differently? Many Protestants and Roman Catholics have long fought to end abortion in the U.S., seeing it as a moral atrocity. We should be just as motivated to see the end of this evil practice. Instead, many spend their time arguing over the timing and approach. I believe that a remark attributed to D.L. Moody is relevant here, “I like my way of doing things better than your way of not doing them.”[11]
These examples do not exhaust the number of issues that people, including Christians, see differently. There are divergent views on immigration and the crisis at the southern border. We know of professing Christians who insist that “love of neighbor” should cause us to see each of these issues in a particular way. The ironic thing is that you find these professing Christians coming to different conclusions. How is this possible? In 1947, C.S. Lewis wrote, “We continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more ‘drive,’ or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or ‘creativity.’ In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings[12] be fruitful.”[13] Wow! What does he mean, “men without chests”? It actually relates to how people are educated. Lewis had grave concerns about education during his day. Curriculum and educatators focused on imparting facts and information, but not how to think and feel about them. Lewis believed it was unwise and even dangerous to educate without aiming at the affections. He came to the conclusion that it was an intentional strategy with the goal of shifting the values and morality of civilization. It is obvious to most that those shaping the hearts and minds of children and youth significantly influence the people they will become in adulthood. This is why the Lord instructed the Jews to train their children (Deut. 6). He also instructs Christians to do the same (Eph. 6:4). Children must be trained and guided. As Lewis mentions in his book, “The Abolition of Man” they must be taught how to think and feel about things, including good and evil. As followers of Christ, we should want our children and youth to be trained and guided to think and feel Christianly, according to the Word of God.
How can we expect people to think and feel properly, in a God-honoring way, if those influencing them mock and denounce the very things that please and honor God? For someone to recognize something as good or bad, the person must be trained, guided in the proper way. Friends, we need only to look around us to understand why the virtues and characteristics the Word of God champions are in short supply. So, where do we as Christians start? This is a wise first step, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:23-24). Honest reflection and humble repentance must come to the church first. Please pray with me that the Lord would mercifully bring these to pass.
[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obergefell_v._hodges
[2] https://adflegal.org/client/jack-phillips/
[3] https://www.cpr.org/2018/06/04/supreme-court-rules-for-baker-jack-phillips-in-masterpiece-case/
[4] https://adflegal.org/client/jack-phillips/
[5] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_j4el.pdf
[6] https://adflegal.org/client/jack-phillips/
[7] https://adflegal.org/about/
[8] https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life/facts-and-research-about-the-unborn-and-abortion/
[9] https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization
[10] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
[11] WORLD – Built Upon A Rock: Tracing American Exceptionalism back to Plymouth and the Pilgrims’ Faith p.46.
[12] A gelding is, “a castrated animal; specifically : a castrated male horse.”Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1996).
[13] C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, (The Macmillan Company, NY., 1947), p. 16.