To be a Christian and to hold to Christian conviction about what is true about the nature and person of Jesus Christ, about human nature, and about the place of Christian conviction in the public square is to be more than out of step with the larger culture. It’s to be potentially at risk to some degree, something that Christians have faced since the beginning of the Church. It may very well be that we, too, will be forced to choose between our wellbeing in some sense and our convictions.
Leaders of the early Church, both the Apostles and their disciples, wrote letters to churches facing difficult challenges. These epistles were to encourage and instruct, shoring up new believers against internal conflicts or creeping heresies and increasing persecution.
I think of these letters whenever I think about what Jack Phillips has faced for over a decade now. After being harassed, mistreated, and maligned by Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission for not baking a cake for a same-sex wedding at a time when same-sex marriages did not exist in the state, Jack’s been targeted for harassment by a Denver lawyer for refusing to bake a cake celebrating gender confusion. Fearful that they would, once again, be smacked down by the Supreme Court for how they treated Jack, the state of Colorado had initially dropped their second case against Jack, based on a complaint filed by a man who presents as a woman. Early on, the transgender activist stated that he would not stop harassing Jack until either his (Jack’s) beliefs changed or Masterpiece Cakeshop was put out of business.
A Colorado judge then allowed a civil case to proceed and, last week, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against Jack Phillips and for the Denver lawyer, claiming that designing a cake to celebrate so-called gender change does not constitute speech. Jack, still represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, will appeal, and the case is likely headed back to the Supreme Court.
To be a Christian and to hold to Christian conviction about what is true about the nature and person of Jesus Christ, about human nature, and about the place of Christian conviction in the public square is to be more than out of step with the larger culture. It’s to be potentially at risk to some degree, something that Christians have faced since the beginning of the Church.
