Jesus Christ and the Tyranny of the Wedding Cakes

"And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him."--Mark 12:13-17

Whenever I think of what Christ said about government, this is the first thing to come to my mind. It is clear what he is saying: The government of Caesar is for this world, and should be obeyed while in this world.

But what happens when the government is democratic, like we have today? We ARE Caesar today. This is also known as "the tyranny of the majority".

This creates two aspects for the modern day Christian. First, we must obey the government as if it were run by a Caesar. But second, we also have another duty to "love thy neighbor" when we vote. Basically, we need to remember that government enforcement can come with a death penalty for even the most minor infraction (ask Eric Garner or Alton Sterling).

But what is our duty to government laws that go against the teachings of Christ?

Case in point: A florist who is against gay marriages gets asked for flowers for a gay wedding. She refuses, and gets sued.

There are a lot of different ways to view this from a legal/political perspective. I am strictly dealing with the moral/ethical/religious perspective here.

From a Christian perspective, she was wrong. The wedding was sanctioned by the government, hence "by Caesar". To not deliver the flowers was a sin. God may not approve of gay weddings, but he definitely does not approve of treating your neighbors as unworthy of government sanction.

There are exceptions to the "render unto Caesar" rule: "Love thy God" and "Love thy neighbor". Neither of these applies to providing services to gay weddings.

Remember, we are NOT talking about a "Christian" gay wedding, but rather a public service. Forgive the metaphor, but if the government advocated dog weddings, would you refuse to sell them bones? Of course not, because it would be silly. If Christians refused to accept Caesar's horse being nominated to the Senate, we would have to be openly rebellious all the time, because the government does comparably silly things constantly, regardless of whether it is a dictatorship or a democracy.

Christ understood that government can do a lot of insane things at times. They may look worse than they really are, and we need to remember that. So when a gay couple asks you for flowers or a cake for a wedding, just turn the other cheek. You do not have to approve of your neighbor, but at least treat them with love and respect.