Replies

This shouldn't be so difficult.

It's not difficult at all.

1. Man's law never supersedes God's law; neither does the Church.

See? It's not hard.

2. Homosexuality is a sin;

Right

issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals is not.

Oops,,,Anything which separates you from God is a sin. State sanctioned sin does that, and no one has an obligation to abet that. They also have no obligation to quit their jobs for that reason.

They should be aware that the godless may fire them. That's OK, people need to understand and take responsibility for their actions. They are certain to be persecuted for being Christians, Jesus told us so. Don't obey the godless, and maybe get fired. If all Christians did that, they would have to fire most of their employees. Oh well, then they take the consequences I guess.

3. However, if you conscience forbids you to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals, then you should find another job.

Wrongo, you should refuse to issue them and let the chips fall where they may. Let the godless worry about the consequences.

You may wish to get involved in protests or legislative efforts to change the law.

No problem. And those who think like you, those meek in their faith, may wish to act more meekly.

But others are under no obligation to do so, and certainly not because people like you misinterpret scripture.

It seems like it would be difficult to misinterpret the following Scriptures:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. [Romans 13:1-2]

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work [Titus 3:1]

On this issue, the Life Application Bible notes state: “As Christians, our first allegiance is to Jesus as Lord, but we must obey our government and its leaders as well. Christians are not above the law. Obeying the civil law is only the beginning of our Christian responsibility; we must do what we can to be good citizens. In a democracy, this means participation and willingness to serve.”

Our allegiance to Jesus is also clear in Scripture, for example:

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men." [Acts 5:29]

So, it seems self-evident, not subject to “interpretation”, that:

1. God’s law trumps man’s law.
2. When there is no conflict with God’s law, Christians must comply with man’s law.

Romans 13:6 also introduces the issue of conscience. In this specific thread, “the Church was making an urgent call for freedom of conscience for Roman Catholics”, which seems totally consistent with Scripture.

However, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo also said the Church was “appealing to them to resist the law.” This is the more problematic part. I certainly believe that Catholics (and all Christians for that matter) should follow their conscience; this likely means refusing to comply with the law (and accepting the consequences) or changing jobs, or working to change the law, or some combination.

The point is that matters of conscience are an individual decision made by persons of faith. For the Church to appeal to Catholics to obey their conscience is one thing; to encourage them to resist the legally constituted authority is quite another, unless the case can be clearly made that (in this instance) issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals is, in fact, against God's law.

As regards the strength of my own faith, that’s between me and my Lord Jesus. However, you might want to consider that “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” {Matthew 5:5]