In Which I Paint With Some Bright Yellows (on Kim Davis)

Blog and Mablog ^ | Wednesday, September 2, 2015 | Doug Wilson

[Diamond]

A consensus appears to be developing among otherwise reasonable people that Kim Davis, of Rowan County fame, either needs to start issuing marriage licenses or quit her job.

For those just joining us, a county clerk in Kentucky is refusing to issue marriage licenses against her conscience and is also refusing to resign. Her name, which should be on a bronze plaque on the side of the courthouse, is Kim Davis. A federal judge has ordered her to appear in his courtroom Thursday to explain why Davis should not be held in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses.File this under sentiments which seem extreme at the time, but heroic when the danger is over, and you are reading them inscribed on the base of a polished marble memorial.

But there is a difference between contempt of court and seeing that the courts have become contemptible.

Now while florists and bakers and photographers enjoy a great deal of active support from the broader Christian world, the most people like Davis will get is a sympathetic lack of sympathy. It falls out this way because Christians generally understand the private sector — that’s where they live, after all — but they don’t understand the nature of government. They don’t understand the public sector and the relationship of God’s  Word to it. Their theology develops a distinct limp as soon as they step into the public square, but it is not the kind of limp you might acquire by wrestling with God at Peniel. It is more like what might happen if you dropped the Collected Works of Immanuel Kant on your foot. That results in quite a distinctive limp, one  you see everywhere.

Here is a quick sampling of that sympathetic lack of sympathy:

Carly Fiorina says the clerk needs to comply or move on. Ed Morrissey says the same. Ryan Anderson generally agrees with that, as does Rod Dreher. Note particularly the last comment in Dreher’s piece — that there are hills to die on, but that this is not it.

Update: After Ryan Anderson objected, I went back and reread him. His position is more nuanced than I let on, and so my apologies to him. I still have objections to his solution, but that will require a separate post.

So I want to begin by making an observation about that hill-to-die-on thing, but then move on to discuss the foundational principle that is at stake here. After that, I want to point out what it would look like if more government officials had the same understanding that Kim Davis is currently displaying — despite being opposed by all the intoleristas and also despite being abandoned by numerous Christians who admire her moxie but who don’t understand her moxie.

First, whenever we get to that elusive and ever-receding “hill to die on,” we will discover, upon our arrival there, that it only looked like a hill to die on from a distance. Up close, when the possible dying is also up close, it kind of looks like every other hill. All of a sudden it looks like a hill to stay alive on, covered over with topsoil that looks suspiciously like common ground.

So it turns out that surrendering hills is not the best way to train for defending the most important ones. Retreat is habit-forming.

This brings us to my second goal this morning, which is to highlight the principle. Pick some absurd issue — admittedly a dangerous thing to do in these times that defy the tender ministrations of satire — and that means that to be sufficiently absurd it would have to be an issue like legalized cannibalism. Now let us say that we live in a time, some weeks hence, when cannibalism can be practiced generally on established free market principles (Dahmer v. Illinois, 2023). But if you want to have a BBQ of that nature in a city park, on city property, then you are going to need a permit. Now say that you are Kim Davis’s granddaughter, and your office issues the permits for all activities in all the city parks. Do you issue the permit? Or do you arrange for a compromise? Find somebody in the office not nearly so squeamish as you are? “Hey, Queequeg! Can you handle this one?”

I interrupt this post to anticipate an objection to my choice of illustrations. “Are you saying, Wilson, that same sex mirage can be equated with cannibalism?” Well, no, they are very different sins. That said, they are both very wicked and God hates them both, and county clerks ought not give either one the sanction of law. But I am not trying equate anything here — I am simply trying to illustrate how a believer’s conscience ought to work if he is employed by a government that tries to sin grievously through the instrumentality of a godly magistrate. This is just how I paint illustrations, with bright yellows and gaudy greens. I do that so that people can see them.

So, follow me closely here. Chesterton once said that art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. We have a set up where a line must be drawn at some point. And in the abstract all evangelical Christians would almost certainly agree that when that line was crossed, wherever it is, the revolt of the county clerks would be a good thing. With me?

Let me spell it out further. Back in the thirties, if a county clerk had refused a marriage license to a couple because they attended a church where the pastor baptized people with heads upstream, instead of her preferred way, with heads downstream, we would all agree that said clerk had gotten above himself. And if a county clerk expedited and stamped all the processing papers for trains full of Jews headed to Auschwitz, we would all have no problem with said clerk being prosecuted after the war. And when he was prosecuted, “it was entirely legal” would not be an adequate defense. Got that? Two positions, marked clearly on the map, and there is a line somewhere between them.

Where is that line? Why is that line there? By what standard do we make that determination? Who says? These questions cannot be answered apart from the law of God, and that is why we are having such trouble with them. We want a pagan society to respect our sentimental religiosity, and that is not going to happen any time soon.

The point here is not just private conscience. The right to liberty of conscience is at play with florists, bakers, and so on. But Kim Davis is not just keeping herself from sinning, she is preventing Rowan County from sinning. That is part of her job.

Every Christian elected official should be determining, within the scope of their duties, which lines they will not allow the state to cross. When they come to that line, they should refuse to cross it because “this is against the law of God.” They should do this as part of their official responsibilities. This is part of their job. It is one of the things they swear to do when they take office.

This is nothing less than Calvin’s doctrine of the lesser magistrates (Institutes 4.20.22-32), which I would urge upon all and sundry as relevant reading material. And as Calvin points out, after Daniel — a Babylonian official — disobeyed the king’s impious edict, he denied that he had wronged the king in any way (Dan. 6:22-23).

Now this takes me to my citation of Jefferson above. Some might say that it is a shame that I, a staunch Calvinist, have taken to quoting a Deist on the relationship of righteousness to government. And I say that it is a shame that a 18th century Deist has a better grasp of the relationship of righteousness to government than do two and a half busloads of 21st century Reformed seminary professors. The striking inconsistency might have two possible causes, in other words.

If just ten governors treated Obergefell the same way Kim Davis is treating it, that entire unrighteous and despotic imposition would collapse and fall to the ground. And if they did so, they would not be sinning against the United States. Rather, they would be preventing the United States from sinning.

The end game here is not armed revolution. The end game is simply a refusal to cooperate with their revolution. Make them fire or impeach faithful officials. Once removed, such faithful officials should run for office again with a promise to continue to defy all forms of unrighteous despotism. As one friend of mine put it, “Lather. Rinse. Repeat.”

Some might ask what the good in that would be. Wouldn’t it just result in no Christians in such positions? Perhaps, but it would be far better to have godless results enforced by the godless than to insist that the godly do it for them. It would be far better to have the “no Christians in power results” when it was actually the case that no Christians were in power. I would rather have non-Christian clerks acting like non-Christian clerks than to have Christian clerks do it for them. I mean, right?

Don’t tell believers to stay engaged so that they can make a difference, and then, when they start making a difference, tell them that this is not a hill to die on. Make the bad guys reveal themselves. Make them crack down on evangelical county clerks, while continuing to wink at sanctuary cities and local defiance of federal pot laws. Why do they apply their “It’s the law! Bow down!” standard so inconsistently? Well, mostly it is because evangelicals are sweet and naive enough to let them get away with it.

So it is ironic that this valiant stand is being taken by a clerk, because those sidling away from her provide a standing example of our real problem — the trahison des clercs.

[sauropod]

Bflr

[Lera]

Kentucky law says marriage is between one man and one woman . She isn’t breaking the law .
Congress has made no law legalizing gay marriage and the Supreme Court can not write laws .

AND

Real Christians obey God rather than men

Act_5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Act_9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

Pro_29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Psa_19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

Psa_25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

Psa_33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

Psa_34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Psa_34:11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Psa_111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Pro_8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Pro_9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Pro_10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

Pro_14:26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Pro_14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Pro_15:16 Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

Pro_15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Pro_16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

Pro_19:23 The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Pro_23:17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

Isa_11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Isa_33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

[teeman8r]

Good read.

Same sex mirage. Says it all. .

I wish i said that.

IWIST

[tbpiper]

there is a difference between contempt of court and seeing that the courts have become contemptible

Amen to that.

[Irenic]

Perfect.

[Georgia Girl 2]

“If just ten governors treated Obergefell the same way Kim Davis is treating it, that entire unrighteous and despotic imposition would collapse and fall to the ground. And if they did so, they would not be sinning against the United States. Rather, they would be preventing the United States from sinning.”

This is the heart of the matter.

[Aleya2Fairlie]

I fully agree with your premise. But the perfect storm that the Supreme Court decisions on marriage in America has unleashed on our society is going to move so quickly we might not have time for those kinds of measures to be effective for Christians. I submit that we shouldn’t get so wrapped up in changing government that we neglect to realize how short our time might really be to set our own hearts and minds on what is required for our souls salvation.

Satan, in his cunning, has saved his best(worst?) tools for the end. I can no longer find a church in which to worship within reasonable driving distance of my home that will say they will stand against same sex marriage. Our public education system is already preparing to educate our children in the “normalcy” of homosexuality and transgenderism. While in the clearly marked restroom of one of the major department store chains the other day, I was amazed to see a person who was unmistakably a member of the opposite sex saunter in, look around and go into a stall. I immediately realized that that is something I might as well get used to, since it is now unlawful to prevent. It’s not for myself that I fear because of this but for youngsters. What a haven for pedophiles,perverts or just plain voyeurs. No one can legally prevent them now, even from shower facilities and locker rooms in gyms or sports facilities. This also applies to public schools.
Already, we have seen Christian businesses bankrupted just because they refused to participate in preparations for a gay wedding and photographers who were lawfully denied their right to refuse to take pictures. This isn’t a slow moving trend; it’s going to be a tsunami directed at Christianity and Christians. The Mark of the Beast and sworn agreement with Satan’s vile practices are going to be required for everything that pertains to sustaining a decent life or perhaps life itself. It’s going to overtake us so suddenly in our personal lives that some may be caught off guard or believe they can equivocate like many churches have done. There will have to be a personal decision made by each of us and it will definitely not be without a great amount of sacrifice for Christians and their families. But, as it has been said here, it’s a Heaven or Hell decision.

I believe that the times we find ourselves in are “as in the days of Noah”. We may not have time to change the system but only to stand on our own for our faith. Some won’t be able to stand the consequences for themselves or their families. They will choose to gain the world and lose their souls. I, myself am praying for the strength I need to stand whatever comes my way.

[stars & stripes forever]

Thanks for the ‘fear of the Lord’ Scriptures.

[JimRed]

Government should get out of the marriage business once and for all. It’s not like they’ll go broke from the loss of licensing fees...

[Lera]

“I believe that the times we find ourselves in are “as in the days of Noah”. We may not have time to change the system but only to stand on our own for our faith. Some won’t be able to stand the consequences for themselves or their families. They will choose to gain the world and lose their souls. I, myself am praying for the strength I need to stand whatever comes my way.”

Everything is becoming as in the days of Noah . Christians need to stand up not go along with it . Christians need to pray for an out pouring of the Holy Spirit on this nation , not sit and sigh about what is going on and cower in the corner.

God is using this woman to bring condemnation on this society and the pastors who have stood silent way to long .

[mumblypeg]

“Kim Davis is not just keeping herself from sinning, she is preventing Rowan County from sinning. That is part of her job.”

The money quote.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

First, whenever we get to that elusive and ever-receding “hill to die on,” we will discover, upon our arrival there, that it only looked like a hill to die on from a distance. Up close, when the possible dying is also up close, it kind of looks like every other hill. All of a sudden it looks like a hill to stay alive on, covered over with topsoil that looks suspiciously like common ground.

So it turns out that surrendering hills is not the best way to train for defending the most important ones. Retreat is habit-forming.

Exactly.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

The end game here is not armed revolution. The end game is simply a refusal to cooperate with their revolution. Make them fire or impeach faithful officials. Once removed, such faithful officials should run for office again with a promise to continue to defy all forms of unrighteous despotism. As one friend of mine put it, “Lather. Rinse. Repeat.”

This guy is very good.

[DiogenesLamp]

Government should get out of the marriage business once and for all. It’s not like they’ll go broke from the loss of licensing fees...

There may be merit to what you say, but to do so now is appeasement to the force of evil.

Your "RETREAT!!!!!!" Strategy will simply embolden the enemy. I wish you and other people would stop mentioning it.

[marron]

Yes. Thank you.

A dictator can only dictate as long as there are minions prepared to violate their consciences for a paycheck and benefits.

No totalitarian system can ever take root when your bureaucrats and petty officials and cops and soldiers are prepared to resist any immoral order. Totalitarian systems are always “legal”. Legal can’t be your only guideline.

[marron]

Re-reading this, this is an excellent piece. There are several lines worth stealing. Very well done.

[Diamond]

Government should get out of the marriage business once and for all. It’s not like they’ll go broke from the loss of licensing fees...

That's probably not going to happen. Civil marriage has a long history in America dating back to the Colonial period:

MATRIMONIAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATE8 - By George Elliott Howard

Cordially,

[Diamond]

Same sex mirage. Says it all.

I missed that one! That is good.

Cordially,

[Conservative4Ever]

Thank you for the Biblical quotes. When I was a teen-ager, attending my Sunday school, I would sometimes wonder if in Jesus’ time if I would have been a desciple and more importantly a loyal/fearless one like John standing with Mary and the other women at the cross. I’m thinking the days are fast approaching when I might get to find out. I pray daily for strength in keeping my Christian faith. I pray to have that steadfastness and no fear. More and more I see Christians having to meet the test. The Jewish people have been doing this for 6000 years. Under far worse circumstances. Both Jews and Christians need to come together to denounce the evil let loose in the world.