Discussion Cakes,lawsuits,and a Holy Spirit filled life.

Aldebaran said:

I hear this argument all the time. But it ignores specifics. If a gay person walks into a bakery and buys a loaf of bread or anything else in the store, that's not the problem--at all. What we're talking about here is a person (gay or not) trying to get the baker to make something that is for something specifically in conflict with the baker's religious beliefs to make. A loaf of bread doesn't qualify for that. Nor do cupcakes or napkins or any number of other things. The issue only came up when someone wanted a wedding cake made for the celebration of a homosexual "wedding" event. The baker obviously didn't feel right about baking a cake for something like that and didn't want to be involved in any way and even tried to accomodate the gays by referring them to another baker.
This hardly represents the flat-out refusal to serve sinners. It wasn't about someone being a sinner. It was about a specific product being requested--a wedding cake specifically for a homosexual "wedding".

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Brilliantly stated.

Not one single person here has suggested that we should refuse any and all service to gays. That's nothing more than an intellectually dishonest strawman to detract from the actual issue you just articulated so well.

Farm Truck said:

Jesus spoke a lot about hell and He said in the Great Commission that those the do not believe shall be dammed.

While hell is not the primary focus, it is part of the discussion when sharing the Good News because people do need to be made aware of the consequences of rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior... anything less if not being truthful and can easily cause someone to end up in hell.

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There is no instance in scripture of anyone preaching the Gospel and warning of hell before the gospel is accepted. Jesus with the Samaritan woman, Paul on Mars' Hill--no, you don't see them "convicting sinners of their sin" before first offering salvation.

It's the explicit job of the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin. Those responding to the Holy Spirit will be ready and willing to hear the Gospel.

I have heard the testimonies of those who had been convicted, and had preachers confirm the conviction, telling them they're going to hell...and for a long time, those people accepted that as a fact. "I'm going to hell, yeah, I've heard that, goodbye."

Until they heard a preacher start out with the Good News without trying to convict them of sin first. One woman I know--a prostitute at the time--walked up to that preacher and poked him in the chest: "You said that in Christ everyone is a new creation and the old would be gone. Is that the truth?"

She had been told over and over again that she was going to hell. That had been the first preacher who had said, "New creation" to her...and she was hooked.

You have to assume the Holy Spirit is doing His job out there; I think that's a safe assumption.