Yep, being a conscientious objector wasn't enough to get off the hook, thank goodness for volunteer military.
Well, so I think I can comment on the "gay sex, big deal?" question from a deeply Christian religious/believer person's standpoint.
I'm not hardcore into the bible, but I took some bible study on the old testament for the first time this year. We studied Moses and we ran through the "man laying down with another man being detestable to God" passage and the study notes didn't really address it directly other than to say God gave the people sexual purity laws and you gotta pray about it and decide for yourself. As I recall there was also a bit in there about chopping a woman's hands off if she touched a man's junk inappropriately, so yeah, lots to pray about...
Well ok fine, so I get into the discussion group, and the men were much more specific and clear on the topic - the Word said gay sex is abhorrent to God, so there you go, case closed. I can tell you one of the main points they wanted to get across to me was that God doesn't just want your praises, He wants you to OBEY.
So, with that kind of mindset, I can see how deeply screwed a religious baker would be if the law tells them they must do one thing or get sued and God is saying, no, you gotta set yourself apart from that and not participate in or bless that thing.
The men in my discussion group also said that Jesus discussed marriage specifically in the context of man and woman too, although I'm not well-versed in the new testament and I never read that myself. One of the most interesting things I learned was Jesus said that God HATES divorce because of what it does to the family.
Well, so I think I can comment on the "gay sex, big deal?" question from a deeply Christian religious/believer person's standpoint.
I'm not hardcore into the bible, but I took some bible study on the old testament for the first time this year. We studied Moses and we ran through the "man laying down with another man being detestable to God" passage and the study notes didn't really address it directly other than to say God gave the people sexual purity laws and you gotta pray about it and decide for yourself. As I recall there was also a bit in there about chopping a woman's hands off if she touched a man's junk inappropriately, so yeah, lots to pray about...
Well ok fine, so I get into the discussion group, and the men were much more specific and clear on the topic - the Word said gay sex is abhorrent to God, so there you go, case closed. I can tell you one of the main points they wanted to get across to me was that God doesn't just want your praises, He wants you to OBEY.
So, with that kind of mindset, I can see how deeply screwed a religious baker would be if the law tells them they must do one thing or get sued and God is saying, no, you gotta set yourself apart from that and not participate in or bless that thing.
The men in my discussion group also said that Jesus discussed marriage specifically in the context of man and woman too, although I'm not well-versed in the new testament and I never read that myself. One of the most interesting things I learned was Jesus said that God HATES divorce because of what it does to the family.