Kim Davis emerged triumphantly to “Eye of the Tiger”, as if she went the distance, and now she is back on her feet after just 5 days in jail. She insisted with tears in her eyes that:
“I just want to give God the glory,” Davis said. “We serve a living God who knows exactly where each and everyone stands. Keep pressing, don’t let down because he is here. He is worthy.”
Doing this for god’s glory?
An argument can be made that she isn’t glorifying her god either, by denying marriage licenses to same sex couples at the same time telling them they are going to Hell. What is it Jesus supposedly said about removing the beam from your own eye before attempting to remove the speck out of someone’s else’s eye? Biblical law would not allow her remarriages either. She is reportedly concerned about going to Heaven, so it seems she is denying compassion to others not to glorify her god but for her own reward.
It isn’t about criminalizing Christianity either, as presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee claims. She was jailed for breaking the law. What was that again about rendering unto Caesar’s that which is Caesar’s? And how about Jesus exhorting the Hebrews to go the extra mile if the law demanded you carry a Roman soldier’s things for them? If this were about her glorifying Christianity she is going about it all wrong not doing what the law requires of her.
But I am not a Christian. I am an ex-Christian though, and what I see Kim Davis’s lack of compassion for her fellow human beings as doing looks to me more like defaming Christianity.
1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.
4For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
However, it isn’t about Christian piety either, because one thing Davis has correct the Old Testament definitely forbids homosexuality. It also forbids adultery, and in the New Testament Jesus rescues an adulteress. What any marriage is about is love.
8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
9The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:1-10
Kim Davis spent 5 days in jail. Imagine spending the rest of your lover’s final days separated from them, because their Christian family denies you access to their sickbed? Imagine your lover dying without you because you are denied the right every married heterosexual couple takes for granted. Imagine caring for a dying partner full-time, only to have your partner’s Christian family throw you out of the house you shared? Is she loving her neighbor as she would herself?
Again it’s not about Kim Davis; it’s about love.
The love of John Arthur and Jim Obergefel helped change the law for same sex American couples. They had loved each other for 20 years, and they decided to seek a legal marriage when John Arthur was dying of ALS, and they knew the law would not respect their wish to be buried together without one. They obeyed the law of the land, even though it was many years too late for both of them to be legally recognized as the fathers of their adopted children. Unfortunately their story is not unique many have died before the SCOTUS decision overturning same sex marriage bans without ever having the rights heterosexual married couples don’t ever have to worry about.
The decision to recognize the rights of same sex married couples was not about modern day Pharisees like Kim Davis asserting their dominance over other people’s private lives. It is simply about the right to love, and spend your life with the person of your own choosing.
Update from The Daily Beast: This post by Survivor’s Frankie Sullivan is awesome!
The song’s creator, Survivor, was not pleased. “NO! We did not grant Kim Davis any rights to use ‘My Tune -The Eye Of The Tiger,’” Survivor member Frankie Sullivan, who co-wrote the song, posted on Facebook on Tuesday. “I would not grant her the rights to use Charmin [toilet paper]! C’mom Mike [Huckabee], you are not The Donald but you can do better than that.”
