Bake a Cake for Everyone

We can be so very thankful that Christ has come to set us free from the power of human desires that run contrary to the will of God.  He can redeem and totally tranform us; certainly, we will be tempted, but Scripture promises we have a way of escape. James 1 states:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

We understand that each of us is certainly made in God's image, but we were born into a fallen world, and victims of the fall.  So, in order to experience a relationship with God, we have to accept His sacrifice, which was performed by the death of His Son, Jesus.  He has redeemed us, and we are called not to identify with our sin but with Him; called to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, set free in His glorious victory so that we might defeat the victimhood brought about by sin.

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We have to understand that we have a capacity to sin, and that we are not to identify with our sin
areas, but identify with the Savior and the redemption He brings. Romans 6 states:
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

In the not-too-distant past, there were two releases from high-profile directors that explored spiritual themes.  One was Hacksaw Ridge, which told the story of the life-saving efforts of Desmond Doss, who entered the military, would not fire a weapon, but was instrumental, as a medic, in bringing a number of soldiers to safety in the heat of battle - it was directed by Mel Gibson, a Hollywood icon who also did The Passion of the Christ.  Another was Silence from Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese, which, according to IMDB, is: "The story of two Catholic missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) - at a time when Catholicism was outlawed and their presence forbidden."

One of the common threads of these two films is one of the lead actors, Andrew Garfield.  In fact, the Christian Post recently reported on how playing the role of a priest in Silence affected him:

"There were so many things in the exercises that changed me and transformed me, that showed me who I was ... and where I believe God wants me to be," the actor said in January 2017.

"What was really easy was falling in love with this person, was falling in love with Jesus Christ. That was the most surprising thing," he added.

Garfield made a public appearance recently at the Tony Awards.  His award was for Best Leading Actor in a Play, for Angels in America, in which he plays a gay man with AIDS.  The Post reported that he...

...dedicated his win to the LGBT community, stating that they have fought and died for the right to love.

"We are all sacred and we all belong," the actor said.

He added, "[let's] just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked," seemingly in reference to the recent Supreme Court decision that backed Christian baker Jack Phillips and his refusal to make a custom-made cakes for gay wedding celebration.

From the transcript at Broadway World, Garfield stated:

At a moment in time where maybe the most important thing that we remember right now is the sanctity of the human spirit, it is the profound privilege of my life to play Prior Walter in Angels In America because he represents the purity of humanity. And especially that of the LGBT community. It is a spirit that says no to oppression, it is a spirit that says no to bigotry, no to shame, no to exclusion. It is a spirit that says we were all made perfectly and we all belong.

Rolling Stone had reported earlier this year that "Last summer, the Amazing Spiderman actor made headlines after he was quoted as saying that he was a 'gay man … just without the physical act.'" He backtracked from that, but according to this piece, he did address the topic in Out magazine:

"Up until this point, I've only been sexually attracted to women," he told the publication.

"My stance toward life, though, is that I always try to surrender to the mystery of not being in charge. I think most people – we're intrinsically trying to control our experience here, and manage it, and put walls around what we are and who we are."

"I want to know as much of the garden as possible before I pass – I have an openness to any impulses that may arise within me at any time..."

Three things:

Vulnerability to temptation does not equal identity.  The Christian life is predicated on Christ's sacrifice for sin and the daily putting to death of the impulses of the flesh that contradict God's purposes.  There are those who excuse sinful impulses and make an insufficient attempt to embrace who God says they are.  That is why a conference like the upcoming Revoice conference, which has been endorsed by representatives of major Christian organizations, is so dangerous - teaching that a person can be gay-identified and that's OK, as long as he or she doesn't act on those impulses.  The Bible teaches to resist temptation, not to identify with the areas in which one is being tempted.

Garfield said that "We are all sacred and we all belong."  Let's ponder that for a moment.
Yes, we are all created in the image of God.  But, there is a tendency to use the concept of "imago dei" to ignore or excuse sinful behavior.   Everyone does possess that, certainly - we are fearfully and wonderfully made - but we are also capable of rebellion against God.  We were born into a state of rebellion against God and need the redemption that is only possible through Jesus Christ.  While one might consider the human condition, in one sense, to be sacred, we also recognize that we were not born into sinless perfection and that we need Christ to deliver us from our errant human impulses.

Of course, Garfield, while he is to be commended for his spiritual search, he has developed a warped view of the depravity of humanity.  And, he also delivered this line, "It is a spirit that says no to oppression, it is a spirit that says no to bigotry, no to shame, no to exclusion."  As Broadway World pointed out, he closed his speech with the line, "We are all sacred and we all belong, so lets just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked."  So, just moments after talking about the sanctified tolerance of the gay community, Garfield issues a statement of intolerance for the views of Jack Phillips and others who do not wish to celebrate the LGBT experience.  While this sounds "sacred" and spiritual, we have to be on guard when spiritually-coated statements actually contradict the principles of Scripture.  "Spiritual" does not equal "Christian" or "Godly."