Because they refused, they were brought before the king, who told them to comply with his command or they would be thrown into a blazing furnace. Their fearless response sets the gold standard for trust and faithfulness:
“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3:16-18).
They were committed to faithfulness and fully trusted in God to deliver them, even if the deliverace meant death. Their fearless faith response reminds me of the aposttles Peter and John, who were threatened with severe punishment if they did not stop talking openly about Jesus: "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20).
Although controversial in her stand, I see the county clerk down in Kentucky in a very similar vein. The Supreme Court struck down the laws that prohibit same sex marriages, but the Lesgislators have not produced a new law allowing for it. The courts do not have the power to right laws. And, even if a law was written, it would still violate her conscience.
You can say, "She should just resign." But she would counter, "The government should make accommodation for her faith just as they have in many other cases, where faith and law collide, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Regardless of what your faith or mine would allow, hers does not allow signing off on same-sex marriages as a county clerk and she is taking a stand that has already brought her some jail time and may very well end in a prison sentence.
Of course, I don't think marriage is a government thing, I believe it is a God thing: "what God has joined together..." (Matt 19:6). And, if God doesn't endorse it, it isn't marriage. So, while I might be able to sign a governmental license (I'm not certain), I could not perform any marriage I thought God did not approve. That is my right, my faith and my stand. She has taken hers.
So my question is, unlike Obama's red line drawn for Syria that Bashar al-Assad skipped over without pause or retaliation, where is your red line of faith over which you will not step? Do you have a line that you would refuse to cross over, at the penalty of jail or even death?
I believe that each of us, as children of God, must have a point at which we say "This far and no more," even if it costs us all we have for "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Matt 16:26). At the end of the day, we ought to be fearless "of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Matt 10:28).
Jus' Say'n.
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