You have to give Americans some credit. When we want to make a point, we tend to do so with overkill. Christians, conservative Americans, and unfortunate travelers who just wanted some waffle fries, braved huge lines yesterday at Chick-fil-A restaurants all over the country yesterday. Numerous friends reported that there were 2-3 hour lines at all of the restaurants they saw and one reported running out of food.
Well, we certainly helped out my favorite fast food restaurant’s profits yesterday, but what else did we do? I appreciate the rightful responses of Christians who were very protective of one of their own for sharing their beliefs in an interview. The person happened to be Dan Cathy the CEO of Chick-fil-A. His comments were immediately vilified and Cathy was turned into persona non grata.
We live in a country of free speech. The response by many in the media, and politicians, such as the mayor of Boston and some of those in Chicago who essentially threatened economic retribution against Cathy and his company, were ridiculous. Their intolerance for his opinions that they view as intolerant is hypocritical to an extreme. With that said I understand why this became such a touchstone for so many Christians.
But what do we think we accomplished yesterday? The war for marriage, I have stated numerous times, is not a war about homosexuality. the GLBQT community is not the enemy of the church. We aren’t at war against them. The fight for same sex partners to gain the right to marry isn’t destroying marriage in our country. Marriage is already broken. Whether or not we allow same sex marriages in our country isn’t going to fix or damage the institution. We have already broken the institution of marriage. We did it by ourselves, within heterosexual marriages, and quite sadly, within a vast multitude of Christian marriages. We have already lost the battle for marriage and we don’t even realize it.
We have turned marriage into a lightly entered consumer relationship whose purpose is to make us as individuals happy. So long as it does that, we stay in it. When we aren’t happy we move on. We have lost the gospel centered nature of marriage. We have given our souls over to love of money and stuff. We have removed Christ from the head of our marriages and the center of our relationships. We have turned being part of the church into simply another nice activity we add into our lives as we see convenient. This is our war. This is our battle. But we aren’t fighting it. Instead we are going to Chick-fil-A.
I am encouraged by so many people who want to take a stand to protect our freedom of speech in this country. But I am discouraged that once again so many hurting and broken people who have such a low opinion of the church, once again felt like the church turned their backs on them yesterday. In our efforts to show the media our strength we also added to the idea that it is Us vs. Them. We added to the ammunition of so many who think that the church doesn’t care about the homosexual community. We added strength to the accusations that we are self focused. We finally stood tall and made a stand and all we really did was go and eat fast food.
If we tried to organize one day across our country where all Christians didn’t go to a fast food restaurant and instead donated that money to fight world hunger how successful do you think we would be? If we tried to organize a nationwide event where we sought out a way to bless the community of those suffering with AIDS and serve them for a day, how many would respond?
We are fighting a battle, but we keep forgetting several key things. First, the Kingdom of God will prevail and it will prevail because Christ our Lord has already been exalted above all the powers of this world. Second, our battles are never fought according to the ways and rules of this world. Everything we do is done through the grace of God. Third, our victory comes through power displayed by sacrifice and mercy.
We stood up and did something yesterday, I am just still not sure what it was or what good it accomplished.
August 2, 2012 at 10:30 am
For some odd reason Paul yells at me with his: “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial”. It’s great to have “freedoms” in this country, but that doesn’t mean we have to use them for every knee jerk statement said.
Glad you mentioned that our marriage problem has way less to do with the LGBT community than our own cheapening of the covenant of marriage.
August 2, 2012 at 11:36 am
Thanks Preaching Moose. One of these days Matt you will have to tell me the story behind the moose. It intrigues me.
August 2, 2012 at 11:26 am
Well said, Pastor Greg.
When asked to respond to world hunger and those with AIDs, the Christian community does a pretty good job. But – as is your point – unfortunately, not with as much enthusiasm as letting our Us vs Them show.
August 2, 2012 at 11:39 am
Yes, we quite often respond in beautiful ways to the needs of the world. But seldom is it done with such enthusiasm and mass participation as to draw the world’s attention to what is truly at the heart of our mission.
August 2, 2012 at 11:27 am
Well said, Greg! Just minutes before reading this I had said to Tyler that if everyone who had stood in line to get the food had taken it to feed the hungry I would have said that at least something was done for His Kingdom through that ridiculous mess yesterday. I definitely agree with the sharing of Paul’s words from Cor 10:23, they are perfect for this situation. Hey, I can do anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for me or for His Kingdom.
August 2, 2012 at 4:46 pm
This whole Chick-Fil-A hubbub has had me thinking. Each side is getting really roiled because the other side is conspiring against them. The somewhat amusing part about this is that each of these communities have become mirrors of the other.
Christian dialog: I’m Christian. The liberals and homosexuals are out there conspiring against us. They’ll attack us at every turn. They won’t be happy until Christianity is gone.
Gay dialog: I’m Gay. The conservatives and Christians are out there conspiring against us. They’ll attack us at every turn. They won’t be happy until homosexuality is gone.
And I hate to say it, because I only belong to one of the Christian “group”, but I’ve heard plenty of Christians talk in such a way that a gay person might as well be a murderer. It’s a SIN! It’s WRONG! Well, so is hate. I’m not saying that the founder of Chik Fil A hates gay people. But there are plenty of Christians out there that do. There are plenty of sinning Christians out there that are all too quick to point out and hold up the sins of others. “Hey, at least we’re not those guys.”
Is it then shocking that people feel attacked, and feel marginalized? Is this really the best we can do in spreading the love of Jesus? Are we really expecting people to filter between the so-called Christians espousing hate and true Christians that, regardless of sin, treat everyone with love and compassion? Why should we expect this? We Christians are busy lumping all of the liberals and gays into our little box of “God haters”. They should do better?
Ask yourself this, how many people left Jesus feeling attacked and marginalized? Before we worry about everyone else, Christians need to clean their own houses. We’re not doing enough, and what we’re doing, we’re not doing right. We’ve created an environment of intolerance. But we haven’t created an environment where we’re intolerant of sin. We’ve created an environment where we’re intolerant of people. All the while, we’re expecting that the people we’re marginalizing should be tolerant of us. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard. We’ve clearly lost sight of the message.
August 3, 2012 at 11:15 am
David – I am not gay… nor am I Christian, and on Wednesday, I found myself feeling glad to be able to say that. Thank you for your totally thoughtful response. It really sums up what I have been feeling with sadness since this whole CFA mess began. The amount of hate retoric that has been flying around has really left me feeling drained this week. Thank you for putting a gentle reminder of the fact that what God “expects” most from us is Love.
August 2, 2012 at 5:31 pm
LooK u got the wrong idea . I support marriage I one woman and one man . That’s what I said by going to that resteraunt yesterday. You and half the population of sympathetic Christians with other agenda like ( feedin children) in which I already do is not the focus stop hijacking what was being said . Which is no different than the gay community we spoke loud with our mo et which te bible says. Where your money is so is your heart . Think that through not fast food but giving a man a ok is good behavior for he stood up to all communities and all Christians look for is a person that is a leader in which I am . Please look at the whole picture next time . Paul
August 2, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Paul, I have no idea if your comment was serious or well written satire. Please advise before I respond. Thanks
August 2, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Wholeheartedly agree with this: “If we tried to organize one day across our country where all Christians didn’t go to a fast food restaurant and instead donated that money to fight world hunger how successful do you think we would be?”
And generally with everything else you’ve said. Except for the part about people coming to chick-fil-a to support this guy’s freedom of speech. It’s not an issue of free speech, it’s about people rallying to identify with one side or the other. If he had said the opposite thing and been attacked, we would not see the same people rushing his restaurants.
Everyone has a right to say what they want! And everyone else has a right to get angry about what was said, and/or to give/not give money to that person.
August 3, 2012 at 11:25 am
Greg – Thank you for such a well written and thoughtful reflection of the August 1 events at CFA. You have, in my opinion, hit the nail squarely on the head. Your position leaves me feeling encouraged where I was feeling so discouraged yesterday. I am neither Christian, nor Gay… so you might be able to say I “don’t have a dog in that fight”. I do believe in Love as a primary purpose… and I haven’t read much of that this week.
When you suggested that Christians might organize a day where all Christians might not go to a fast food restaurant, but donate the money for world hunger… I suspect many Gay people and non Christians would join you.