I suspect that I'm about to open a very large can of worms with this post, but I feel the need to seek opinions of others about our current socio-political environment.
As many of you are aware, the president of Chik Fil A recently vocalized support for the traditional biblical definition of marraige; one man and one woman. He also insisted that his company still is committed to providing everyone with respect, regardless of race, creed, color, orientation, etc.
Yet there's a massive attempt to get CFA shot down or forced out of current locations. The arguement; hatred, bigotry, and discrimination.
Regardless of one's support or opposition to the issue at hand, I wonder if anyone else is as disturbed as I am about several politicians who have decided to insert themselves into the issue by saying they will try to have CFA blocked from opening chains within their areas of influence. Chicago's mayor has said "Chik Fil A's values are not Chicago's values." In a way, he's abosluetly right, and that's a good thing. But when he and the alderman claim they will block a business from opening simply because it voices an opinion that is counter to their's, I see the beginning of the degradation of our freedoms and liberties.
Although many legal scholars have already said this is unconstitutional and wouldn't stand up to a court case, the idea that these political figures have decided that a business's values are a potential litmus test for consideration of a business license is disturbing.
I obviously support a company's right to express it's corporate First Amendment rights. When JC Penny's and even Target started obviously supporting the gay community, I chose not to participate in any boycott of their business. I did this because those company's are allowed to express that. I choose not to shop at JC Penny because they are overpriced. I shop at Target because they are closer and very affordable on many things.
So where am I going with this post? I'll see if I can bring it all together.
As Christians, obviously we are taught that homosexuality is a sin that God finds detestable. As with any sin, we are to continue to show love to the sinner, as Christ showed love to us. We are to continue to pray for the sinner, that they would find salvation and forgiveness in Christ Jesus. We should also always remember that as Christians, we aren't inherantly better than non-Christians, we are just different through our salvation. We too are sinners that have been forgiven.
When we hear the vitriol from the liberals (I direct your attention to some of the twitter posts from Hollywood liberals, which you can find at twitchy.com - warning, LOTS of foul language from the left), what is our best response? I've been reading a lot of these pro-gay people attacking the Christian community for it's intolerance of the gay lifestyle.
Bigotry, as defined by Dictionary.com is stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own. I'm always tempted to point the hypocrasy of the left/liberal viewpoint, since they are the one's that seem to be intolerant of the Christian viewpoint.
We shouldn't, as Christians, tolerate a sinful world and sinful behavior. We should work to put people in front of Christ, and let him work on them. We are the sowers, not the harvesters. But in today's secular world, how do we do that without presenting the message of Christ as "intolerant" and "haters"? What's the best way, in your varied opinions, to say, "Hey, we support the biblical definition of marriage. That doesn't mean we hate you. We just disagree with you."
I'm honestly feel like the persecution of Christian beliefs is becoming more prevalent in American society. I know that we are taught that we should be honored to be persecuted for Christ, I guess I just never really suspected it to be happening in my lifetime.
As many of you are aware, the president of Chik Fil A recently vocalized support for the traditional biblical definition of marraige; one man and one woman. He also insisted that his company still is committed to providing everyone with respect, regardless of race, creed, color, orientation, etc.
Yet there's a massive attempt to get CFA shot down or forced out of current locations. The arguement; hatred, bigotry, and discrimination.
Regardless of one's support or opposition to the issue at hand, I wonder if anyone else is as disturbed as I am about several politicians who have decided to insert themselves into the issue by saying they will try to have CFA blocked from opening chains within their areas of influence. Chicago's mayor has said "Chik Fil A's values are not Chicago's values." In a way, he's abosluetly right, and that's a good thing. But when he and the alderman claim they will block a business from opening simply because it voices an opinion that is counter to their's, I see the beginning of the degradation of our freedoms and liberties.
Although many legal scholars have already said this is unconstitutional and wouldn't stand up to a court case, the idea that these political figures have decided that a business's values are a potential litmus test for consideration of a business license is disturbing.
I obviously support a company's right to express it's corporate First Amendment rights. When JC Penny's and even Target started obviously supporting the gay community, I chose not to participate in any boycott of their business. I did this because those company's are allowed to express that. I choose not to shop at JC Penny because they are overpriced. I shop at Target because they are closer and very affordable on many things.
So where am I going with this post? I'll see if I can bring it all together.
As Christians, obviously we are taught that homosexuality is a sin that God finds detestable. As with any sin, we are to continue to show love to the sinner, as Christ showed love to us. We are to continue to pray for the sinner, that they would find salvation and forgiveness in Christ Jesus. We should also always remember that as Christians, we aren't inherantly better than non-Christians, we are just different through our salvation. We too are sinners that have been forgiven.
When we hear the vitriol from the liberals (I direct your attention to some of the twitter posts from Hollywood liberals, which you can find at twitchy.com - warning, LOTS of foul language from the left), what is our best response? I've been reading a lot of these pro-gay people attacking the Christian community for it's intolerance of the gay lifestyle.
Bigotry, as defined by Dictionary.com is stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own. I'm always tempted to point the hypocrasy of the left/liberal viewpoint, since they are the one's that seem to be intolerant of the Christian viewpoint.
We shouldn't, as Christians, tolerate a sinful world and sinful behavior. We should work to put people in front of Christ, and let him work on them. We are the sowers, not the harvesters. But in today's secular world, how do we do that without presenting the message of Christ as "intolerant" and "haters"? What's the best way, in your varied opinions, to say, "Hey, we support the biblical definition of marriage. That doesn't mean we hate you. We just disagree with you."
I'm honestly feel like the persecution of Christian beliefs is becoming more prevalent in American society. I know that we are taught that we should be honored to be persecuted for Christ, I guess I just never really suspected it to be happening in my lifetime.