Maybe I’m out of touch. Maybe I’m simply not connected to the evangelical movement as I should be. Sometimes, based on various stances, I wonder if I could even be considered a Christian. Maybe I’m just part of the few who feel deep down that buying a lot of chicken does not equal a great victory for Christianity.
Can you just stick with me for a minute on this one?
I understand the First Amendment and I love the ability to speak freely. But the reality is the First Amendment is not a Christian Amendment. It supports the free speech of all religions, so to begin by taking a Christian stance on the first amendment already puts us on shaky ground. If I am to support the First Amendment, I can’t just support it when it’s convenient or beneficial to me. I must support it understanding that there are negatives that we also encounter due to its fairness. Likewise, I can’t choose to simply support the parts of scripture that are convenient to me. I fully agree we must stand upon the totality of the Word of God. That being said…
If I love, I must love all.
And please understand, disagreement and hatred are not synonymous. Does Chick-fil-A have the right to disagree with the KKK? Yes. Does it have the right to disagree with murder? Yes. Does it have the right do disagree with spousal abuse? Yes. Every business and every organization and every human in this country has the right to disagree and to do so openly.
Buying chicken does not mean we represented Christ. It does not mean we stood for Christian values. It does not mean we stood for Christ. It means we agree with the First Amendment – a non-Christian constitutional right.
Our proper response to a Spiritual attack SHOULD have been to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44, Romans 12:14). Such love is patient and kind, it does not boast and is not arrogant. (1 Corinthians 13:4). Our works should be love and faith and service and patient endurance, and the latter works exceed the first. (Revelation 2:19).
Establishing an Us vs. Them scenario benefits who? Should we next grab our pick axes and protest signs that declare “Eat More Chicken”? If we won anything it is the clarity of ignorance and the inability to be long suffering. Jesus warned us about this in John 15:18-25.
18“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’b If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
There will always exist a tension between Christ and culture. It’s inevitable. This is not a government issue. This is not a legal issue. This is not a constitutional issue. This is a righteousness issue and aligning ourselves with the love of God means that we do have to cast aside things that would so easily entangle us (Hebrews 12:1). In order to be in a loving relationship with a loving, but righteous God we must look to our Rock and pursue righteousness (Isaiah 51:1).
We cannot and should never depend on mandated morality. It is not sincere and will never stand. Asking our government to stand up for Christ and put laws in place to support Christianity sets us back literally hundreds of years.
The last time this occurred the result was The Thirty Years War which resulted in millions of deaths, forced conversions, inquisitions, and torture.
So, now that you’ve bought chicken, how else will you represent Jesus?
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