Smoke and MIrrors
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and
cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice,
mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without
neglecting the former.” Matthew 23:23
NIV
The
internet has been a buzz with the whole Chick-Fil-A issue. Dan Cathy articulated his view on gay
marriage and those views cause a protest around the country that sent
supporters of his view to his stores and haters of his view to demand that his
stores be boycotted. I don’t particularly
care for either side of this argument as I think they are both flawed. I’m still going to eat Chick-Fil-A, not
because I support his view, but because I like their food and their commitment
to allow their employees off on Sunday. I
liked them so much I considered franchise ownership. Out of all of the
businesses I support with my dollars, I do not know the political viewpoint of
the owners. What I do know is how they
treat me when I walk through the door and how their business supports or hurts
the community.
On
their appreciation day last week, Chick-Fil-A posted unprecedented sales
nationwide as thousands of supporters stood in long lines and demonstrated
their solidarity with the fast food chain.
Good for them. People ate good
chicken and a Christian values based company received valuable financial
support for taking a stance on a political issue. We all know that money talks, so putting your
money where your mouth is (pun intended) goes a long way. Which brings me to
another issue that this highlights for me.
There
is no question that we have morality issues in this country and in the whole
world as a matter of fact. But let’s
start with the immorality of our laws and policies that govern our country
purposefully marginalizing other people for the benefit and profit of a
few. Justice, mercy and faithfulness are
the more important issues of the law (according to Jesus). Is it right for a man to be persecuted and
threatened with boycott for expressing his political stance on a morality
issue? No. He has the right to express
that opinion and people have the right to agree. And the gay rights activists also have a
right to express themselves as well.
That is the beauty of the 1st amendment. Both sides can express themselves without
fear of government persecution. Dan
Cathy has “Christian Values”. Well, I
would say that he has a certain set of Christian values. I personally am a follower of Christ with kingdom
values. Sets of rules and moral regulations do not take precedent over what I believe
to be the weightier matters of the law.
Rules about this and that do not do a whole lot to advance the kingdom
agenda, because if you use the kingdom agenda, you will find that the rules
also get followed because the more weightier matters were handled. When you
lead with rules, you get more condemnation, not more justice.
But what about really putting our money where
our mouth is. So if we believe what the
bible says, then shouldn’t we be putting more money into those organizations
that support issues of justice, mercy and faithfulness? How about going out to DONATE the cost of a
meal at Chick-Fil-A to an organization that fights to bring equality to our
educational system and get rid of these laws that put less money into inner
city schools and more into suburban schools?
Or how about protesting the payday lenders that are looking to keep
people in a debt trap by charging 369% interest rates and are trying to enter
into Pennsylvania as we speak? Or what about unequal lending practices that
have been going on in minority communities, charging higher interest rates to
people of color which several large banks have just been sued over? Or what about boycotting those companies who
have been presented with data that tells them that the work they are doing is
directly affecting the health and well being of the communities they are
working in, but who continue to work in these areas anyway. They are blatantly ignoring the warnings that
their drilling, construction, etc, is causing cancer and other diseases, but
they figure that the money they would pay out in lawsuits is less than the
money they make by continuing, so they ignore it?
Do
we get up in arms about these issues of justice and mercy and faithfulness the
way we do about gay marriage? Here is
another question. . .if the issue is truly about gay marriage, would the same
people who went out and supported Chick-Fil-A have done the same if the owner
was Muslim? Selah.
I’m not saying
Dan Cathy should not be given support for expressing his Christian
beliefs. I think that the appreciation
day showed that people do care about the financial health of an organization
that has not been silent on their faith. And I will continue to support
Chick-Fil-A. But seriously, Christians,
can we start looking at the weightier matters of the law and stop voting on
these morality issues for our government?
We are playing right into the hands of those who hold the majority
positions. Distract them with “morality”
and they will miss the bigger picture and things can stay exactly as they are.
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