I am always alarmed when I see a Christian group act in a public way that brings controversy. I say "alarmed" in that I always wonder what other people think and how they feel about Christians and the way that we react. There is a new boycott now by the American Family Association on Ford - read about it at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8047423/. As you read this, let me ask you a few questions as I would love to get some feedback:
1) How do "boycotts" correlate with our call to be "salt" and "light" in Matthew 5:13-16?
2) Do you think that it is better for non-Christians to know what we stand for or what we stand against, or both?
3) Do you think that a call to a public boycott really makes a difference?
4) Is there a better way to go about making a statement?
Just wondering what your thoughts are, and if this should affect The Journey at all?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
After reading the article I would offer this for consideration.
Christ's public display with the money changers in the temple must have certainly raised a few eyebrows. I am not familiar with this group and can only respond that the body of Christ has many many expressions.The Journey has it's expression and focus which we pray is led by God. I do not feel that this group is harming the " Christian image" in the eyes of the world. Up and to this point the church has been viewed as an insipped
milk toast,powerless,toothless non entity.Standing in the shadows while satin parades his propaganda as if it were truth.Tolerance is the New wave in society and "lets not offend anyone"
It's time someone stood up for the truth and the truth is: homosexuality is an abomination before God. It is His creation behaving in an unnatural manner. Will the boycott work? It already has. Ford motor Company is having to respond and we're talking about it on this site. I've never understood why God would lead people to an overseas mission when we have millions of our own issues right here, but , there is alot about the Lord I don't understand. So I worship Him and ask Him to open the eyes of my heart that I may know Him. The Lord is returning, not as the lamb that was slain but as the Lion from the tribe of Juda. We've only begun to fight.I know our weapons are not of the flesh but there are alot of differant maturity levels out there and I wonder if God would use a group like that to make a statement? Very possible don't you think?
Ed,
I would say this - and I am unsure if we would see eye to eye - but that is irrelevant, as this is just for conversing and is always done in brotherly love - in my opinion it takes different strokes for different folks.
If you look at the encounter on Mars Hill in Acts 17 in Athens, I find it interesting that Paul was standing among the pagan statues and surrounded by many immoral practices and people for awhile. He was deeply disturbed, but rather than pick one of the thousand bones of contention that he could have, he rather chose a point of conversation. Through this point, he became light and verses 32-34 say,"When they heard Paul speak of the resurrection of a person who had been dead, some laughed, but others said, "We want to hear more about this later." That ended Paul's discussion with them, but some joined him and became believers."
My fear is not that the church will cower away from these issues (the church has a consistent history of being on the march and speaking its mind, too often answering the questions no one is asking), but rather that we will beat people over the head with our beliefs and never create an opportunity to dialogue and share the redemptive good news. Just last week www.msnbc.com had an article that talked about evangelicals rethinking their political stances and identity. Our evangelical leaders are recognizing the dangers of being a political force as it has the ability to hamper our efforts to tell the good news.
In my opinion, boycott like this accomplish little (besides creating a buzz for whatever is being denounced), and it tends to create a hard-headed, bullying, "better-than-you," "we've got clout and we're not afraid to use it" persona/identity that the world completely derides and treats contemptously. Let's just denounce it (like Jesus did to the fig tree) and move on.
But that is only my opinion. I have another post for the beginning of next week that might be a good response to this. I would love to hear what others have to say. Thanks for the response, Ed.
Differant strokes is a good way to put it Rob. Just as there are differant expressions in the body of Christ. Christ was also not shy about going toe to toe with the Pharasees and saducees and neither was John the baptist for that matter. To take no action sometimes speaks volumes. I'm not saying that every christian should run around boycotting something But I am saying that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. It's not about our feelings but about being led by God. And maybe to do something even perhaps a little controversal.People in Christ's day all had opinions of Him. Most of which were based upon their own understanding and interpretations of His actionsd.So the opinions of the world toward God's people today will be no differant. We must be led by HIS Spirit and the world will form their opinions.I don't know at this time if these folks are being led or not but I don't see them causing the loss of salvation to even one of God's lost sheep.
Wow! Pastor, I just read this article earlier this morning...it makes me sad and drained.
When did Christianity and faith in God become so "corporately political" -- when did our belief become tied to capitalism? You spoke of meekness on Sunday; the meek shall inherit the earth; the Sunday before that we heard about the poor in spirit -- the kingdom of God will be theirs. I've always believed that one of the most effective ways to grow a church and spread the word of God is to practice humility, not gross tolerance, with ALL society -- my best witnessing has been by good example. If I am a boycotter of Ford Motor Co., what kind of an example am I showing to non-Christians? I would be considered the stereotype that non-churched people deride - unkind, mindless, angry, bigotted, fundamentalist -- I'll stop there. I've copied another part of the article -- of other companies that have been or are being boycotted:
"The fight against Ford is just one of many it has going: As of Tuesday, it was calling for action against the Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain (to protest its racy new ad featuring Paris Hilton), Kraft Foods (for its sponsorship of the 2006 Gay Games), Mary Kay Cosmetics and Old Navy stores (for advertising on ABC’s prime-time soap opera “Desperate Housewives”) and NutriSystem Inc., the weight-loss company (for airing its own salacious TV ad).
Most recently, the AFA ended a nine-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co., which it launched because of what it felt was the company’s “attitude, arrogance and embrace of the homosexual lifestyle.'" WHEN DOES IT STOP???
What about all the Christian folk who work for those companies? What about them trying to support their families? What about charitable organizations those companies may support? What happens to those funds if the company has so much boycotting that they have to cut back?
I'm not saying that we have to be blindly tolerant or "milk toast nambie pambies", as you so eloquently described it -- but there are better ways to build a strong church and grow a faithful church body rather than politically -- talking to everyone and anyone about the word of God -- His very specific words, with love and compassion FOR ALL.
The Church has become something skewed from what it should be -- THE institution for worship, the love of Jesus Christ, the working body of the word of God, and the fellowship of believers -- spending more time loving and teaching each other and spreading the Good Word, not the angry political one.
It's about being LED BY THE SPIRIT y'all. "Opines" are fine but it's about being led. God is not always going to seem reasonable to us. So do we decided that if it's controversial it must not be of God? " What would Jesus Do?" most don't know what Jesus would do because we still approach Him and His Word with our human intellect. Again I'm not saying yea or nay about this particular situation. I get alarmed when Christians shoot from the hip about anything they don't agree with or don't understand.We better make sure we have the mind of Christ before we plant or flag on an issue.
Ed,
You are right - it is about being Spirit-led - I don't think anyone was bypassing or negating that.
My original questions were (and still are)
1) How do "boycotts" correlate with our call to be "salt" and "light" in Matthew 5:13-16?
2) Do you think that it is better for non-Christians to know what we stand for or what we stand against, or both?
3) Do you think that a call to a public boycott really makes a difference?
4) Is there a better way to go about making a statement?
I know we will disagree - and I also know that motives are good, the AFA is a fine organization with godly people, and maybe they feel this is the most effective way to deal with corporations that don't line up with their beliefs.
As you can tell, I don't necessarily agree with it, but I just wondered what opinions were. As we make every attempt to advance the kingdom of God, some thoughts from Matthew 13 about what the kingdom of heaven is like - the mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a pearl - how does advancing God's kingdom through a boycott match up with this, or an advanced political agenda match up against these pictures of the kingdom?
Kim also raised some important issues yesterday about HOW the church should respond...I think they are legitimate. I would rather people know what we stand for than what we stand against. I know these things don't have to be mutually exclusive, but Jesus saved His biggest rebukes for the lofty, controlling, deceptive religious types/leaders, not the world. I am sure that the money changers in the temple were of the religious type, and that the temple did not contain the only bad business practices in town. Yet Jesus didn't go after them - He actually recruited them (Levi is an example).
Still tossing it about, not convinced that anyone has the perfect answer - just searching for God's answer for us.
And you know that I love you, that this is only dialogue.
:)
-Pastor
Yes and amen, Rob. God's answer for us. How do we fit as one of His puzzle pieces in His Kingdom?
I found a quote from an article on christianitytoday.com (http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2005/003/2.28.html) that I thought would be appropriate to this discussion:
"But then I think of the real meaning of the Cross, and wonder to myself, Would my defiance represent Christ's cause, or my own? His glory, or my pride? Is it His cross, or mine?"
Would a boycott of a public company be for the glory of God, or would a successful boycott encourage the pride and glory of greedy men? If we are to be the light of God, would we really succeed at that mission by snuffing out the spirit of potential believers?
In teaching children about Jesus, we would not read them the book of Revelation to encourage their growing faith -- talk about wrong impression by the young! They are not mature enough to understand the message. In the same vein, we would not want to teach the unchurched or the new believer about our faith in Christ by jumping on a soapbox condemning those different from us. Invite the unchurched INTO our church body by teaching them the true word of God.
Post a Comment