The message Christians sent today
Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 12:41AM There have been an awful lot of people posting self-righteous, pompous posts about the "message we sent today" by buying chicken.
Do they want to know the message that was heard by non-Christians?
You know, the ones who need to hear God's word? The ones whose souls need saving?
I'm not sure they do.
Because frankly, the people who call themselves Christian who went to Chick-fil-A today to "spread the word that we can't be told where to spend our money" are missing the point.
Christians serve Jesus Christ. That's what it means, or used to, years ago, when I was a Christian and a Catholic. The Christ I knew was one who loved little children, lambs and Samaritans.
He loved and forgave prostitutes, fishermen and even the people who murdered him.
When people were stoning a prostitute to death, he said, "Let he among us who is without sin cast the first stone."
I'm not a Christian any more, though I love what Christ meant to my childhood.
I no longer believe there's only one path to God. I no longer believe that anyone on Earth has all of the answers. And I no longer believe that God makes mistakes. I don't believe that God makes ten percent of all species attracted to the same sex by mistake.
I don't believe that gay people are a mistake, any more than I believe that red hair, short people or people with big noses are a mistake, (though I sometimes wonder about men who have just one weird patch of hair on their back.)
Christ said to love your neighbor as yourself. He didn't say to be a slave to whatever interpretation of the Bible your language has translated this year.
Christ never mentioned the New Testament. Because it wasn't written then. It was written about Christ, and about what he believed, and what he believed has always been clear to me, though how people twist it to their own ends has always been astounding.
Christ believed in kindness. He believed in forgiveness. He believed in minding your own God-damned business about what other people were doing in bed until you were without sin yourself. He believed that you shouldn't be looking at the splinter in your neighbor's eye when you've got a great big 2x4 in your own eye.
And he believed that even after all of that, if you love and forgive and live your own life, if someone hurts you, well, you turn the other cheek.
He did not, not even once, say, "Go to a place that tortures animals for profit, that doesn't use ritual slaughter or clean practices, and buy their meat. Buy it in my name, because they contribute to hate groups. Go, in my name, and spend your money and give freely, so they can fund campaigns of hate against people. Because they're sinners, dammit, and I want to punish sinners."
Nope.
So, the message Christians sent today?
Well, I know I don't want to be a Christian. If they were trying to save my soul, they lost it.
They lost a lot of others today, too.
The message was this: Christians are a hate-filled, vindictive people, full of anger. They want to use their money to fund hate groups, not charities. They are not inclusive, they are not loving, and they are nothing like Christ.
Are all Christians this way? No. Some of my best friends and the best people I've ever known are Christian.
But they weren't out there, pretending to speak for Jesus by eating waffle fries.
Whatever the point they were trying to get across today, I'm pretty sure, "I'm a hate-filled, angry representative of a loving God" probably wasn't it.
The Christians who came out to "send a message" today might win the Chick-fil-A war, but they're going to lose an awful lot of souls.
Reader Comments (6)
Dear Meagan:
I'm not certain what yesterday at Chick-fil-a was going to prove. I do know, they are one of the very few companies, who publicly stands firm on their beliefs. They are not going to conform to this world.
I'm pretty sure that Jesus wouldn't have updated his status, like we did, but it's human nature to get credit for our good deeds. Just one of our million sinful natures.
The Bible states: "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me" Isaiah 46:9 There is only one God, and we're not Him. As Christians, we strive to be more like Him everyday, but we have the way of the world pulling at us from every direction. To me, that is where Chick-fil-a come in. They are not letting the 'world' change who they are. Period.
I don't believe we lost a lot of souls yesterday. They are already lost. It is our duty to find the lost, and bring them to Christ. James 5:20 says, "Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins". Not sure we saved anyone either, but that was not the goal in my mind. The goal was a company not bowing down to the pressures of this world.
I have not been a Christian very long. Was raised in church, and knew there was a God, but never had a relationship with Him. Then, 13 years ago, I had something happen in my life, that only one true God could manage. I had tried for many years on my own, but couldn't change it. One day I shouted out to Him, and He completely removed it from my life. Romans 10:13 says, "For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” He saved me from myself!
There is a God, and I pray Meagan that you find Him again. John 14:6 says, "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". May you find Him now.
Thank you,
Barbara Holmes
I thought yesterday was more about supporting free speech. I don't judge Chickfila's CEO for standing by what he believes in and I don't any spend time thinking what others are doing in their bedrooms. I didn't go to Chickfila yesterday to eat or to support Christian values or the same sex kiss a thon...I wasn't hungry for chicken :)
Hi, found my way here via Rachel Held Evans' blog.
Great post... over the past few years I've come to many of the same conclusions you have, each of these rings true for me, "I no longer believe there's only one path to God. I no longer believe that anyone on Earth has all of the answers. And I no longer believe that God makes mistakes. I don't believe that God makes ten percent of all species attracted to the same sex by mistake."
And I often find myself wondering who/what God is... and whether humans made him up to help them cope with life and their fear of death.
And days like yesterday only make me ask questions. Because if any god is pleased with fiascos like that, I'm not even sure I want to know/follow that god.
Calling participants hate-filled and angry without having been with any of them is unfair. I did not go, but many of my friends went, and told stories of friendly conversations with both Christians and non-Christians. And most of those same friends have many, many relationships with non-Christians, and they do not judge them or ridicule them. Rather, they love them and pray for them.
Please don't fall for the narrative one side wants you to believe. Yesterday was not a day of hate, at least not mostly. If you look for the love, it was there. I promise. Even in such a horribly trivial consumerist activity.
Articulate, thoughtful, and funny (that little patch of hair on the back and what Jesus never said). Good on you, hang in there, Christian or not, in the church or out.
"If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be--a Christian."- Mark Twain
I liked your post and would add it the spirit in which you practice your faith, what ever that faith, that defines you. I want to stand on the side of love.