Today is National Chic-fil-A Appreciation Day. There has been quite a dust-up between some Christians over participating for fear of further alienating homosexuals. That is a legitimate concern. We don't want to put stumbling blocks in the way of the gospel.
But what if the offense is already part of the gospel? Part of the gospel you say! How so? Well I would suggest that what the Bible says about marriage is good news for everyone. God made us in his image with a human nature that flourishes in marriage between one man and one woman. Any other arrangement is destructive to human nature.
The gospel restores us to these God-defined relationships. This is grace! So I believe that Christians should cheerfully participate in proclaiming the gospel with Dan Cathy and Chic-fil-A by supporting their business against those who have pitted themselves against it. This is for the sake of the gospel, homosexuals and all of us who need it, and the betterment of society which needs more chicken and less chickens :).
Christians should also participate in Chic-fil-A day, because first amendment issues of freedom of religion are also at stake.
The reason Mike Huckabee started the movement to support Chic-fil-A is because Dan Cathy, Chick-fil-A president, said, “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” which indicates one man and one woman till death do us part. This prompted city officials in Chicago and Boston to oppose Chic-fil-A restaurants from opening in their jurisdictions. This has been termed viewpoint discrimination and rightly so. We must support freedom of religion and conscience from the oppression of those who would falsely define gay marriage as a civil rights issue.
Christians shouldn't fear the politicization of the issue either. It is possible and healthy to distinguish church and state but impossible and unhealthy to distinguish religion and politics. God has given us both the realms of church and state, by which he has commanded us to transform his world. So we should go out equally motivated to fulfill the great commission and the cultural mandate. In fact, they are complimentary.
4 comments:
Unhealthy to distinguish religion and politics?
I should have said unhealthy to "separate" religion and politics. We must distinguish them but not separate them.
Perhaps in a perfect world we could distinguish without separating, but frankly, we live in a less than perfect world. All throughout history we can see examples of religion and politics hand in hand, with only a bad outcome. For hundreds of years, the Catholic church had an iron grip on Europe, and during that reign, we can see countless popes and kings using religion as a way to control, subjugate, and manipulate the common people.
Today, in the Middle East, we see countries ruled by Islam. And the result? Woman treated like cattle, like property. Men that lack even the most common forms of humanity. We see these strong, few Sheiks that control their countries in a fear that's disguised as love. We see these wealthy few command countries, getting only wealthier while their people get poorer. The majority of the population live in slums.
Perhaps in a perfect world, religion and politics could be distinguished, not separated, in a proper manner. But in the world we live in, it has not been able to so far. Therefore I have little hope for a future where it can.
When I say that religion and politics can't be separated, I mean that that religious beliefs are our most basic beliefs and shape what we believe about everything, politics included.
We must also remember that Christian influence on the state led to the repeal of the "patria potestas" and "manus" laws in the Roman empire that had allowed men to treat their children and wives like slaves. Constantine outlawed the gladiatorial games, divorce laws oppressive to women, and made it illegal to expose unwanted children.
Christian influence on the state also led to the abolition of slavery in the middle ages and later was greatly influential in abolishing slavery in the UK and US. The absolute moral claims of religion sometimes lead to abuse, such as you refer to with some popes and kings (who were actually unChristian), but more often they lead to what we call "human rights." The problem with fundamentalist Islam is that it has not been influenced by West and its Christian past. Even when supposedly Christian rulers have abused their subjects we must remember "abusus usus non tollit" (abuse does not negate proper use). For more, check this out: http://mattheckel.blogspot.com/search?q=grudem
Post a Comment