Tuesday, July 24, 2012

On Chick fil-a, Love And Hate

By L. John Bost


Well, Chick fil-A got itself mixed up in a "controversy" this week.  They re-affirmed their belief in traditional marriage - one man, one woman for life.  As this announcement became public, the real controversy heated up.  The announcement that a "Support Chick fil- A Day" had been planned, and invites were posted on Facebook, the controversy really heated up.  All kinds of words appeared in Facebook posts.  Most of which are not in this writers vocabulary.   That is, I would never use them in the ways they were used in those posts.  I won't repeat them here.  You get the picture.  Two words that I always find fascinating that inevitably come up in these discussions are love and hate.  The words themselves are not particularly fascinating, but the ways they are used in these discussions.  Are love and hate appropriately used in discussions on homosexuality and gay marriage?  Sometimes.  


Let's look at love first.  What's wrong with love?  Nothing.  I'm all in favor of it.  But, the word often comes up in a sentence such as this:  "God loves homosexuals as much as He loves everyone else."  Well, He does, doesn't He?  Certainly!  Now, the person who raised the "love" word usually means that God either overlooks or condones homosexuality, so those who oppose it should do so as well.  Is that accurate?  The fact is,  God loves everyone, including sinners.  He loves homosexuals as much as anyone else.  He sent His son to died for everyone, so that no one need perish (John 3:16).  So, it's true that we must not oppose homosexuality since God loves homosexuals, right?  That would be  true, except for another word that is found often in the Bible - repent.  God love all sinners, AND commands all sinners to repent (Luke 13:3; Luke 24:46-47, etc.).  Am I saying that homosexuality is a sin?  No.  God is saying that.  1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."  So, yes.  God loves homosexuals.  But, no.  That doesn't mean He condones it, or overlooks it.  Nor does it mean those who oppose it must stop doing so.  


Now, let's consider hate.  Almost inevitably,  when there is a discussion of homosexuality, the one who opposes it of hate and/or a closely related word, bigotry.   I'm not sure why.  I know that many people do hate homosexuals.  But does everyone who opposes homosexuality guilty of hatred and\or bigotry?  Does the Bible teach us to hate sin? Yes!  Does it teach us to hate sinners?  No!  It was sin that caused our Lord to die on the cross.  That is, it was necessary for Him to die so that sinners might be forgiven, and live (Romans 5:7-9).  How can we not hate that which caused Jesus to die?  But, hating sin is not the same thing as hating sinners.  Jesus hates sin, but loves sinners.  We must do the same.  But it seems that many are of the opinion that if one opposes homosexuality, that means he hates homosexuals.  True? How so?  When did opposition and hatred become the same thing?  When did disagreement and hatred become the same thing?   In fact, they never did.  We all disagree with a lot of people on a lot of issues, but we don't always hate them (and never should, for that matter).   We often oppose others, have discussions with them on the areas of opposition, even heated ones at times.  But we don't always hate them (again, we never should).  Truly, accusations of hatred, bigotry, and worse, never add to a discussion.  They merely make the discussion personal, and distract from the real reason for the discussion.  Further, they are judgmental.  Judging is another thing Jesus says we must not do (Matthew 7).  How do you know one who opposes your homosexuality (or anything, for that matter) hates you?  How do you know he is a bigot, or whatever else you are tempted to accuse him of?  Truth is, you don't.  You can't know what's in his heart.  That is particularly true if he has been civil in his discussion with you.  That is, he has not accused you of hatred, bigotry,  insincerity, etc.  If he has been kind to you, how can you accuse him of hating you?  

So,  healthy discussion is good.  Let's learn to disagree without being disagreeable.  There are a great many honest, and caring people on both sides of the homosexual issue.  We can all disagree on the subject, even seek to change each other's views, without name calling and bitterness.

One more thing.  The owners of Chik fil-A are certainly entitled to their beliefs.  The First Amendment guarantees them that right.  They are entitled to state their beliefs.  The First guarantees them that right also.  I read their statement.  I saw nothing hateful in it.  They should not be treated hatefully for saying it.   And, it's their business, they can run it as they see fit.  It certainly seems to be working very well.  The posts I saw from people who had worked there had positive things to say.  Let's not judge those whom we don't know.  Let's not, dare I say, hate?