5 Reasons Why the Church Failed Yesterday (Re: Chick-fil-A appreciation day) [Meh!]

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people proudly lined up to support Mike Huckabee’s “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” yesterday. By all accounts, it was a successful campaign, perhaps one of Huckabee’s most memorable actions, a deed that might warrant etching “#ChickFilA” on his tombstone so future Americans will learn of the greatness that occurred on August 1, 2012.

Many of yesterday’s appreciators were born again Christians, people who, I can only assume, claim to love God, put their trust in Jesus, and have a desire that all people hear and experience the Good News of Christ. That fact alone changes the headline of what happened yesterday.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Chick-Fil-A owners felt loved, made lots of money, and greatly appreciated the somewhat positive press they received all day long. And yes, Mike Huckabee has reason to be proud (dare I say, even cocksure?) of the influence he wields to get Americans to buy chicken. Those CFA cows no doubt love Mike Huckabee!

So good for Chick-Fil-A! And three cheers for Mike Huckabee! And good tidings of great joy to cows everywhere.

Yet, amid all of that CFA-appreciating success, the Church (at least, the part that exists here in America) failed miserably. Every member of the Church isn’t to blame, of course. Many individual churches and denominations played no role whatsoever in promoting yesterday’s Great Chicken Awakening. Some Christians, churches, and denominations even tried to throw a social media wrench into the festivities. Some of those attempts went viral and garnered a great deal of attention. But still, chicken-loving Christians everywhere rallied behind CFA yesterday. The crowds were so big that you might have thought that Chick-Fil-A was giving away free iPads or Cabbage Patch Dolls or freshly fallen manna from Heaven. And while lots of Christians chose not to participate for various reasons, many did and the Church as a whole suffered.

Yesterday’s campaign, while I don’t think it should be considered or called “hate,” neither can it be called love. Christians all over America ignored the second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors. Call yesterday what you want, freedom of speech, a rally behind “family values,” a sincere fascination with CFA’s brand of fried poultry… but it cannot be called love. It was not love.

People felt hate and we ignored that. At the end of the day, regardless of whether or not your Christian understanding of scripture harbors hate or not, a large group of people felt hated. Again, we can debate this point all day long, but that does not change the fact that people felt hatred because of what happened yesterday. Whether or not hate actually existed is not the point, people felt hated. And rather than acknowledging those feelings or trying to understand or engage them in any way, Christians everywhere marched off to their local CFA like it was a cross to bear, a necessity, a battle cry of some sort, the waffle fry’s last stand.

By rallying behind CFA, Christians put an issue above people. And it’s impossible to follow Jesus when issues trump people. Jesus never said “love God, love causes.” That is not the message that gets preached in churches all over America on Sunday mornings. I’ve heard a hundred different explanations from patrons of yesterday’s rally and nearly every one of them gives precedence to “the cause”. We can’t embrace love, mercy, hope, and peace when our causes (or a place of business) trumps people.

Once again, the mass actions of Christians built another wall of distrust between the Church and the GLBTQ communities. Nobody was surprised that the CEO of CFA is against gay marriage. Nobody was surprised that Mike Huckabee made the decision to rally support behind CFA. And nobody was surprised that Christians took Huckabee’s words as marching orders, leading the charge with more passion, delight, and Instagram pictures than what we express for so many more important issues facing this country. If Mike Huckabee had declared yesterday “Homeless Appreciation Day,” would the response have been even half as large and loud? Yes, I know; that’s an unfair question. But we’re Christians, so we’re very familiar with the use of unfair questions to make a point.

Once in a while, our culture needs to be surprised by how much we love people–all people. Once in a while, our culture needs to be overwhelmed with joy that we are involved in the greater story. Once in a while, our culture needs to see us being a part of the solution and not the problem. But yesterday? There were no surprises. And no surprises only builds more distrust, not peace, not grace, not hope, and not love.

Yesterday’s hoopla surrounding CFA did nothing to prove that Christians don’t hate gay people. Oh I know that most Christians will say, “I don’t hate gay people!!”

Trust me, I understand that most people who ate chicken sandwiches at CFA yesterday did not do that as an act of hate. I get that. And that’s cool and all, but did the act of going out of your way to CFA prove that to be true? Do you think that the GLBTQ communities believe you? Would you, if you were gay, believe you?

Now before you answer that, remember that yesterday’s CFA Love Day was just one action in a long line of many. Because let’s face it: Christians go WAY out of their way to “hate the sin”–i.e., by voting against gay marriage, voting against civil unions, voicing their angst about gay people adopting children (just to list a few). Is it possible that Christians lose the ability to truly “love the sinner” because they’re so busy “hating the sin”? Do Christians put anywhere near the energy into “loving the sinner” as they do “hating the sin”?

All I know is that the GLBTQ communities are becoming quite used to feeling unloved by Christians. And with good reason.

How many times do we hear Christians say something like, “I don’t hate gay people. I may not agree with their lifestyle. But I don’t hate them… “

If you were gay, would you believe that? Think about it. Would you feel loved by somebody if they included rules, context, and/or explanations about your lifestyle every time they spoke about how much they don’t hate you? Only when talking about gay people do Christians feel the need to preface their “love” or “non-hate” with some variation of “I don’t agree with your lifestyle, but…” Christians don’t talk about any other group of people like that–only gay people.

So, I want to believe Christians when they say “I don’t hate gay people.” But sometimes proof of that is necessary. And yesterday did not prove that. Honestly, yesterday proved little more than how shallow Christians can be sometimes.

Not only did supporting CFA Appreciation Day declare that Christians believe that an issue is more important than people, that declaration was made by the mass consumption of junk food. That fact doesn’t need a punch line. It is a punch line.

Yes, on some level, yesterday was successful. I’m sure that today CFA feels really loved. And I’m sure Mike Huckabee feels loved, too. And I’m sure lots of people, many Christians included, feel great pride for supporting the cause. But there’s also a large group of people, good people, people you might disagree with, that today, feel really unloved.

If it’s true that Christians don’t hate gay people, today would be a really good day to prove it.

UPDATE: This post is getting slammed with traffic right now. So that you don’t lose your comment, please make sure you copy & save prior to trying to post. Several have lost their comments. My apologies. I had no idea that this post would end up receiving as much attention as it has received. Thank you for reading.

“But there’s also a large group of people, good people, people you might disagree with, that today, feel really unloved.”

I’m almost speechless.

The best thing that a Christian could do for the “good people” is to do what Dan Cathy did, tell the truth. But they don’t want that kind of love.

The “good people” did their best to force an apology and deny a Christian his freedom of speech; including having their political pals issue unlawful threats.

Then the “good people” publicly displayed their perversion hoping for a scene. There was also a bit of destruction of private property from what I’ve heard.

So I’m to the point that I really don’t give a rip how they felt today, or yesterday, or tomorrow or the next day.

Truth is Christians are afraid to talk about sin any longer because they'll be branded “a hypocrite”, “hateful”, “uncaring”, or a number of other choice words. We hide behind the guise that it will affect our testimony as unloving when it's really because simply don't want to face the persecution that follows. We talk a good fight but don't follow through.

Sin is sin and people go to hell for all eternity for it. We all sin and need to recognize this is evil and God wants us to repent from it. So what is more loving; to state the truth or to tickle people's ear?

To be perfectly honest, I'm tried of this crap and will gladly speak my mind, just like this goofy-headed "Christian" who hasn't a clue about the nature of God. And I was happy to support Chik-Fil-A

Zep 1:12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, 'The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.'

I take issue with this article because it assumes (incorrectly) that everyone who supported Chick-Fil-A on Wednesday did so as a Christian. While I am a Christian, I did not go to Chick-Fil-A on Wednesday to support the traditional view of marriage. I went as an American to support the first amendment. All this rhetoric from the left (and the middle right) is doing is redefining the motives of people and assigning guilt as well as projecting erroneous attitudes on the participants.

This writer seems to have decided the intentions and motives of every Chick-Fil-A patron on Wednesday, passed judgment on them, and condemned them all in this post. Shame on him. Judge not, let ye be judged. Guess he forgot that little tidbit from his Bible.

Covers what I was thinking as well. There is no doubt that many Christians went to Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. But there are just as many people that are fed up with the tactics of the left - intimidation, threats, violence etc. People don't like bullies, no matter what politics or religion they profess. Even the average Democrat would wince at the video of the CFO berating the Chick-Fil-A employee. We can disagree without being an angry jerk.

The left took an innocuous interview from an obscure Christian publication and attempted to create a wedge issue to excite the left, especially the radical rainbow types. It backfired on them big time. Many Americans are rather indifferent about homosexuality. But they are growing increasingly weary of being labeled bigots or homophobes if they balk at having the left's homosexual/immoral agenda shoved down their throats, and forced on their children.

Now that the left had an epic fail on Wednesday, the new tactic (Alinsky would be proud) is judgement. I have seen this caption, or a variation, posted multiple times by my lefty friends on social media:

You'd never see that many Christians lined up to help at a Food Bank or Shelter. And that was something Jesus actually said to do.

I love how people who would never be caught dead reading a Bible, attending Church or praying, are now suddenly qualified to judge on matters of faith, Love, or the Word. I guess it should be no surprise. Satan condemns folks and misquotes scripture too.

Besides, with this roaring Obama economy there shouldn't be any homeless or hungry right?

Excellent post...

I was so angry when I saw that picture with that hateful judgement, I couldn’t help but think about how Christians never help with food banks or homeless shelters...

http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/Second-Harvest-Food-Bank-truck-arrives-in-Clarkston-for-those-in-need-159258795.html?m=y&smobile=y

http://aroundhereonline.com/blog/2012/07/25/connecting-point-helps-struggling-families-with-groceries/

http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2012/07/29/the_advance/people/doc5008d6a03cbcd527905448.txt?viewmode=4

http://www.newslincolncounty.com/?cat=23

I had no trouble finding recent articles about churches and their volunteers supporting homeless shelters and foodbanks. Strangely enough, I saw NO examples of any gay or lesbian organizations doing the same.

Have you ever seen the movie Jesus of Nazareth from 1977 with Robert Powell portraying Our Lord? He nails the scene in which those scriptures are uttered. It is POWERFUL.

First of all, thank you for your service to our nation.

Second, yes, I have seen that movie. If there was one word to describe the performance, I would deem it "powerful" as well. When I first was thinking about becoming a Christian (and by that I mean actually praying the sinner's prayer and accepting Jesus Christ), there were many, many barriers in my way.

I had purchased a VHS copy of the movie "Jesus of Nazareth." Incredible film.

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli (who is an amazing film maker), and with roles byAnne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, James Farentino, Ian Holm, Olivia Hussey, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, James Mason, Ian McShane, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Fernando Rey, Ralph Richardson, Rod Steiger, Peter Ustinov, and Michael York. ( a little Wikipedia help there - I don't have them all memorized). However, these were some of the greatest actors and actresses of this century. There is no way this was a coincidence.

When I finally, finally broke down and gave myself to Jesus, I would watch this movie again, and again. My favorite scenes were the parable of the prodigal son, and when Christ gave the blind man sight.

Christ then came to me in my soul, and I met this same man as the one on screen, but better. He knew me, He forgave me. He restored me.

It was the most profound thing that ever happened to me.

The author of this article has a serious lack of understanding concerning the truth about how unrepentant sinners will react to being correctly informed that they are erring, as per written in The Bible:

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Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

Luke 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

Luke 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

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John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

John 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

John 15:23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

John 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

John 15:25 But [this cometh to pass], that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

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John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

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