RANT
A guy named Matthew Paul Turner is REALLY disappointed with some of you people:
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.
Since the opposite of “love” is “disagreeing with a homosexual.”
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.
Either that or it’s because we respect people’s First Amendment right to have an opinion and not get demonized for it. But that’s the problem, thinks Turner, who’s finally figured out what the unforgivable sin is.
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.
To Turner, there really is only one sin left.
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.
If the homeless were attacked for having a different opinion about homosexual marriage than the homosexual community does, sure. But, once again, that’s the whole story.
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.
I don’t know planet Turner lives on but apparently Christians in his world only talk about sin when they’re around teh gheys.
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.
Really? So if your brother’s joined the Klan and drops N-bombs all the time or your next door neighbor slaps his wife around while boinking the babysitter, the Christians in your world keep quiet about it? Oh. Okay.
You know what’s funny? Prior to this controversy blowing up, I’d never patronized a Chick-fil-A in my life. The closest one to my apartment is about ten miles away or so which is really too far to drive so I never felt the urge to buy a chicken sandwich there.
This evening, I returned from my second trip there in two weeks.
As I walked in, I saw a couple of lesbians at the counter doing lesbian stuff, being all edgy and out there and probably thinking that they were shocking the fundies or something. Everybody in the place ignored them but those two drove home a point for me. I really think there was only one reason why I drove a very long way for a Spicy Chicken sandwich, some waffle fries and a Diet Coke.
Precisely because it pisses off the left.
Here’s the deal. I don’t care one iota what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom or who you do it with. I don’t care about it and I’m not interested in it.
But you have no right to order me to approve of what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom and who you do it with and then label me a “bigot” when I refuse. Because I don’t care about the feelings of the people who do that and if they get angry about where I eat lunch or dinner, I’m going to go out of my way to eat there.
You think Christians single out gays, Matt? Then answer me this. Why do only gays and lesbians get to make the definitive list of exacty what “loving” them involves? Why must every particular be adhered to without exception unless one enjoys being accused of “hating” homosexuals and publicly vilified by Rahm Emmanuel and other corruptocrats?
Why do these people want to make Chick-fil-A illegal?
When you’ve already decided that you have the one and only right answer, any different opinion becomes “hate” and you become a “bigot” merely for holding it. Since everything hurts the feelings of homosexuals, it becomes, after a while, exceedingly difficult to care all that much about the feelings of homosexuals.
Man up and deal with it. In the meantime, I might just wander back out to Chick-fil-A again tomorrow evening after work. Their Spicy Chicken sandwiches are great.
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.
Since the opposite of “love” is “disagreeing with a homosexual.”
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.
Either that or it’s because we respect people’s First Amendment right to have an opinion and not get demonized for it. But that’s the problem, thinks Turner, who’s finally figured out what the unforgivable sin is.
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.
To Turner, there really is only one sin left.
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.
If the homeless were attacked for having a different opinion about homosexual marriage than the homosexual community does, sure. But, once again, that’s the whole story.
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.
I don’t know planet Turner lives on but apparently Christians in his world only talk about sin when they’re around teh gheys.
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.
Really? So if your brother’s joined the Klan and drops N-bombs all the time or your next door neighbor slaps his wife around while boinking the babysitter, the Christians in your world keep quiet about it? Oh. Okay.
You know what’s funny? Prior to this controversy blowing up, I’d never patronized a Chick-fil-A in my life. The closest one to my apartment is about ten miles away or so which is really too far to drive so I never felt the urge to buy a chicken sandwich there.
This evening, I returned from my second trip there in two weeks.
As I walked in, I saw a couple of lesbians at the counter doing lesbian stuff, being all edgy and out there and probably thinking that they were shocking the fundies or something. Everybody in the place ignored them but those two drove home a point for me. I really think there was only one reason why I drove a very long way for a Spicy Chicken sandwich, some waffle fries and a Diet Coke.
Precisely because it pisses off the left.
Here’s the deal. I don’t care one iota what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom or who you do it with. I don’t care about it and I’m not interested in it.
But you have no right to order me to approve of what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom and who you do it with and then label me a “bigot” when I refuse. Because I don’t care about the feelings of the people who do that and if they get angry about where I eat lunch or dinner, I’m going to go out of my way to eat there.
You think Christians single out gays, Matt? Then answer me this. Why do only gays and lesbians get to make the definitive list of exacty what “loving” them involves? Why must every particular be adhered to without exception unless one enjoys being accused of “hating” homosexuals and publicly vilified by Rahm Emmanuel and other corruptocrats?
Why do these people want to make Chick-fil-A illegal?
When you’ve already decided that you have the one and only right answer, any different opinion becomes “hate” and you become a “bigot” merely for holding it. Since everything hurts the feelings of homosexuals, it becomes, after a while, exceedingly difficult to care all that much about the feelings of homosexuals.
Man up and deal with it. In the meantime, I might just wander back out to Chick-fil-A again tomorrow evening after work. Their Spicy Chicken sandwiches are great.
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