WARNING: Theological Post. If this doesn’t interest you, give it a pass. Thanks.
RTFM*
The latest furor over the owners of Chick Fil A supporting traditional marriage has me puzzled. (Read examples HERE and HERE) Put aside the fact that in a free society both sides have the right to hold and support values in-line with their conscience/convictions, however disagreeable to the opposition, I’m wondering if anyone has actually read the New Testament. The whole thing, I mean. Not to cherry pick Scriptures appropriate to their position, but simply for what it says.
Where the Old Testament essentially divided the world into the ‘righteous and unrighteous’ (righteousness being a standing and conviction towards God by adhering to moral laws and ceremonial regulations. Such things made you legally right but failed to address deeper issues of the heart) Jesus in the New Testament divides the world into ‘those who admit their sin and those who don’t.’
Those who do are invited to come to Him for complete forgiveness, a new nature and relationship, and Eternal Life, regardless of what those sins were. It’s all free of charge. He’s paying. Those who are “All set. Thank you very much.” fall off Life’s last cliff and have to try and build their own wings on the way down with whatever they have at hand. Good luck with that.
It’s customary to trot out Scriptures here like validating props, but I’m not in the mood. Go read all of the third chapter of John’s Gospel out loud later and hear for yourself what Jesus said. I am compelled however to point out that Christianity rests on an individual’s response to the Person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the New Testament, not on their reaction to people’s sexual choices.
The simple fact is we’re all in trouble. Every single one of us, for various, very primal reasons. Grading sins and leveraging moral behavior for brownie points with the Lord doesn’t work. (Props to Dante for dropping the mad prose, yo. But there’s nothing even remotely like that in the Bible.) And before you blame me as a hater and bigot, claiming I’m the reason people reject Christianity, you must understand folks will be be weighed and found wanting on Judgment Day long before they ever get to the “Pat was a big, fat meanie” part. The Good News for all of us is that God Himself has provided an antidote, a free and complete pardon in Jesus to anyone who wants it.
This debate isn’t going away. People on both sides believe what they believe, want what they want, and hate to admit when they’re wrong. I’m sure the usual Scriptures will get airtime: Romans 1: 18-32, 1 Cor 6: 9-11, 1 Thess. 4:3-8, etc, etc. Invariably, someone will exclaim “Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. So there!” as if it’s a trump card. (Now Jesus didn’t say anything about insider trading, dealing heroin, child porn, or brushing your teeth. But…) In fact, He did:
“Remember Lot’s Wife.” – Luke 17: 32.
FWIW, here’s my advice: Flee to the Savior and don’t look back.
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*RTFM = read the flipping manual
Hot Space Station Justice 
Aw come on Patrick…deviant is the new “normal”!
J/K I’m with ya brother 🙂
It’s a little more complex than this. The problem is more about the public censure of Chik Fil-A for it’s CEO’s beliefs by people in positions of secular power. That was the valid point many had-that you can’t use your office to shut down free speech.
But then it mutated into support of sort of what he said, which is what Rod Dreher termed “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism,” and a populist form of Christian values divorced from the rest of the theology. This is what your post addresses, and I agree with it completely. I probably would have argued with you over this a year or two ago about this, but I started to realized that the whole battle over public recognition of sexual choices and their threat to the stability of the USA’s political and cultural system was a big distraction from the Gospel.
It’s tough, though. We’re Christians, yeah, but we also exist in the social and political spheres. It’s so easy for them to dominate us, and it leads to things like this. I think we are used to living in safety and peace in a secular world, and don’t realize how our concerns are more about preserving that than allegiance to the cross.
Good post, man.