I like Chicken. And Starbucks. And Ice-Cream.

Tasty snack or symbol of oppression? (I like chicken, but haven't tried this yet)

Apparently, the above is a tasty chicken sandwich produced by a company in the United States of America. "Chick-fil-a" is a sandwich at the centre of a controversy. You can read about how to make your own version of this sandwich here, or you can read about what the President of the Company said about Gay Marriage, which is where the controversy is at.

Logo of a coffee company. Or the face of evil. But mostly a logo.

Recently, a coffee company that I sometimes buy coffee in, endorsed gay marriage. I, as regular readers of this blog will know, don't. But I still occasionally grab a Starbucks, because the coffee tastes the same regardless of the ideology of the owners. Also, and this would have been rather more annoying if I was a boycotter, an ice cream company announced their support of gay marriage. I still, as a treat, go out and grab a Ben and Jerry's tub (Chocolate fudge brownie, or Phish food, if you are asking) because I like the ice cream, and I'm not particularly concerned about 'catching liberal ideology' from a dairy product. Might happen, probably won't.


However, for all the fuss that some of my evangelical Christian brethren have made about the issue of companies having opinons on marriage, you'd think that certain companies and products where pure evil. And vice-versa, when the opinions of a certain lobby are questioned.


I personally don't think boycotts are a particularly effective form of public protest. I'm with Rick Warren on the way that people - Christians and non-Christians alike - need to engage with people, not issues. Warren observes that our culture is based on two faulty premises:


"Our culture has accepted two huge lies: the first is that you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate"


I agree entirely with Rick Warren. This is key. I don't fear or hate people, by and large. I'm a bit scared of terrorists, and so on, but I'm not scared of Homosexuals. Or liberals. Or conservatives. Or fundamentalists. Or catholics. I don't hate them, either. As a matter of fact, I fundamentally disagree with some fairly major elements of the lifestyles of many groups. As does Jesus. In fact, I'm 100% certain that Jesus didn't approve of my lifestyle before I gave my life to him and realised that living by Grace in the power of the Holy Spirit under the Word of God is the best, most full, and most joyful way of life. 


But in his disapproval, across the distance between man and God that the Bible calls sin, Jesus acted out of compassion by dying for me on the Cross, as he did for any and everyone that would call on his name.


Jesus disagreed with dozens of people in his earthly ministry. And he was a man of strong convictions. Yet his compassion, combined with his conviction, resulted in him following Gods plan to the letter. There is a huge amount we can learn about love from Jesus. I believe Jesus is definitional to love.