Yesterday morning a friend of mine started a thread on Facebook, proclaiming a decision to boycott Starbucks. She, like many others, wanted to register her disagreement with their policy decision to fully endorse the same-sex marriage legislation in Washington State.
I love my friend, and her passion for the protection of marriage. I appreciate the rigor of other friends who also committed to said boycott. I don't expect society to reject same-sex relationships, but if given the opportunity to vote or speak to the subject, I will without exception declare that the best and only right option for society is marriage as it has been practiced for all of human history: a publicly witnessed bond unifying one man and one woman for life.
But here's the problem: if I were to join such a boycott, I would need to also not use Apple or Microsoft products, nor eat McDonald's, or visit Disneyland, or watch movies out of most big-name studios, nor support many other restaurants and companies, all of whom support gay rights. I might have to grow my own food, generate my own electricity, make my own shoes, and walk to work.
I love the people who make and serve my coffee, regardless of their lifestyle. I'm thankful for the way they bless me with a great cup of joe. Do I support Starbuck's policy decision? Of course not. But I do not expect a secular business to do anything other than follow and support society's current norms.
I realize that friends on both sides of the issue will be upset with me, because I'm neither willing to endorse a same-sex lifestyle nor reject a person or institution that does. Call me a hater, or a liberal, or whatever epithet you prefer. I'm okay with that. Because I was lost, and I’ve been found, by the amazing grace of God in Christ Jesus.
In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “Some of you were once like that (indulging in sexual sin, idol-worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, practicing homosexuality, thieves, greedy, drunks, abusive, cheaters). But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”.
I’m pretty sure I fit somewhere in that list, which is why I don’t trust myself anymore. I trust Jesus.
So, no offense meant to my dear friend, but you can make mine a tall drip, bold, no room.
