Chick-fil-a is in a Pickle

First off, can I say I think politics are ridiculous? They seem to get us focused on earthly things, not where our eyes should be--at the foot of the cross. Sure, as long as we have freedom we should have a say in politics (for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel)--but once politics become a stumbling block and focus our eyes on things that don't have infinite value they've become an idol.
(collective gasps)
I don't want to worship my freedom--more than I worship the God who gave me that freedom.
Secondly, can I just say how ADD we are as a generation? A week before, my facebook was flooded with arguments about gun laws (after a MASS shooting at a midnight premier of the new Batman movie). Now we're talking about sandwiches. Go figure....

So what about Chick-fil-a?
A lot of pictures and posts have been flying around--angry, and supportive. The owner of Chick-fil-a was quoted improperly in an interview, and was sold as a "homophobe". All that the owner actually said in the interview was this:

"“In that spirit . . . [Christianity] is about a personal relationship. Companies are not lost or saved, but certainly individuals are,” Cathy added. “But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles. So that is what we claim to be. [We are] based on biblical principles, asking God and pleading with God to give us wisdom on decisions we make about people and the programs and partnerships we have. And He has blessed us.”  Read more on Newsmax.com: Mainstream Media Invents Gay Marriage Chick-fil-A Controversy

The whole gay marriage thing has completely drowned out what he said! "Companies are nor lost or saved, but certainly individuals are" to me, it is sad that our anger has conquered our love. I agree, gay marriage is wrong (you can read my post about it here (as well as comment!): http://sinkingup.blogspot.com/2012/04/amendment-one.htmlbut if my support of business effects my stance for the gospel then there's no way I'm eating at that business any more.

I for one am proud of the CEO of Chick-fil-a for standing on the gospel. It saddens me that Chicago wants nothing to do with Christian's, bu does that mean we don't visit Chicago? BY NO MEANS!! People in Chicago need Jesus Christ, not a chicken sandwich.

One last thing I have to say is that, if you ARE planning on going to Chick-fil-a August 1st, good for you. Go for the sake of the gospel, Go because you love Christ and want to support his people.

BUT PLEASE DON'T GO FOR THE "We're standing on family values" crap. The only place that 'family values' come from is the Bible. My 'family values' may be different than yours---'family values' are undefinable. Instead, stand on biblical principles. Gay relations (and marriage) would be acceptable without the Holy Scriptures, and that is what my faith is founded upon. God died because we're messed up people, because he knew we couldn't define silly things like "family values", because he knew outside of a miracle we would chase our tails into the pits of hell. He died so that we could see that his grace, beauty, love, and kindness is better than any relationship, hetero or homo, and that the depths of the gospel and the riches of it's message is better than any chicken sandwich money could buy.

How Do We Overcome the Desire to be Divine?

Anger.
Nothing but pure unleashed rage.
Humans, our ability to see injustices in the world is shocking. Sex trafficking? Maddening.
Rape, murder, famine, disease, how can you say there is a God? How, even if there was a God, would he be doing anything worth attention?
Recently a friend of mine posted a status discussing his disgust at the ability of a person in the spotlight to throw away "belief" in a religion, for fame and money. I agree, if you believe something, and ditch it so that you can get more money, then it's truly despicable. This status provoked a very angered friend of his to post about his disgust with "God" "religion" and "Christians".

Some of the comments that were made (which have been greatly paraphrased to keep this blog G-Rated)

"Religion is keeping us from breaking away from a fantasy"
"If God is real, I wouldn't mind punching him in the face because of the atrocities in the world"
"Jesus was just another one of those guys who claimed to be God's disciples"
"No one knows (how the world was made), but religion teaches it's okay not to know--which is truly despicable."

And my favorite one:

"I'll take my risk. I would gladly defy a true God to the ends of my very breath. Do you think I FEAR God? Do you think I should fear God? Why!? I am but a simple human and they're millions of us. I am a vessel and nothing more. I will never bend to the will of any GOD, fictional,  or real as my living flesh. If God is righteous, he'll understand my frustration. If he is cruel, then let him be cruel. He hasn't done **** anyways, why would he start now???"

AH! The statements that were made on this status were so heartfelt! SO ANGRY, so full of pure, unleashed rage toward God.

Isn't that what the scriptures say we have against God anyways? We don't want him, we'll never want him. This guy has stated something all of us have questioned from time to time.

"God, if you're there, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!"

But here's the beauty of the gospel: "God hasn't done **** anyways" isn't true.
God's done EVERYTHING. He keeps the breathe in our lungs that we use to defy him, he could have been a God of chaos and disorder, and let us all go to hell and been declared righteous. But he didn't. There's a song by a band named Attalus that addresses this issue:

"The blood, the tears, the sweat, why does it feel so wrong?
Disaster pain and death, Oh God, where have you gone?
The world was in your hands, you let it fall head long,
So either you're not good or you're just not that strong."

And later the response from God:

"God said, the blood the tears, the sweat, I died to right your wrong
Disaster, pain, and death, oh man, where have you gone?
The world was falling fast --I cast myself head-long

To save your rebel souls to prove my love is strong"

See, God didn't just let us feel pain. He felt it too, he had his flesh ripped off and his heart torn in two by the disease, the famine, the rape, the murder. His heart screams in anguish at the works of our bloody hands, and said "I will save you". The beauty of it is, God has died for all the "despicable" things we have created. With wood, gold, and flesh we have decided we are good enough on our own without God, and then blame him for the problems we see. We blame him for giving us free will, but scream in rage at the thought of predestination.

We're messed up. So God came to save us. Not just clean us up, not just to "squeaky clean our hearts". But to pick us up, and give us a new place-- a place where we belong.

But not only is the man who commented on the status angry, he's also defiant. The saddest part of the whole thing that he wrote is this line: "I will never bend to the will of any GOD, fictional,  or real as my living flesh. If God is righteous, he'll understand my frustration. If he is cruel, then let him be cruel."

Even though God has saved our wretched souls, even though he's done everything to give us a beautiful world to live in, even though Jesus was NOT a "disciple" of God (But actually GOD HIMSELF) even though he lost his life (and regained it!!!) for the wretched things we do---

We still don't want him. Even if we could prove to this man that God existed, he wouldn't want anything to do with him. That's the depravity of our sin nature.

So how does anyone come to God? How do we get over our desire to be divine?

That my friends, is the beauty of the gospel. A mystery that's inexplicable. Jesus changes our thoughts and our hearts---he transforms us.

What a great and glorious God!!!!!!