A recent Focus on the Family pushed my buttons and really got me thinking. They were running the list of initiatives various major American corporations have which run contrary to family values. Primarily, these are gay-agenda hot button issues.
Their suggestion is that we withhold our business from Starbucks because of a couple of egregious statements on their cups. For those not Starbucks-addicted, for a time Starbucks featured phrases from customers on their cups. One phrase was a gay man bemoaning the waste of time during the length he was closeted.
Focus was discussing how much effort and time it had taken them to move their bank just recently from Wells Fargo to another. Wells is actively promoting a campaign from GLAD (Gay Lesbian something) to jointly raise money to counter organizations such as Focus.
I highly respect Dr. Dobson and the Focus ministry. But I think they've got it wrong on this one.
I think their move away from Wells is well and good, and moreso, simply the right thing. But I think that *I* have to cautiously look at any wide "boycott".
First, hotbutton issues are troublesome. They miss the broader sweep of things.
Second, if we remove ourselves as Christians from the world, where will be the salt and light of our witness? Jesus went to the sinners, shouldn't we?
Third, and most importantly, Starbucks is just now FINALLY bringing a GOOD cup of coffee to New Hampshire. How could I possibly turn away?
They say all politics is local... in fact, it's so local it's centered in my tastebuds.
Quite seriously though, attempting to sway with the pocketbook strikes me as worldly. Individual beievers must be moved by the Spirit where the Spirit will move.
It could be the pocketbook is one place that God will lead us to consider (He has moved on my heart that way). But I fear it may actually render us impotent to move with the power He seeks us to experience and wield in other occasions.
Food for thought...
D--
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