businesses

My Commentary on Current Events

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” (Martin Luther King Jr.).

I admit it. I don’t really keep up with the news. I confess that I don’t really know much about the case involving Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. I’m not going to pretend to know what happened and make a snap judgment, as I see so many doing.

I will say this. Violence only begets more violence. I don’t see how burning down businesses helps anyone. I truly don’t understand how burning down a church is anything but senseless terrorism.

I know that Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that hate only breeds more hate, and that you can’t fight hate with more hate but with love. I know I’d rather see more forgiveness and less retaliation in people’s vocabulary.

I can’t say what I would have done had it been my son or daughter who was killed. I honestly don’t know. I hope I would pray that cooler heads would prevail and that no one else would have to go through the agony of loss.

I know this. Love wins. Ultimately, the love of God will prevail. It’s not wishful thinking, but a promise. I have read the last chapter of the Book and I know how it ends. Love wins.

 

 

My Take on Boycotts and Christmas and All That Jazz

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

boycott

First of all, let me throw out this disclaimer that these comments do not in any way reflect the opinions of WordPress, A&E, The Duck Dynasty, Cracker Barrel, Starbucks, ABC, or any other establishment. They are mine.

With that in mind, let’s get started.

I’m not in any way a fan of boycotts.

I’m not saying every boycott ever is wrong and everyone who prarticipates should get automatically put on Santa’s naughty list and get coal in their stockings. Here’s what I am saying.

I think boycotts communiate what we as believers are against, not what we are for. To me, that’s not what true Christianity is about. It’s not about what we don’t do anymore or what we’ve stopped doing, but what we do– love others and become more like Jesus– because of what Jesus has already done.

Also, if we boycott a particular place of business, what if one of the results is that people lose their jobs? What if one of these is a decent guy who’s only trying to provide for his family. A guy who didn’t get the luxury of choosing a job where the company’s beliefs line up exactly with his own?

Maybe it’s a guy who goes to my church. Or yours. Is that okay? He didn’t do anything wrong other than try to make a living, yet because the company he works for is “evil,” he is out of a job.

What if God had chosen to boycott humanity? What if God had looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and all the other epic fails of humanity and decided to give up on the whole lot of us and shop elsewhere?

There would be an empty manger in Bethlehem.

There would be no Shepherds telling miraculous stories about angel choirs and teenage virgin mothers.

There would be no crown of thorns, no purple robe, no cross, no Golgatha.

We’d all be lost without any hope.

I’m just throwing out my own opinions. I think that we don’t have to endorse everything that a company does, but we do have to love the people who work there.

I still love what my pastor said. You don’t fight hate with more hate. That’s like going to a fire and fighting it by starting another fire. You don’t fight fire with fire; you fight it with water.

You don’t fight hate with more hate; you fight it with love, because nothing in the whole universe is as strong or lasting as love.

Especially the love of God as revealed in Jesus, born in a manger on Christmas Day.

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