I read an article recently about a group of Christians who were gonna boycott a particular establishment to make a statement regarding the sin of homosexuality. The article was linked from the Baptist Today website on it’s news portion. If you would like to read it I have it linked here: http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/news/breaking/2008/07/conservative_christians_launch.html
I worked for a fellow who was very much into boycotts. I was a new Christian and he had a strong influence on me. He wanted me to boycott a particular grocery store, because it was supposedly owned by the Mormons. He felt very strongly that Christian ought not spend money at that grocery store and thus put money in the pockets of the “evil” Mormon empire.
Being the inquiring mind that I was, I asked what impact it might have on anything. My little money spent there, would hardly be noticed, I argued. He insisted that it was the principle of the thing. Being new to the faith at the time, I was stupid enough to actually asks him what his scriptural basis for boycotting was. I really don’t recall what verses he said, but many have justified it with the the notion of “appearance of evil” mentioned in Scripture and other cherry picked verses.
Ever since I have tried to put myself in the position of a person who works at a place that might be boycotted. Say I work at the hotel that is mentioned in the article mentioned earlier. I have chosen to work there to support my family. Say I am a part-time pastor and working there is to support my ministry at the church. While there I strive to be a positive witness for my Savior. And then I hear about this boycott. Well this boycott directly affects me. Suppose I am a waiter, who depends upon those tips. My salary will be hurt drasticly. And I would be an innocent bystander.
And if I am not a Christian and am one who is being “witnessed” to by a fellow Christian employee, then it causes me to think twice about what they are doing. It does not present a pretty picture. It is a picture of hate to those whom Christians are suppose to love. It hurts the image of Christ and His church.
Boycotting in many cases hurts more than it helps. It does damage to innocent employees and employers. They are in need of the love of the Savior too. Do we boycott and damn to hell those whom it impacts? Do we boycott and let the chips fall where they may? How did Jesus boycott? Should He have boycotted the homes of sinners? Should He have not gone to the home of sinners, like the pharisees said? Isn’t boycotting a type of phariseeism? Don’t we, by boycotting say, “To show you how spiritual and holy I am, I will boycott any establishment that is ungodly” and thus look like pumped up pharisees?
I say to those non-pharisaical Christians in Sacramento, go to that establishment and tip even more and smile while doing so. Let Christ shine forth in you while doing so. By doing that you might be able to reverse the horrible damage done by those crazy boycotters. Tip for Jesus!
Tags: boycott, Christian, positive witness
