Wal-Mart and the AFA

Recently I have received several copies of a report from the American Family Association (AFA) concerning Wal-Mart’s supposed connection to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. I went to the web-site for the AFA and read all the dirty details. However, I did not find any mention of the fact that the woman who served as Wal-mart’s liaison with the NGLCC was fired last week for another reason, but with mention of the mounting pressure by conservatives on this issue in the press release. I also found no mention of their many donations to Christian causes or their relief work in the wake of recent hurricanes, and other disasters.

I am against homosexuality. I believe the AFA does Christians a great service balancing extreme secular humanism of today’s society with extreme Christian values. But we need to be honest by being complete in our reporting. A gap in our honesty will only lead to a gap in our credibility. I believe it already has.

Wal-Mart is a business like, shall I say it, Disney. They are not Christian, although they hire many Christians and many of their values are family focused as are Christian values. They also hire homosexuals, Moslems, Hindus, etc, etc, etc. So?

The issue at hand is no different than Paul had to deal with in Romans 14. Do we eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols? In Paul’s day it was an important issue. Poor Christians had to buy their meat from vendors below the pagan temples. The meat sold there had just come from a pagan altar. Some new Christians still had the fresh memory of offering an animal on one of those altars and then buying the meat of their sacrifice in honor of the (false) god. It was a cause of stumbling for some but for others meat was meat.

There were also some who had trouble giving up Saturday Sabbath in favor of Sunday Worship, which is still an issue for many of our neighbors. But to Paul, and more mature Christians, every day belongs to God and we should be thankful to God for every meal that is given by Him. He said, “For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17, nkjv)

I preach against homosexuality, among other sins. I also hope some will come to our church, hear the message, turn from that lifestyle and embrace the hope only Jesus can give. We are all sinners saved by grace, no more, no less.

We could boycott and separate ourselves from everything we disagree with. If we did, we might as well join the Amish and shun all of modern society. After witnessing the true Christian heart of the Amish in the wake of recent events, maybe that is not such a bad idea.

Bro. Robin

Aa a postscript, I noticed at the bottom of the email an invitation to accompany AFA on an 11 day tour of Switzerland and Italy. I checked it out on the website and found that the tour was only $3232.00. That is just a few dollars more than our last 14 day mission to Malawi, where we led hundreds of people to Jesus. Just a thought.