Monday, August 13, 2012
300 - Playing Chicken with God
Spirituality
Column #300
August 14, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
August 14, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
Playing Chicken with God
“The
hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch.” – Capt. Bart
Mancuso, The Hunt for Red October
“Chicken” is a game of irresistible
forces lunging headlong toward immoveable objects. Feigning death before dishonor, both force
and object pray the other flinches first.
And so it is in religious “values”
conversations these days. Talk about God
and generalities; you might get away with it.
Talk about God and specific human behaviors; you better buckle up and
hang on. For example ...
On Wednesday, July 4, Hobby Lobby, an overtly Christian
company and retailer, ran full-page ads headlined “In God We Trust” in hundreds
of American newspapers. The ad displayed
quotes from American history’s greatest thinkers on the absolute necessity of
faith, religion, and Christianity in American democracy and freedom (see “Holiday
Messages” at hobbylobby.com).
The July 4 ad was on point, wise, patriotic, devout,
appreciated – and despite its daring, straight-up God and Country theme, caused
no hue and cry.
By late July, America had nearly come apart at the seams over
Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s evenly paced remarks on America, same-sex marriage,
and God’s judgment, on a mid-July Saturday afternoon radio talk show.
Saturday – afternoon – radio – talk – show. Does that scream “obscure” to anyone but me? The show’s host is Dan Coleman, but it was
only due to the Washington Post’s biting, agenda-driven, culture war follow-up
coverage that everybody in America heard about it.
(Sarcasm alert…) I am shocked, shocked to find out that a
Christian CEO of an overtly Christian-values company appearing on a traditional
values talk show said that he supports Christian family values and has a
faithful concern about God’s judgment. That’s
what I’d expect a guy like that to say. The
ensuing “story” isn’t so much real “news” as a media-fueled purpose pitch. Real news is what’s not supposed to happen. The endless
anti-Christian squawk from the marry-whomever crowd? That was predictable. The record sales for Chick-fil-A? That’s people voting with their wallets.
My deep-down read on this chicken “controversy” is that we mustn’t
confine the issue to divine judgment and same-sex marriage. In the larger view, God commands us to love
Him and each other. Oddly enough, God
gives us the freedom to rebel against Him and each other in order that we may
identify true love. God doesn’t coerce
us, and we hate it when people try to coerce us. But when it comes down to people or God,
don’t miss this plucky, cosmic life lesson:
Only a sucker plays chicken with God, because God never
flinches.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that
this is weekly “In Spirit” column #300. Thanks to Current Publishing, now
serving all of north Metro Indianapolis.
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