Do you want Chick-fil-a sauce with those nuggets?
I'm not going to ask you if you've eaten at Chick-fil-a in the last week. Odds are if you're reading this blog then I know how you feel about same-sex marriage, and I'm willing to bet you already know how I feel about it too.
I have to admit that all this controversy has gotten my attention. Usually when I hear debate about something I try to get at the source and make a decision for myself. So I hunted down the interview with Dan Cathy by the Baptist Press. I strongly encourage you to read it for yourself. You should be able to click on the publication link in the quote below and check it out.
I won't spend much time telling you what he said since you can read it for yourself, but I would like to tell you what he didn't say. He didn't say a word about hating anyone or wanting to mistreat anyone. Here's what I think is the most important quote: "We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit," Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."
I've seen the media coverage and responses to the things Mr. Cathy said in this interview. It seems to me that a lot of hard feelings and misunderstandings exist on both sides, a fact with which I am already acquainted. The unfortunate thing about this whole debate is that a bigger issue is being lost.
Our families and relationships are disintegrating, and we aren't doing anything about it.
I see the symptoms of broken relationships every day in my job. The government at a local, state, and federal level is scrambling around inventing new programs to "fix" our kids. There is nothing the government can do that will address all the problems our young people are facing. There will never be a legislative answer. Don't you think we would have already figured it out if there were? People have dedicated their lives to it and we've spent more money than we can realistically count.
I wish that weren't true. I wish I could say that there is some solution out there that some one, anyone, could invent. Believe me; I've looked for one. I have flat out exhausted myself in the pursuit, spent sleepless nights thinking of things I could personally do to make things better for my students in general and in particular.
No matter what I dream up or attempt it all comes back to the same issue. I'm not a mother to my students; I'm just their teacher. I haven't been there since they were born tucking them in and teaching them about right and wrong. Some one else has been doing that, or failing to do that, for them -- theoretically their parents. What if their parents haven't been doing those things? Maybe their parents want to do those things, but they can't. Maybe their lives are too broken. They have too many problems of their own. Troubled kids come from troubled homes. My friends in education universally agree with me on this, believer and unbeliever alike.
In many ways that's why teachers stick with it. We are determined to help as many kids as we can, no matter what. Don't get me wrong education is vital, and it is important to have outstanding schools. All I'm saying is don't confuse the role of the family and the role of governmental institutions.
God has set out clear guidelines for families to help them function wholly and fully for children and parents, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives. I believe that's the point Dan Cathy is trying to make.
Here's what evangelist Nicky Cruz has to say about the subject in his book called One Holy Fire:
This issue isn't about hating homosexual people. It's about affirming God's wisdom in building a family, something that every one in a personal relationship with Jesus should want for themselves. Living by God's guidelines isn't always easy; just ask someone who has gone through a heartbreaking divorce (something else God doesn't particularly like), but it is the only way worth living.
I'm worried, friends. I'm not the only one. Lately a student told me, "I'm not just worried about myself. I'm worried about all of us." Our young people know that things aren't going well for us, that we're dangerously off track. Don't believe me? Talk to them about it, and really listen to what they have to say. When I read their essays, I see that they want to live in a fuller and better way. They're just waiting for the rest of us to show them how.
That's what true communication and relationship does. It allows us to move forward and make sure everyone is along for the ride. Any human idea of what's best is bound to fail; God's way is the only one that works without fail.
"Moses told his father-in-law the story of all that God had done to Pharaoh and Egypt in helping Israel, all the trouble they had experienced on the journey, and how God had delivered them." Exodus 18:8
I have to admit that all this controversy has gotten my attention. Usually when I hear debate about something I try to get at the source and make a decision for myself. So I hunted down the interview with Dan Cathy by the Baptist Press. I strongly encourage you to read it for yourself. You should be able to click on the publication link in the quote below and check it out.
I won't spend much time telling you what he said since you can read it for yourself, but I would like to tell you what he didn't say. He didn't say a word about hating anyone or wanting to mistreat anyone. Here's what I think is the most important quote: "We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit," Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."
I've seen the media coverage and responses to the things Mr. Cathy said in this interview. It seems to me that a lot of hard feelings and misunderstandings exist on both sides, a fact with which I am already acquainted. The unfortunate thing about this whole debate is that a bigger issue is being lost.
Our families and relationships are disintegrating, and we aren't doing anything about it.
I see the symptoms of broken relationships every day in my job. The government at a local, state, and federal level is scrambling around inventing new programs to "fix" our kids. There is nothing the government can do that will address all the problems our young people are facing. There will never be a legislative answer. Don't you think we would have already figured it out if there were? People have dedicated their lives to it and we've spent more money than we can realistically count.
I wish that weren't true. I wish I could say that there is some solution out there that some one, anyone, could invent. Believe me; I've looked for one. I have flat out exhausted myself in the pursuit, spent sleepless nights thinking of things I could personally do to make things better for my students in general and in particular.
No matter what I dream up or attempt it all comes back to the same issue. I'm not a mother to my students; I'm just their teacher. I haven't been there since they were born tucking them in and teaching them about right and wrong. Some one else has been doing that, or failing to do that, for them -- theoretically their parents. What if their parents haven't been doing those things? Maybe their parents want to do those things, but they can't. Maybe their lives are too broken. They have too many problems of their own. Troubled kids come from troubled homes. My friends in education universally agree with me on this, believer and unbeliever alike.
In many ways that's why teachers stick with it. We are determined to help as many kids as we can, no matter what. Don't get me wrong education is vital, and it is important to have outstanding schools. All I'm saying is don't confuse the role of the family and the role of governmental institutions.
God has set out clear guidelines for families to help them function wholly and fully for children and parents, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives. I believe that's the point Dan Cathy is trying to make.
Here's what evangelist Nicky Cruz has to say about the subject in his book called One Holy Fire:
So many parents today have let their guards down. [...] They allowed their kids to grow up too quickly and weren't there to guide them and teach them right from wrong. [...] Kids were left to fend for themselves, and today we're experiencing the consequences of our misguided decisions. More than thirty years ago I began warning people and churches that if we didn't address the drug and violence problem in the inner city, it would soon move to the middle-class and wealthy suburbs. It was obvious then that the real cause of this addictive and destructive behavior was not poverty, but the breakdown of the family unit. (ellipsis mine)Mr. Cruz has lots to say about growing up in a dysfunctional family because he did, yet through his relationship with Jesus, he has been able to create a new, healthy family of his own.
This issue isn't about hating homosexual people. It's about affirming God's wisdom in building a family, something that every one in a personal relationship with Jesus should want for themselves. Living by God's guidelines isn't always easy; just ask someone who has gone through a heartbreaking divorce (something else God doesn't particularly like), but it is the only way worth living.
I'm worried, friends. I'm not the only one. Lately a student told me, "I'm not just worried about myself. I'm worried about all of us." Our young people know that things aren't going well for us, that we're dangerously off track. Don't believe me? Talk to them about it, and really listen to what they have to say. When I read their essays, I see that they want to live in a fuller and better way. They're just waiting for the rest of us to show them how.
That's what true communication and relationship does. It allows us to move forward and make sure everyone is along for the ride. Any human idea of what's best is bound to fail; God's way is the only one that works without fail.
"Moses told his father-in-law the story of all that God had done to Pharaoh and Egypt in helping Israel, all the trouble they had experienced on the journey, and how God had delivered them." Exodus 18:8
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