WAL-MART Joins HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA

yep and now I have to shop at the competitor I don't like.

And there are more in our community who share the same view, Melissa.

I think it is such a stupid business decision for Wal-Mart to have made. Families shop there: they have greater needs materially then gays, so if families stop shopping who will buy their merchandise????

I recall years ago K Mart was boycotted by Christians because K Mart owned a bookstore that sold porn. Locally the boycott was very real: sales did not tempt the people, either. Locally, the store never did recover financially, even after building a brand new one with the latest design, etc. Since then Sears has purchased it and it still does not have the business it did before the boycott. You must remember I live in what is considered the 'Bible Belt'.

ginnyrose

Hello all,

im at theological college in the uk and we are just reading this article.

I ave just found out that ASDA in the uk is owned by wal-mart, i wonder if they are going to have the same stance over here.

anyone got any input on this line of thought

yours in christ

dave

Wal-Mart has always been seen as a
"family-friendly" store

Since when has Wal-Mart been a 'family-friendly' store? Assuming that the homosexual agenda isn't the only threat to the Christian family unit, Wal-Mart would have long been at the fore-front of attacking the livelyhood of families all over the world. The days of the Christian Wal-Mart sadly passed away with Sam Walton.

Is homosexuality the only Christian justice issue that gets us fired up?

How about sweatshop labor? Child labor? Greedy wages and illegally unpaid overtime for employees and their families? Not honoring family (e.g. maternity) leave times? Replacing full-time employees with cheaper part-time employees? Destruction of community-run and family owned local businesses and job opportunities? Substandard medical coverage that is often (#1 company in 27 states) shifted onto taxpayers?

All of these issues threaten the family, and all of these issues are typical to Wal-Mart.

Unfortunately (not really), that challenges our lifestyles to a committment to God's truth and justice we're unwilling to make; we're not ready to change our shopping patterns yet, at least not on the grounds listed above. Those things aren't real to many of us, because we've never experienced them. Yet we need to re-evaluate what sort of values we are funding.

So, yes, don't shop at Wal-Mart: they have a history of attacking family values.

The republicans really dont want inner city youth breeding out of control,

Bartle, you rascal. You can't pin Planned Parenthood's historic doctrine on the Republicans...

hypocrites and fakers

Okay,... that one sticks to 'em.

MC

Will your heart be purer for resisting to shop at Wal-Mart?

nope, but my Pastor will be happy... ;)

That is something to think about Dorcas.

Nakedicame
you know i think i've found a kindred spirit about this issue in you!

Is homosexuality the only Christian justice issue that gets us fired up?

you know i'd like to know too. i mean there have been a lot of discussions here in the past which involved homosexuality and those got long and sometimes ugly. yet not too many discussions about the sin of say adultery (be it physical or addiction to porn), our children and friends fornicating like it's going out of style and so on. it seems to me those issues (adultery and fornication) as far as sexual sins go are much much more rampant because there are by far many more straight people than gay and more homes have been broken up because of adultery than homosexuality...while i'm all for this constitutional ammendment to say that marriage should be for men and women only, we don't have a leg to stand on because divorce is about 50% even among evangelical Christians...YIKES!

i think the real problem is, we think homosexuality is a worse thing than anything we can do. we tend to be more harsh on sins we're not guilty of but the truth of the matter is that we are no better. we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory. in hebrews the word tells us that if we are guilty of say murder and not adultery, we are still guilty of it because we have violated one part of the law, we have violated it ALL.

we acknowledge and rail against the sin without but at the expense of dealing with the sin within...that is by far a much more terrifying thing because if that sin is not dealt with, God will punish us for it. Some may say "we are under grace therefore God won't be harsh with us" you can believe that mess if you want to but in Hebrews 2, Hebrews 10 and 1 Peter 2 we are told to be very careful that we don't treat this grace like rubbish because the judgement for that will be that much harsher.

another thing, we also feel that the wicked should get their just punishment, which is true, but we are also deserving of God's wrath because we're guilty of sinning against God also. in fact before the unrighteous can receive their judgement, we have to get ours first coz the word says judgement begins at the house of God. look in the revelation and before any seals are broken or anything like that, the seven Churches receive their letters and all but 1 have something to repent of...when the judgement comes it will start with the Church because we're supposed to be setting the standard. then the word sayys if the righteous barely get saved then what about the unrighteous? brethren who among us can say "i'm righteous." or "i'm holy"

that being said i pray we would all let God check us and call us out on our sins lest they fester and the catch His wrath...

i don't shop much at walmart, like their store brand whipped cream but in the grand scheme of things will our hearts be purer for not shopping at walmart or if we take responsibility for our own sins and be cleansed of them?

then the issues of maternity leave, sweatshop child labour on the part of some of walmart's suppliers seems to get swept under the rug, or at least not get as much limelight as the homosexuality thing...no wonder they won't repent, they see through our hipocracy...God HATES hypocracy...on our account and nobody else's but us Christians (and we will pay for it too) men the world over speak evil of God.

bro Bartle

McJobs lead to McRevolution

so true...

God help us...

May I please add a thought to this posting.... as I was thinking about this and other things that are going on in this world my thoughts went to the other items that are sold in this store, toys that promote violence, movies that promote adultry, witchcraft, yet are bought because the characters are so cute. Things that I would never bring into my home, but I shop there because of the prices. And then I was reminded of the men and women behind the registers , that when I ask them how is your day going, some open up to me and the door is opened to minister hope and healing or a word of encouragement. Then I thought of the local corner market where I stop to get my grandbabies a slurpee on a hot day and the pornography that is sold on the stands and the liquor in the cooler, yet the in one store the lady behind the register is from somewhere in Asia and can barely speak the language yet is so very kind to me that I can't help but say to her may you be blessed today. I ocasionally go to the most famous coffee shop in America, that is owned by those who have "come out of the closet" to get a cold frapachino when the degree outside is over 100 and see the young lady behind the counter with a troubled look on her face and say to her how is your day are you ok and she opens up to me and says she is having an argument with her boyfriend because he wants her to move in with him and she wants to wait for marriage, so in love I minister to her to stay pure and wait and offer other words of encouragement. Then I go to the local grocery store that sells liquor and other items that I don't buy and strongly opose, I walk up to the meat counter and order my meat and the young man is mumbling under his breath and I joking say are you singing and he tells me he is having a very bad day...again the door is opened to listen and smile and reassure him that there is hope. I laugh with the lady behind the register when she offers me the special of the week which is chocolate for the end of this month and say to her hon, I don't honor that day but I sure do love candy. I then go to the gas station to fill up my van and who knows what country we are buying it from and what my money is being used for and go inside to buy a cup of coffee for only a dollar.... and the man behind the counter tells me you are so blessed to be born ad raised in this country, we had to flee our country because of the persecution against the Christian faith...My daughters went to a public school and I was called from work one day to come and give her a tylenol because she had a headache and yet this same nurse can take a child to have an abortion without even dialing a number. My tax dollars at work today... I said all of this to say
we are in this world, but not of this world....Please let Jesus be seen in us and though us wherever we are...Shell station, Albertsons, Starbucks, Walmart, Workplace, Home..... Los Angeles
Arise and shine for the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, darkness will cover the earth, and gross darkness the people the Lord shall arise upon thee and His glory shall be seen upon thee Isaiah 60: 1-2

Thank you for listening to my thoughts on this matter
May God Bless you and Sermon Index.

May God have mercy in judgment on America.

Sister "coffee"

Thankyou for sharing the heart that Jesus has given you...

God Bless
Jeff

dorcas wrote:

nope, but my Pastor will be happy... ;)

Oh good.....!

That is something to think about Dorcas.

Um....... pleasing your pastor?

Is that really what you're there for? ;-)

no, I meant will it make us more pure not to shop at that store...you have a good point.

You have some great points, sister coffee.

Dear Melissa and Jeff,

Thank you for your kind words.

Sis. coffee

Quoting dorcas:

Will your heart be purer for resisting to shop at Wal-Mart?

Great question, I think, and your thoughts, especially the ones in your reply that I didn't quote, are important.

I suppose when we're talking about boycotting, I'm more interested in a person being obedient to their convictions rather than using it as a pedastol for proclaiming righteousness to the world. Don't get me wrong: there's a time and place for that, but first our concern is in our relationship to God.

I see spending power as a method of practicing our convictions and values similar to voting; everyone has heard the expression "vote with your dollars." And if we claim to value the existence and encouragement of the family unit, then our shopping, like our voting, needs to be a time when we honor that conviction (and in my original post, I said that valuing family cannot only be limited in regards to weariness of the so-called homosexual agenda, but also poverty, child-labor, pornography, etc.).

Now, I understand there is a place for actively opposing sin and for proclaiming the righteousness of Christ, but, is boycotting a person's source of income - whose trading is honest, legal and decent - the correct way?

Having said that, I think you bring up an interesting point, and I agree that boycott isn't necessarily the "correct way." Boycott (withdrawing from commercial relations as a protest) can be valid, I believe, as one method to be good stewards of our spending power. However, our first concern should always be our relationship with God.

In that relationship, God calls us to obedience and consistency acccording to the values and convictions he has given to us; if that means we have to change our lifestyles, so be it. Consumerism and convenience are unfortunately common idols within the western church today, and at some point, we might be called to move in the opposite spirit. After all, God wants all of our lives--not just our intellect, our Sunday devotions, our sexuality--but also our financial stewardship. Our decision to form our spending habits may be quiet and non-vocal, or it may be a boycott, but in that, God's primary concern is our heart and an attitude of obedience.

How can we say we love God if we hate our brother? How can we say we hold a value or belief (e.g. sanctity of family) if we simply pick and choose where we want that to be practiced (only in response to gay marriage)? Let's not be victims of our Westernized church-culture but slaves of Christ and his transformation.

-Mikael

P.S. Sis. Coffee: thank God for people such as yourself. Our business interactions (as our other ones) should always be an opportunity to see Christ in others and to be Christ in return. I see and note your experience.

I was not going to respond anymore to this discussion but after reading more, I am changing my mind! One of the advantages of being a woman! lol ;-)

In our community, Wal-Mart lead the way to be open for commerce on the LORD's Day, Sunday. That meant people had to be on the job instead of going to worship services. The harm this brought to the employees, is incalculatable. I have had many clients who detailed to me their path of apostasy. For some it involved being required to work on Sundays and not being able to go to church. Now you must know I did not ask them this, they volunteered this info.

This issue will raise another question: is shopping appropriate for the Christian on Sunday? In this discussion, other questions come to the fore, usually used to justify it, like what about occupations involved in support systems, like nursing, etc. I am talking about leisure shopping....

Something to think about...

ginnyrose

No one is going to stop shopping at Walmart because of this. People depend on them too much for their stuff. The homosexual movement does what it does like a writhing snake through a crack in the floor. This is how the homosexual movement works - it goes to corporations and strongarms them into accepting their agenda. Once they have corporate support and people are forced to obey the corporate non-harrasment policies or be fired, then they have you. It's forced acceptance.

I think there's something we as Christians need to own up to right here and now, Western Christianity is against the wall. We are more and more becoming Sodom and Gomorrah. When a society refuses to hear Truth and opts instead to sit in its sin like a pig in its slop, there isn't anything short of the Holy Ghost going to awaken them.

America has out-right rejected the Jesus of the Bible. They don't want Him. They'll take parts of Him, but they don't want Him, and there's nothing you can do to change a man's heart who is bent on spiritual suicide. Men would rather DIE than turn to God.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

If it concerns you that bad, get off the message boards and start doing what God called you to do. Don't wait for someone to take you by the hand and lead you. Through prayer, fasting and the anointing of the Holy Ghost, get up from the laziness and marriage with this world and become a world shaker. Everyone's looking for someone else to do it, well that someone else is YOU!

Churchy game playing is over. Weak lethargic Christianity has killed us. Gird yourself up with the armor of God and get in line. There's a war going on around us, and it's time to enlist. Get up off the floor and join the war!

I'd say AMEN to your post, but that isn't the correct response. You are right on in your estimation.

And we are surprised? Have we not taken time to see if the merchandise sold in wal-mart supports the sodomite agenda? I know I have not! Just a few weeks back I had a brother tell me that Levis is pro-homo. I for one would be interested in seeing what the manufacturers support. Procter and Gamble has always been loose and has been accused a few times of being pro satan. Again, I do not know that for sure. I heard it back (WWWAAAYYY BACK) in the 90's. Ha!

This will not even phase many conservative believers that produce their own clothing. Just a thought...

In Christ, bro Doug

Doug.

Grow up.

[b]Barking[/b]

The concrete under your feet, the asphalt that you drive on, the soft drink to quench your thirst and the hamburger you just consumed ...

Too which category of 'sining heathen' will the boycott come next? Stop pumping gas because the attendant is an adulterer? Lock yourself up in the house because your neighbor is obese? Burn your house down because the carpenters were drunkards and then feel guilty because the matches were crafted by hypocrites?

What about the self-righteous, stewing in their [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=13015&forum=35]pride[/url],
angrily decrying, finger poking the bible, pounding the pulpit and with much an astonishment 'reproving' the congregation, with; [i]We must humble ourselves[/i]! as I bewilderingly came across the other day?

It is amazing the pecking order of sin specific results that grab the attention and are made headlines by professing believers. "Not the point" or perhaps [i]besides[/i] the point, the one thing that goes under, is drowned out by this pack dog mentality, who can even hear above all the racket? Worse, of what real effect is any of this cursing the darkness and howling at the moon doing for the unbelieving world? Think some of us get our kicks in a perverted sense of self importance, bluntly; self-righteousness, and have suffered greatly from short term memory loss;

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

[i]And such were some of you:[/i]

The point set aside, besides, forgotten. Why go on any further to the rest of the content ...? The things spoken to disciples as the context of the example above is, we are to turn out to the world that has nothing but disdain for an alternative religion, this misrepresentation that goes under the guise of the church and with the failed grasp and audacity to place the Name above every name on it's mantle? If you were once again stripped of the grace and mercy that saved your wretched soul and turned you back out into your own depravity of heart would you give a moments attention to to the verbosity of bitterness that flows so effortlessly from the lips?

There is an astonishing lack of understanding in just the most basic of matters. How do heart questions, spoken in parables or even flatly evade even the so called saints of the Lord? Would some of the things spoken even here be preached if the Lord Himself was in attendance? Dare ye?

Or do we have a pebble for the rebel and a boulder for the homosexual? A skipping stone for the divorcée, a plank in the eye and think that 'our words can never hurt me' ...

What was the great point of the matter of all that the Lord ever said while we are busy out on the peripheral? Need we be re-schooled on just the most preliminary of matters?

Am suspecting that a great deal of lack of conviction is because [b]we[/b] think we can bring it when we can't even take notice of the hypocrisy yet still dwelling in our own make up. Control freaks. High minded. A fake compassion and concern. Opinionated. Loud. Proud. Holier than Thou. Derogatory. Bitter. Defensive. Care more for defending how right we think we are than suffering all the misunderstanding that our Lord suffered and to boot, turn practically everything He ever said on it's head. There is truly something amiss in the likeness to the spirit of the Pharisee cloaked in 'Christian' garb.

If anyone should be throwing rocks, it ought to be the accused, to shut up and scatter the barking dogs. Maybe then they will go and lick their wounds and find some alternative to give to the sin bound souls of men.

bro Mike
thank you for that most timely and prophetic word...our own iniquities which God sees condemn us. our lack of action against other things which are by far more common and have done more damage such as adultery, fornication etc kill our witness. anyone who is guilty of anything has no incentive to come to Christ on account of our own hypocracy... how can we hope to ammend the contsitution (for example) to say marriage should be between a man and woman when our own divorce rates is upward of 50%...

God help us indeed.

Yes Mike, thank you for that word.

I'm not in any way trying to 'advocate' boycott of certain kinds of people, homosexual, heterosexual, metrosexual, whatever. Convictions are convictions--by which we are accountable to God. In Matthew 6, Jesus is pretty clear about seeking the approval or pedastol of men. Unfortunately, I think we put others down (especially people who struggle with homosexuality) in order to build ourselves up, and that's pride; God's place is to build us up.

If any thoughts were sparked in me at the outset of this topic's original post, they were the thoughts of consistency in values (once again, family values, specifically). Why can't we hate sins of greed as much as we hate sins of immorality? And why do we replace hatred of sin with hatred of people? After all, people are not our enemies, and our fight is not against flesh and blood.

If we're going to boycott, then boycott on the basis of consistency of conviction. Boycott in obedience to the Lord. Don't boycott as a public declaration of war on others (people who God loves just as much as us). Yes, let's grow up.

-Mikael.

What I have to share may not be "revelatory" or "original", but it is from my heart influenced (I pray) by my search after the heart of GOD. This list of corporations should not surprise us, but rather serve as a sobering reminder of our sacred duty, responsibility, and honor to pray earnestly for the souls, hearts, and minds of those blinded in the Church and out to plain TRUTH. If we could get a few of us who would weep between the porch and altar, who rend our hearts and not our garments... most of all for us to be the salt and light we were created to be, perhaps HE may still turn many even in this late hour.

Burn your house down because the carpenters were drunkards and then feel guilty because the matches were crafted by hypocrites?

Oh man, I almost lost it when I read that! Mike, I laughed out loud - you are so right, brother. This stuff is so infantile, so shallow. Haven't we anything better, more edifying to talk about?

You know, it may be the fact that I live in the northwest, or maybe its because I can count... but the last time I checked Jesus was totally more concerned about the poor and abused than about homosexuality. That is not to say that that homosexuality is not a sin, but so is fornication, yet our tv-channels and magazine shelves are covered with that!
If you want to attack Wal-Mart its easy to do... do it the way Jesus would have. Wal-Mart is bad for the poor, it exploits cheep labor, abuses its employees, denies them health coverage... it is an abyss of corporate greed!
[b]Homosexuality is a red-herring[/b] for the church, because we're to beat and broken to stand up to the media and corporate America where the most people are being thrown into hell. How many youths minds are being poluted by sexual sin... how many children are being raised in a society of materialism in America. How many children suffer around the world making cheap products for our lust for materialism... those children spend 12 hours a day in the factory, and when they're not working they most likely aren't hearing the gospel. Stop the gay bashing and start tackleing the real problems.

Word.

Homosexuality is a red-herring for the church,... Stop the gay bashing and start tackleing the real problems.

It's unnecessary to set up an 'either/or' ultimatum to Christians on these various issues. Homosexuality should be included in the catalog of real problems. The moral indulgence that tolerates homosexuality, is the same decadence that invites abortion, materialism, and other turpitudes of our 'developed' countries.

Perhaps we are simply guilty of living according to our own values and interests, and not according to the Bible. This selective 'holiness' is what divides Christians along the left-wing/right-wing faultline of modern humanistic democratic culture. Many posts in this thread are evidence of that faultline in the church.

MC

I think its just the 'easy' thing for most American 'christians'... it would be difficult to for them to boycott prime time television or their favorite magazines.
For most Christians homosexuality seems a distant easy target... they can sit back on their couches and say that they're against it...
When we allow other problems to exist in this culture and target the 'easy' ones... we're in fact being hypocrites... no wonder Homosexuals think that Christians are intollerant bigots. We are not different than the world, they don't see anything different between us and the Nazis.
The Nazis got their people to focus on a weak and isolated minority group instead of their real social and economical issues. I hate to draw parallels between the modern church and the nazis, but i doubt that the final judgement is going to neglect such comparisons.

I understand where you're coming from Ian. And for what it's worth I wasn't singling you out...just that your text succinctly captured a common enough point of view in a way that could be responded to.

Blessings brother,

MC

Well I was just considering with my head on the pillow last night that Jesus ate with Prostitutes and Tax collectors... in Jesus' time the worst of the worst.
I was thinking, what is the real difference between a Prostitute and a Homosexual... both are involved in sexual sin, one is doing it for money which could be argued to be worse. Well that didn't keep Jesus from loving that person, thats the sick person that he came to as a doctor. I dare say If Jesus were to come today as he did in Judea two thousand years ago he would most likely have a gay or lesbian dining with him.
The problem is two fold, we've become so used to the prostitute gracing the cover of lusty magazines, or titilating us on television that we've forgiven her sin with our aproval (a figure of speech). Yet we do not similarly give this grace to the homosexual.
Few good 'christians' that I know would be able to sit down at a table across from a overtly gay guy or butch lesbian and be able to show them human dignity or for that matter love. You know why the homosexual movement is apparently so strong? PERSECUTION! It's amazing to me that God has alowed his light not to go out on this country, because his church has stepped in to be his judge jury and executioner when it should have been healing the sick and bringing people to him.
You cannot love someone to Christ with hate and intolerance. How often do you pray for the people who are homosexuals... that they can find Jesus, not just that they can give up their political agenda, or that they can get off of your television, or that they can stop contaminating your children and family.
Jesus would invite these people into his life... he wants to invite these people into his life, but the men and women whom Jesus would have do this work for Him are too busy shutting their doors and locking their windows and talking on forums like this about the Homosexual agenda.
Now this is not to say that I think that people still in the grips of homosexuality should be given leadership in churches... yet we find we have adulterers, and those addicted to pornography regularly in leadership positions in the church. We need to be transparent and Holy to the world before we can start throwing stones at others. Why should a gay man feel that he can't serve in a church when he sees others, running away in sin doing it also... the only difference is that they lust after the opposite sex.
As i mentioned in my earlier comment, the most contact that the average American has had with a homosexual is through their TV, or passing on the street... we need to sit down with these people, they are hurting and broken just like the drunk or drug user, or the frat boy or cheerleader, heck, I was a computer-nerd getting good grades in college and guess what, I still needed Jesus because I was rotten inside.
I love Leonard Ravenhill, and I was listening to Keith Green the other day and he said that he had a hard time fully comprehending the name of one of his books... 'Sodom Had No Bible.'
Matt11:23-24 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that [b]it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.[/b]"
Now Sodom was famous for one type of sin, Homosexuality... yet Jesus says that it would be better for Sodom on the day of judgement. This is not to say that Homosexuality is lesser of a sin... but we can make this inference, Jesus is saying that if he were to have to judge between a bunch of homosexual offenders who didn't have a chance to hear the Gospel and a bunch of back-sliding, half believing, unchanging worthless israelites, His covenant people... he would have been more leniant to the Gays. That should shake us in our boots. I dare say that this intolerance and unlove that we have towards homosexual people will be judged as SPOILED FRUIT!

[b]Matt 3:10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.[/b]

Matt 15:7-9 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'

Matt 7:22-23 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Are we just honoring God with our lips when we say that we love him... because our actions betray that we do not know the father's heart. I cannot speak for anyone's salvation but my own, but the fruit speaks for itself. The fruit of intolerance and unlove will be the undoing of many who profess the name of Jesus. And when they are judged there will be much gnashing of teeth!

Well now that we've established that Christians are intolerant nazis and Homosexuals are down trodden and persecuted let's see if our enlightened sensibilities can work in reality.

In our church there is a little foster boy that is devestated by the news that he is being adopted by two gay men. I suppose a more loving church would tell this young lad to wipe those intolerant tears from his little eyes towards his two male parents. Who knows, maybe this is the best thing for this little one...being moved from a Nazi Christian environment to a loving gay home.

Instead we are praying for God to intervene...love begs for such prayers. (I can't imagine being a social worker who is also a Christian these days...)

Listen, no healthy conservative Christian church segment is excusing adultery or other sexual sins. To imply this is slanderous. When sexual sin is exposed in conservative churches it is dealt with severly, not celebrated. We just wish it wasn't popping up so much these days, or being tolerated under the radar.

But in our politically correct reaction against the hypocrasy of conservative churches, let's not romanticize homosexuals as a persecuted group, nor imagine their sin as lonely and victimless.

MC

There are many in our part of the country doing likewise.

I heard of a Wal-Mart in a city 60 miles away who had to lay off 60 employees.. a business will not do that if business is good. Remember this is the Bible belt....lots of religious people.

I, for one, do not like my dollars to support some homosexual's political agenda. There are plenty of other stores where one can shop and get the same thing. The only hardship it creates is for the mother who has several children in tow and now has to go to several stores to get her shopping done whereas it could always be done with one stop.

My opinion....
ginnyrose

MC, as usual, making great sense of matters;

It's unnecessary to set up an 'either/or' ultimatum to Christians on these various issues. Homosexuality should be included in the catalog of real problems. The moral indulgence that tolerates homosexuality, is the same decadence that invites abortion, materialism, and other turpitudes of our 'developed' countries.

Perhaps we are simply guilty of living according to our own values and interests, and not according to the Bible. This selective 'holiness' is what divides Christians along the left-wing/right-wing faultline of modern humanistic democratic culture. Many posts in this thread are evidence of that faultline in the church.

Also, agreed with Krispy's earlier assesment, most certainly there is an agenda afoot and fully understand the reaction against that.

In our church there is a little foster boy that is devestated by the news that he is being adopted by two gay men.

Reality come homes to us with this ... Prayer for this young man, one and all?

But in our politically correct reaction against the hypocrasy of conservative churches, let's not romanticize homosexuals as a persecuted group, nor imagine their sin as lonely and victimless.

I certainly hope that the earier tangent would never give way to this sort of thinking ... It is often the unfortunate result of this 'must' of many an assumption. Indeed it is not an either\\or... Sigh. Perhaps the often perplexity is the amount of vigor or venom that comes along side these things as being expressed by believers, it can be disguised as a 'Holy hatred for sin' but just as often it is but that, a disguise, and another opportunity to look at what is brewing on the inside of us passes ...

Still a bit unsure what purpose a boycott will ultimately end up serving ... better because you don't\\worse because you do?

Saints,

Many an item up for intercession at the moment. Difficult to ascribe one way or another by what response comes or not in reply, we have covered this elsewhere...

Still a compelling, that we do not forfeit concerned jurisprudence over rending our hearts for the pleas and concerns of our own brethren. This one in particular, gripped me yesterday as a situation of intercession;

[i]In our church there is a little foster boy that is devestated by the news that he is being adopted by two gay men.[/i]

That a rise in indignation at the sheer selfishness of these seared consciousness' on the one hand must somehow be put under the greater devastation of this young man ...
May the Lord thwart it utterly.

Might we get our perspectives aligned with the Lords. Many an item saints, calling for intercessors ....

Mike,

Thank you for remembering this. Overall this issue facing our times is challenging to understand and we need each other to keep from sliding off the rails in one direction or the other. I appreciate and have learned from all of the perspctives shown in this thread.

Yet your last post meant a great deal to me...I'm not wanting to hurt or demean anyone and sometimes the battles waged between hardened adult veterans overshadows the most innocent victims in our midst.

This little boy is like a leaf blown about by the failure of his own parents, the struggling child welfare system, and now the emergence of homosexual marriages. Adults sow the wind and children reap the whirlwind.

Dear brother I will pass your rememberance on to our church with confidence they will be touched.

MC

My brother you bring up some very thoughtful and valid points...but... the same God who spoke "the poor you will have with you always", destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (as well as the surrounding cities) for among other things sexual perversion. The deeper problem with sexual wickedness has to do with the spiritual union that takes place during intercourse...there is a merging occurring physically/emotionally/mentally on every possible human level. "

1 Corinthians 6:15-20
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”[b] 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body[c] and in your spirit, which are God’s."

Rom. 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Not to downplay the poor being taken advantage of, or other societal ills, but sexual purity is evidently something both GOD and satan see as of great worth. Have you ever wondered why virgins are sacrificed, or why orgies are historically a part of demonic worship?

Human sexuality is the only act that one commits with the body that produces oneness. Oneness in any way outside of the confines of marriage (one man one and woman married to each other) is idolatry. So when a married couple unite physically in love and passion with godly understanding, it is an act of worship to GOD.

Peace and Blessings,
Harold

Here in Pennsylvania, there is a debate on whether it is right to allow slot machine gambling to be established along side the hollowed grounds of the Civil War. In a news article today, another town that has already allowed gambling was given as a promotion for the permit to gamble.

The town is Vickburg Mississippi. In the news article it was stated that this town has more churches within it borders than any other town in America. The Mayor of the town said that the churches opposed the gambling. He told them that the taxes paid by the gambling institutions paid 27 percent of the towns budget. He then asked these church people how they would make up the difference if gambling was forced to leave their town. He asked if they would prefer tax increases or service cuts. He then testified that the opposition to gambling by the churches disappeared.

Whether it is Corporate America or small town USA, the willingness to allow such activity is not based on issues of faith but the almighty dollar.

In Christ
Jeff