Dealing in Truth

The Lord desires for us to be people of truth - allowing God's truth to control our lives, and being
dedicated to speak the truth - in love. Ephesians 4 says this:
25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
27 nor give place to the devil.

Pilate asked Jesus, "what is truth?"  And, that's a good question for each of us today.  Because truth is not a concept that is determined by individual opinion.   We should be devoted to speak what is true, to live our lives with honesty, and to recognize the Bible as the source of all truth, foundational principles upon which we can build our lives.  We are called to think about what is true, and we should earnestly seek to be people who are reliable and dedicated to doing what is right, as defined in the Word of God.

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The apostle Paul taught Timothy to seek truth and to speak truth, and those are good instructions for us today.  In 2nd Timothy 2, we read in verse 14 that Paul directs Timothy, in reinforcing what he has
taught...
...charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.

He continues to exhort his associate, writing...
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.

There is another bakery story in the news, and as bizarre as it is, it really can challenge us to make sure that we are dealing in truth.  The story is out of Austin, Texas, and the Austin Statesman reports that:

Austin-based Whole Foods Market on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against an Austin man who claims he purchased a cake from the retailer that included a slur against gay people.

Whole Foods also released its security footage video from its North Lamar Boulevard flagship store that it says contradicts the man’s claims that the store included the slur on the “Love Wins” cake he ordered.

In the countersuit, Whole Foods says the man “intentionally, knowingly and falsely accused Whole Foods and its employees of writing the homophobic slur… on a custom made cake that he ordered from WFM’s Lamar Store in Austin…"

The story says that the company contends that the store employee only wrote "Love Wins" on the cake, and that the slur was added after the customer left the store.  The article reports that Whole Foods says that, "We stand behind our bakery team member, who is part of the LGBTQ community, and we appreciate the team members and shoppers who recognize that this claim is completely false and directly contradicts Whole Foods Market’s inclusive culture, which celebrates diversity."

And, here's a tasty little tidbit here, according to the article: 

“Whole Foods Market has a strict policy that prohibits team members from accepting or designing bakery orders that include language or images that are offensive.”

OK, let me get this straight: Whole Foods, the model of inclusion, directs its team members to deny service to a customer if that customer orders something that is "offensive."  Isn't that what cake bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein did - they decided not to bake a cake for something they found offensive, that violated their deeply held religious beliefs.   And, they were ordered to pay $135,000 because of it.

The fact is, there are going to be instances where people, due to their convictions, are offended. It's part of the human condition - we are going to disagree about various issues. And, those who base their viewpoints on the authority of God's Word have just as much of a right to allow themselves to be governed by our convictions as those who do not share our viewpoints.

That's what the current row about transgender bathrooms is about.  The state of North Carolina decided that it needed to protect the privacy and safety of the overwhelming majority of its citizens, so it passed a commonsense bill to regulate who goes into gender-specific bathrooms - that "offended" people, and major players in the corporate culture are threatening to take their business elsewhere.  We who agree with this legislation face the risk of being "branded" as being haters and bigots, called names, and treated as second-class citizens.   And, now retail giant Target has announced it has taken the debate a step further, granting a special status for transgendered people, while offending the scores of people who believe that they should have appropriate privacy in the restroom, without the threat of someone from the opposite sex sharing the room; and that's not to mention granting access to people who are intent to do harm to women. Target is a private business; that's their right - and we as Christians, as people of conviction, can determine the best way that God is calling us to respond to that decision.

But, we have to be careful that the "war" aspect of our activity, our social consciousness, does not outweigh the "win" aspect that Christ has called us to fulfill.  While we may be in conflict over ideas, we have to make sure that we are not seen as "hating" gay people.  We have to examine our own hearts and allow God to shape our attitudes.  We are called to love all, just as Christ loved us.  And, by extending the love of Christ, we can demonstrate that His love truly wins, and the experience with that true love, even a collision with it, will result in change.  But, we can't change those who need to know the Lord if we are at "war" with them.  And, back to the Whole Foods thing - it appears this man was trying to create a crisis with the slur on the cake...we have to be careful that we do not abide with a "crisis" mentality at the expense of a "commission," a Great Commission, mentality.