wake up and smell the coffee.

You know, last August, I stayed away from my computer (this blog, at least) even though my fingers twitched like crazy.  Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy was asked his position on gay marriage and he politely stated that he believed in the Biblical definition of marriage which is one man and one woman.  Weeeeell, gay communities and supporters all over the country went balistic.  This poor man was BASHED for months.  You can still google his name and you will run upon oodles of hateful and downright nasty things those supporters said about him.  (Yet, he was the one being accused of being hateful and unloving for speaking the truth when asked a question.) If you were on twitter at all during that time, you read enough nastiness for the rest of your life.  All by people holding rainbow colored signs that read things like "i will not embrace the hate" and "love all people".  Sort of oxymoronic, if that's even a word.  If it isn't, it should be because that's exactly what it was.Then, several days ago Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was asked a question about stocks dropping during a shareholders meeting. Instead of answering the question from a business standpoint (this was, of course, a business meeting), he made the statement that "not all decisions are economic ones" and if Christian shareholders think they could get more than the 38% they get from Starbucks, it's a free country and they're free to take their business elsewhere.  Really?  Is this still a free country?  Because it's not really feeling like one these days.  I seem to remember somewhere in our constitutional rights the mention of freedoms like speech and religion (we won't get into the 2nd amendment in this post).  You can listen to his statement here.Now, some people may say, "Well, that's not a big deal.  It's not like some of the articles I've been reading that say, 'Christians: We don't want your business.'"  And I agree--that's not exactly what he said.  But it is what he implied.  He implied that whoever doesn't like his support of same sex marriage is free to take their business elsewhere, and he threw in a number that looked pretty profitable as the added punch.  To me, that implies that he feels Starbucks doesn't need our support because they're doing well enough on their own, and that he will not change his position.  So, there is no misunderstandings or misinterpretations with the point he intended to make.  Christians are offended and gay rights activists are overjoyed.  You can find both reactions all over the internet, so both straight and gay alike took the same understanding of those statements.  Everyone got his message loud and clear.  And if that ISN'T what he meant, he's had several days to clarify, which he has made zero attempts at doing.Equal rights.  Everyone wants them, right?  What about us??  This country was founded on Christian beliefs, maybe not Orthodox Christian beliefs, but Christian nonetheless.  The Bible was the staple of American families and it's now forbidden in most government facilities and has become politically incorrect.  People are actually embarrassed to talk about Jesus or be seen carrying or reading a Bible.  What has happened?  We talked about this in my past post Christian Persecution in Modern Times?  and things have only worsened since then.What is even more upsetting is when "Christians" defend corporations and statements like these.  I remember several Christians making comments on a facebook post back then and that just kills me.  The Bible speaks very clearly (one of several of these teachings can be found in Romans 1:24-32 - pay special attention to the last verse) about how we, as Christians, are to view issues like these.I keep reading on other Christian blogs headlines like, "Christians We Could Do Better" and things of that nature.  But, let me tell you something.  Most of those Christians do not have the history we Orthodox have nor do they know of the many martyrs that have soaked the earth with their blood to defend Christ, so responses like that from people who lack that knowledge and heritage do not surprise me because they don't know any different.  But. We. Do.  We Orthodox have no excuse.People can hide behind the facade of love all they want, what's wrong is wrong.  This so-called movement of universal love is going to be the death of all that is sacred.  People, usually the most non-loving ones, use the word "love" as the preface of every case they want to win against Christians because we're stupid enough to keep falling for it.  We convince ourselves that since God is love, tolerance of everything under the sun must be acceptable.  Because, that's what love means, right?  Being tolerant?  Wrong.  If you think love means not ever saying something is wrong, than I think you are completely clueless as to what love is in the first place and I feel bad for you.  Truly.How can people say they disagree with the Bible and still call themselves Christians?  Please, please, if you are one of these people, I beg you with absolute love, to pick up your Bible and read it with an open heart.  Let go of your fears and your will and read the Word of God.  Do not let yourself be deceived.  Your soul and salvation are in jeopardy!People are so afraid to speak up, even if they agree, because they're worried about what others will think of them.  I'm sorry, but I just don't care.  I feel it is my responsibility as a Christian blogger to defend the Truth.  It is the responsibility of every single person who calls them self a Christian, to defend the Truth, no matter what the consequence.  May God give us strength.I have gone on to support Starbucks until this point, even though they've spoken their mind about this issue in the past but this is really a smack in the face.  I've never in my life heard a CEO of a major corporation so blatantly say, we don't want your business, not everything is economic.   Even Dan Cathy, who at that time was dubbed THE most unprofessional businessman in America, opened respectful conversations with gay supporters and made statements saying, he would serve every customer with the same level of respect and professionalism despite their personal beliefs.  Mr. Scholtz's business ethics are apparently quite different.As Christians, you and I should really rethink our support of these types of businesses.  We are called to love God above all.  How much more of this are we expected to take sitting down?   The question is will we have the courage to do it?  Will we choose God above political correctness or will we continue to choose our grande skinny caramel macchiato's?  When Mike Huckabee asked Christians to support Chick-fil-A and their biblical beliefs on August 1st, this nation was astounded by the way Christians pulled together and the impact that it made.  Why aren't we doing this now?  Why don't we do this with all things that go against what we believe?  Everyone else does!No one is saying we should do to Howard Schultz what they did to poor Mr. Dan Cathy after his statement.  We should not go around calling them names and making disgusting and foul jokes about him.  We should not tell our Christian communities to go to Starbucks and order only water so that gay customers have nowhere to sit.  We should not protest by standing next to Starbucks properties with our one man, one woman families.  For those of you that don't know, these are just a few of the things they did to Chick-fil-A back in August 2012.  D0ing any one of those things would make us as ignorant as them, and like my mother always says, two wrongs don't make a right.  But we should be brave enough to show these people what love really is.  Love for God and our Faith.  We should pray for these people every single day, the same way we pray for the correction of our own selves.   But we should also show them that our God is not mocked.  That we, as Christians, will stand behind Him and His law, no matter what. I think it's high time we Christians wake up and smell the coffee.  In this case, the non-Starbucks kind.