Every time an angel appears in the Bible, the greeting is "Fear not!" or some variation thereof.
According to Mark (5:36), Jesus said, "Do not fear; only believe."
I bring this up because after having spent years standing up for fairness and civil rights, the Microsoft Corporation recently withdrew its support for a Washington State bill that would have made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
The measure failed by one vote.
Microsoft is denying that a prominent evangelical church in Redmond, Washington, exerted any influence on their decision.
That, however, is not how Dr. Ken Hutcherson of the Antioch Bible Church sees it.
Hutcherson met twice recently with Microsoft officials, where he threatened to boycott Microsoft products if they did not change their position. "After that," Hutcherson told the New York Times, "they backed off."
Hutcherson then added, "I told them I was going to give them something to be afraid of Christians about."
Excuse me?
Mine is not the God of Fear, but the God of Hope. I believe in a Gospel of love, not intimidation.
Dr. Hutcherson is well within his rights to choose not to patronize companies with policies he considers objectionable. He is within his rights to encourage others to do the same.
But his entire ministry is called into question if he thinks people should be afraid of Christians. Fear is a tool of Darkness, not of Light.
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4 comments:
At the rate you're going, I'm going to start wondering if there's anyone even remotely sane among the people supposedly in charge of the US ...
I would like to add, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
II Timothy 1:7
Do you suppose St Paul would have any objection to my adding hope to his list?
shame on microsoft. i only wish that someone would have bitch slapped that preacher and sent him running home. his congregation probably has one computer between them and nobody can figure out how to turn it on.
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