The difference between what make the news, and what makes a difference.
This is the ad that made Franklin Graham move all the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) money out of Wells Fargo Bank. Franklin called for a boycott on Wells Fargo for this horrible and awful display of kindness, love, and amazing grace. Because Wells Fargo "advocates" the gay lifestyle he is bouncing, and suggests all of us "good Christians" do the same. Ironically, Franklin's new bank, BB&T, sponsored the Miami Beach Gay Pride fundraiser. But that's a big difference according to Franklin. He's reasoning for doing this was at best, confusing and honestly exposes how out of touch he is with what "friendship" really means. Franklin stated, "In our view, Wells Fargo went beyond being "gay-friendly" to being a "public advocate." He goes on to explain that we should all be "gay-friendly" as good Christians, just never be an "advocate" for the gay community. I guess the part about Jesus being our advocate to God for us doesn't apply to the LGBT community. After all, God loves us all right? (wink, wink) ... not so fast gay people!
Come on guys and gals?! I'm sorry, but in my heart, being a real "friend" means you MUST be an "advocate" for those you call friend. Ever have a "friend" bail on you, or abandon you when you needed them most? It shows what? That's right, just like mama used to say... then they were never your friend in the first place. If you don't believe in the gay lifestyle then don't practice the gay lifestyle. See, it's simple. But that doesn't mean you can't support their right to a life of their choosing. Even God refuses to mess with our free will. So why do we try to impose what even God won't? Do we know better than God? Yikes! Yes, I think some of us do. And that's really messed up, my friends.
Look, at some point, the Christian church is going to need to dust off the old practices of a guy named Jesus, and simply start loving and caring for people where they are at. The church is going to have to stop trying to shove its own beliefs (many which oppose each other) down the rest of the world's throat. The church needs to stop trying to legislate and demand its own ideas of morality and return to simply loving, showing kindness, holding a non-judgmental stance, and being an advocate for those who are being attacked even if it means standing up to those within our own faith. If we don't change, the church is going to see silly behavior like this happen more and more, and the church will slide further into more irrelevance than we are already in. And we are VERY irrelevant already.
By the way, it's estimated that BGEA moved over 100 million dollars. Wells Fargo has a worth of 1.48 Trillion, so that 100 million is cute at best. This looks to most like a PR move to get in the news. It worked gut it's not the PR that brings hope. The ad at the center of this does a much better job of that.
And in other news, the Christian church became just a bit more irrelevant this week.
I opened a bank account at Wells Fargo today for all of my kids. I started them off by depositing 100 in each account. I'm going to explain to them this weekend what happened with Franklin Graham, and tell them that it's an account to be used only to be an advocate for their friends and people who need a hand. I hope they use it all of their days.
I really wish we would stop trying to rule people, and get back to loving them instead.