Chik-Fil-A vs. Culture

By Steve Schmutzer

Let me state right off the bat that I’m not a big fan of Chik-Fil-A. It’s nothing personal; I just don’t care much for chicken sandwiches.

But I am impressed with Chik-Fil-A’s “chutzpah” these days. Their staunch defense of family values and traditional marriage lands squarely within proper biblical definitions. Predictably, they seem to earn a regular frenzy of media wailing and public criticism. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (no standard-bearer of scriptural virtues) once summed up the opposition’s view by saying, “Chick-Fil-A values are not Chicago values.” Yep, I knew it.

Why am I not surprised? Simply put, it’s the Bible here that is under attack. I expect that. I see more attacks on the Bible today than I saw yesterday, and I will see more tomorrow than I do today. If your choices are defined by the righteous standards of the Word of God, you are part of a shrinking population. It used to be that most of our culture interpreted right and wrong the way the Scriptures did. Those days are gone for good. 

While many Christian leaders get all worked up over Chik-Fil-A’s regular scraps with the   press, even declaring a “Chik-Fil-A Day” here and there to lend some support (“Go git yerself  a ‘sammich.’”), it’s really just the latest version of we-don’t-like-the-movie-so-we’re-going-to-boycott-it. 

While publicly urging support for a company because you approve of it, or publicly withholding support for a company because you disapprove of it, makes for interesting financial reports for said business, but it doesn’t do a whole lot to change lives.

And that is precisely why the Bible is under attack—it changes lives! If it is properly studied, properly understood, and properly applied, it changes lives now and for all eternity. It shows what is right and it shows what is wrong. There is an absolute standard no matter how much our culture tries to prove there is not. The devil knows this better than most, and he’s doing just about everything he can to roll out the red carpet over the way that is broad. 

That’s why I cringe when so-called “Christians” join with the voice of mainstream media and challenge the proper interpretation of the Bible. I have read several “Christian” blogs recently where it was argued that plain passages in the Bible about marriage and relationships do not mean what they are clearly saying. The Church doesn’t need enemies when it has “friends”  like these. 

I’ve continued to maintain that one of the reasons the world will not believe the Rapture has actually taken place when it does, is because so many “Christians” will still be found in the churches they had always attended. I believe this fact will further feed the unprecedented deception of that time. The circumstances of those who are left behind will be used to argue that the Bible does not really mean what it says.

We live at a time when the pressures to abandon a life of faith are incredibly strong.  It is incumbent upon each child of God to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Another translation states we need to “correctly explain” what God has chosen to reveal to us. I believe God wants us to get it right. Our comfort, our hope, and His glory is at stake. God does not waste words.

For whatever it is worth, I hear Chik-Fil-A’s sales always enjoy a pretty good bump when they tangle with the press. I have a friend who bought 8 “sammiche”’ at Chik-Fil-A the other day, and he hardly ever eats there. Good for him! And good for them. Really, I mean that. Just give me a pastrami on rye, please.

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