After years of using my articles for simple inspirational stories and thought-provoking Bible reminders, I'm going to do something risky this month. I'm not a guy who likes to poke the bear, and I'm aware that I may get a ton of grief over this, but I feel inspired by God's Spirit and compelled for some reason to this special effort.
I'm a pastor in the Assemblies of God missions movement. Two well-known businessmen, who are Assembly of God men like myself, have made national headlines for standing up for their "closely held religious beliefs." They have both been wildly criticized for doing what they thought was right. I'd like to point out a few observations about their cases and then explain in simple terms what many people cannot seem to understand.
Firstly is the case of the Green family and their uber craft store, Hobby Lobby. They recently won their argument in the Supreme Court that it is un-American for their company to be forced to pay for birth control, through their government-mandated insurance, that is abortifacient rather than conception-prevention in nature. Their "closely held religious belief" that life begins at conception is so meaningful to them that they risked their futures, and companies, to stand up for their perceived rights.
A second incident from a few years ago made big headlines. S. Truett Cathy is the founder and owner of the Chick-fil-A restaurants. He was provoked in an interview to answer a simple question about his "closely held religious beliefs." He was asked, "Do you believe it is a sin to practice homosexuality?" (Or something akin to that.) He simply told them it was his belief that the practice of homosexuality was a sin -- or otherwise stated, a behavior that is forbidden by God. The result was media pandemonium.
For those of you who cannot understand why these men act the way they do, there is a simple answer. These men have founded their lives and their businesses on a belief that I share: The Bible is the Word of God to humanity. They believe this unique book that was written by 40 different authors in three different languages over approximately 1,500 years was inspired by God's Holy Spirit, and is trustworthy as the foundation of faith and practice.
Both these companies are specially affected by their spiritually-inclined founders. Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A both pay their employees well above the minimum wage. Both retain their employees at a much higher rate than their industry competitors. Chick-fil-A closes on Sundays because of Mr. Cathy's closely held religious belief that "the Lord's day" should be a day of rest for his company's employees. In the restaurant world, this seems insane. He leaves hundreds of millions of dollars on the table every year because of it, but his employees are the happiest in the business.
I admire these businessmen's lives. I have chosen to be a "Bible guy." Everyone must choose for themselves what will be their sources for truth and guiding principles for action. In America we have the great freedom to choose our religious beliefs, and some of us have chosen to try to let a straightforward, honest reading of the Bible be the guiding force in our lives. We know that many people will not agree that this is the correct foundation for truth and practice, but thankfully our nation's forefathers died so that we could be free to make that choice.
I'm aware I'm opening myself up to being called bigot, narrow-minded, anachronistic, simple, hater and many other names because I put myself out here on the public stage. I don't feel like I'm any of those things, but I accept that I may be judged that way for my "closely held religious beliefs."
I'm aware my view that the Bible is God's inspired Word is a minority view in the religious world as well. My harshest criticism is most likely to come from my co-laborers, the pastors of other denominational Christian churches who don't share my views.
I write this article in the hope that perhaps I could influence some of you to leave room for those of us who are Bible folks. Our efforts to apply God's Word to our real lives are often imperfect, but most of us are trying the best we can, most of the time, to live biblically founded lives. We believe that loving people and living by biblical standards of what God allows and doesn't allow are not incompatible.
I hope America will leave room for us to lead our churches, organizations and companies with our core convictions intact. God will help us all to get along with each other through our disagreements if we let Him.
God bless you, and have a great day.
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Watson is pastor of the Bella Vista Assembly of God. The opinions expressed in this column don't necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.
Religion on 07/30/2014