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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Some Christian organizations have declared boycotts of companies with anti-Christian policies. Starbucks, Amazon, Nike, and other corporations have been the target of such boycotts. Those calling f...
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Jeffrey Kranz
Supporter
Christians are not given a biblical mandate to boycott companies that support anti-Christian policies. We may boycott companies from pure motives, or even to preserve the conscience. But I don't think we should fool ourselves into thinking a boycott will accomplish much of spiritual significance beyond this. Here's three reasons I don't think Christian boycotts can (really) work: 1. We can’t stop people from spending money on sin (1 John 2:15–16). It's just how people are: no matter whom we're giving money to, they're going to spend some of it (or hoard it) in ways that do not glorify God. 2. Boycott logic doesn’t end anywhere we want to be. If the issue really is about someone else using “our” money on ungodly things, how can we buy from anyone? Unless we’re qualified to rank sins according to boycottability—and we’re not (James 2:10)—we’re in a rough spot. 3. Godly biblical figures traded with pagans. Solomon’s a good example, establishing trade with the surrounding (heathen) nations. Check out 2 Chronicles 1:14–17: "Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the lowland. Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s traders procured them from Kue for a price. They imported chariots from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver apiece and horses for 150 apiece, and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram." I don't believe boycotts are wrong; I just think they're spiritually ineffective. I wrote more on this issue here: http://jaysondbradley.com/2013/01/13/7-reasons-christian-boycotts-cannot-really-work/
Emo Tenorio
Supporter
As a Bible believing Christian my dollars and time go only toward organizations that promote the full Liberties paid for in precious blood. (1 Corinthians 7:23) I can not and will not support those who in anyway actively seek to limit those liberties or do any harm to the weakest souls among us in anyway. (Luke 12:21) I choose not to pay tithes or make offerings onto the secular altars of our oppressors, call me old fashioned.(Leviticus 17:7; Psalms 135:15; Mark 10:42) Consider there are those who willingly sell their souls everyday for the coins of this realm without much thought. Imagine the wonders and works we might see if the kingdom withheld their coins from the Babylonian market place.(Luke 16:8) In a semi free society, others are free to choose their own course of action as they may see fit.(Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25) In the Lord's freedom and liberties..............warrior on.
L.S. James
Supporter
What are anti-Christian policies? Is the biblical Law aka the Torah of Moses or the Mosaic Law anti-Christian? If Sabbath violations, slavery, abortion, divorce, homosexuality and the like are altogether anti-Christian policies, then pray tell, where do Christians begin to boycott? For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges.. (1 Cor 5: 12, 13). For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet 4: 17, 18) Should Christians likewise boycott ’Christian’ law firms that front Christian lawyers to tackle divorce and lawsuits among bible-believing Christians? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? (1 Cor 6:5-7). Should Christians boycott Christian gynecologists that perform abortions at their consecrated clinics? Should Christians boycott Christian companies that flout eco-friendly laws and manufacture products derived from animal testing? Should Christians boycott Hollywood as if the grand old dame is void of Judeo-Christian patronage? Should Christians boycott churches peddling a different gospel (2 Cor 11:4; Gal 1) that may altogether run like a money-spinning secular entity? Do we Christians speak from both ends of our mouths and contradict ourselves when we nail one vice if only to nurse another? Can we throw the baby out with the bathwater? Only the gullible will fall for that scheme hook, line and sinker. So, should Christians boycott companies that support anti-Christian policies? Irony of ironies, lest we shoot ourselves in the leg, it seems altogether absurd. The Jerusalem Council: Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they” (Acts 15:6-11). The Jerusalem Decree: For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well (Acts 15:28, 29). Thank God then for the present age of grace - while it lasts!
James Kraft
Supporter
What about the believers, John 3:18, that are working for those companies? What about people who invest in the stock market and do not know where their money is being invested? We can carry this so far that we will not do business with anyone. Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have been paying taxes for years to support abortion. But God says we should pay our taxes. On an individual basis we should not even eat with believers that are living in sin. Colossians 3:5-6: The wrath of God comes on the children of God, believers, who are living in sin. John 3:18: Believers can no longer be condemned to hell, but we can be chastened by the Lord and lose our rewards in heaven. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. We are all sinners to a degree, Romans 3:23. Romans 3:9-10. We can hate their sin, but we are to love sinners. Jesus died for sinners. Romans 3:23: For He is the just and the justifier of them that BELEIVE in Jesus. Where is boasting then? We have nothing to boast in as believers because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All, not some, but all. We can have practical righteousness, but only God can give us perfect righteousness. Romans 4:6 None of us are perfect. First John 1:8. So whether you boycott companies or not is up to you and your own conscience before God. But, remember you may be hurting those believers that work for that company. That brings up another question: Should believers work for companies that promote sin? First John 1:10: If we say we have no sin we call God a liar. There are no end to the questions we have that only pertain to the flesh, not the Spirit of God that lives in the believer. When you are in a burning building and the fireman comes into rescue you, do you ask him if he is a believer? Do you ask him if he has told a lie? Do you ask him if he is a homosexual? There is no end to the questions. We cannot even know whether a person has believed or not. You cannot see the Holy Spirit in another person. Ephesians 1:13-14. Romans 8:9. Without the Spirit there is no salvation. With the Spirit we have eternal life. The last company I worked for, for 26 years did have a question on their work application as to whether we believed Jesus was the savior. I answered it yes. That could have been used against me or for me depending on what the CEO of the company believed. The only relevant question is, do you know where you are going when you die? First John 5:13: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may KNOW YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. John 3:18.
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