Here are some more thoughts on the Chick-fil-a hullabaloo (“hullabaloo” is not as cool as “kerfuffle,” but it is still a fun word to use):

It is unfair, even wrong, that hate is equated with intolerance and intolerance is equated with a difference of opinion. Are not those who cry, “Intolerant!” of those who oppose homosexuality themselves intolerant? Besides it seems that tolerance is to be valued over all things. But is that correct? Is tolerance the highest value? Jesus says that it is not. Love is the highest value. And it is at this point that the liberal says, “Aha! Gotcha! If you won’t allow homosexuals to marry then you are intolerant, and if you are intolerant then you must hate homosexuals, and if you hate them then you certainly can’t love them. And even your Jesus said that love is the highest value.” But, again, is that correct? And with just a bit of reasonable thinking I would believe that even a liberal would have to say that it isn’t. You see, we all say “no” to people that we love. We especially know this is true as parents. Your young child reaches for a knife on the kitchen counter and you say “no,” which is the most loving thing we can say. Your fourth-grader wants to stay up all night on a school night and you say “no,” because that would be detrimental to efforts in school. You find your high schooler involved with drugs and you say “no,” because they will destroy his life.

The real issue is that nobody likes being told “no.” Nobody likes boundaries or limits or restrictions, because to cross those boundaries, to defy those limits, to break those restrictions, is to do something wrong and nobody wants to admit wrong. But if there is a God, then we are not free to do whatever we want to do. We are just not. Isaiah tells us that the clay doesn’t tell the potter what to do and what kind of pot he should make. And any worker of clay at a north Georgia pottery shop would agree! If we are a creature and if we have a Creator, then that Creator has the right to limit our lives and our behavior according to his desires and plans, according to his perfect designs. And that’s exactly what God has done. He has limited our behavior according to his perfect design for our lives. And homosexuality is outside of that perfect design. There is no hatred here; just a Creator being a creator.

And the Christian needs to be just as careful here. God not only says that homosexuality is wrong, he also says that cheating is wrong, that lying is wrong, that gossip is wrong. God says that self-righteousness is from the pit of Hell. He says that to love some but not love others is evil. God says that to respond in anger, to give a cold shoulder, to shave the truth in order to promote yourself is from Satan. God has no problem drawing lines in the sand and saying, “You cannot go past this point. If you do, you are going against my design and there will be consequences.” Anger over being given boundaries is in us as well.

You see, we don’t mind God as long as he doesn’t intrude in our world. As long as he stays in his place—create a nice environment, provide a pleasant life, etc.—then we can get along with him just fine. But as soon as he says “no,” we act like the spoiled brat that we really are.