A member of the congregation was told by a friend that she is not a true Christian because she shops at JC Pennys and Ellen DeGeneres is a spokesperson for that company.\u00a0\u00a0She was told that a true Christian should not support a company that hires a lesbian to be their spokesperson.\u00a0 The member stated she didn’t even know Ellen was the spokesperson, but if it’s true, should she boycott?\u00a0\u00a0Her question to me was how could you buy anything in this world if we had to research the background of every company?<\/p>\n\t
“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness.” If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake<\/em>” (I Corinthians 10:25-27).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A person shops at a clothing store to buy clothes. What the owners of that store do with their profits is their business. Shopping at JC Pennys is not a statement that shopper supports Ellen DeGeneres or her causes.<\/p>\n
Now if a store had a special event and said that profit from that day’s sales would go to a particular cause, that would be a different issue. That would be equivalent to going to someone’s house and the host makes a big deal out of how his meal is special because it came from an idol’s temple. “But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness.” “Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience? But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks? Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 10:28-31).<\/p>\n
Almost every company uses spokesmen who are engaged in sin, whether it is fornication, adultery, homosexuality, drugs, lying, etc. What is being done is a rating of sins. Homosexuality is being declared to be a worse sin than fornication, but both are sexual sins and are equally corrupting to the people engaged in them and to society.<\/p>\n
People have a strong tendency to make rules for others that God never made. That was the fault of the Pharisees. It is a sin to make restrictions where God did not make restrictions. “Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar<\/em>” (Proverbs 30:6).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: A member of the congregation was told by a friend that she is not a true Christian because she shops at JC Pennys and Ellen DeGeneres is a spokesperson for that company.\u00a0\u00a0She was told that a true Christian should not support a company that hires a lesbian to be their spokesperson.\u00a0 The member stated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1305,353,38],"class_list":["post-32469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-guilt-by-association","tag-influence","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-treat-our-daughter-who-says-she-is-now-a-homosexual\/","url_meta":{"origin":32469,"position":0},"title":"How do we treat our daughter who says she is now a homosexual?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How are we to treat a homosexual person?\u00a0 She is our daughter.\u00a0 This has never happened in our families before.\u00a0 We are so hurt by this.\u00a0 She was raised in a Christian home.\u00a0 We want her to come to her senses and live the way God wants her to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24847,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-do-you-draw-the-line-with-sinful-relatives\/","url_meta":{"origin":32469,"position":1},"title":"Where do you draw the line with sinful relatives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband has a relative that is a practicing Wiccan doing witchcraft and 'spells' and always wears her 'Wiccan necklace' that she's proud of. She was raised to know about Jesus and God. But in her early teens, she got caught up in witchcraft. My husband's question is: is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39022,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-far-should-i-go-in-helping-a-family-living-in-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":32469,"position":2},"title":"How far should I go in helping a family living in sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My father-in-law is in poor health and is moving up here with us so we can help take care of him, and he can spend some time with his grandchildren during his remaining time here. Unfortunately, he's not a Christian. He was originally going to move in with us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31215,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-wife-asked-me-if-i-thought-about-cheating-on-her-i-didnt-handle-it-well-what-should-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":32469,"position":3},"title":"My wife asked me if I thought about cheating on her. I didn’t handle it well. What should I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a fairly new Christian. My wife asked me if I'd thought about cheating on her.\u00a0 I had sadly committed adultery at heart, but I told her I hadn't thought about it.\u00a0 I had lied.\u00a0 I have repented of this, and am on constant guard to keep those thoughts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-handle-being-engaged-to-a-member-of-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":32469,"position":4},"title":"How do I handle being engaged to a member of a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I need your advice on my personal life. I am a born-again, baptized Christian. But I backslid for about two years. In those years, I got engaged to an unbeliever. Now I'm trying to return to Christ, and I'm not sure what to do. She is from an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36569,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christian-be-friends-with-an-atheist\/","url_meta":{"origin":32469,"position":5},"title":"Can a Christian be friends with an atheist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day sir, I am a woman. I have a friend who has morals and beliefs similar to mine. She is a focused, good person. I have known her for about six months now and, though it's not long, I feel she is someone I would want to remain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}