Target Bathrooms & One Mad Mom

This one has shown up on my personal Facebook wall a couple of times over this long weekend with comments like “Great article!” and “Well thought through!”  I couldn’t disagree more.  Clearly, the preacher’s wife is not the activist type and misunderstands the goals of her fellow Christian homies who do believe in boycotts.  I’m sure she’s a nice lady, and she’s sarcastic, so I’d probably like her a lot, but I just think her comments on boycotts, WWJD, lukewarmness, and what “loving” means are totally wrong.

Please give it a read:  http://www.ministryinthemommyhood.com/target-bathrooms-and-the-straight-conservative-preachers-wife/

For those of us who have different experiences and ideas, hope this is cathartic.

Target Bathrooms and the Straight, Conservative Preacher’s Wife

by Jaci Lambert on April 26, 2016 in Ministry, Mommyhood

First of all, my need to write a blog to address an issue as stupid as Target and it’s bathroom policy proves exactly two things:

1. This country is absurd.

AND

2. We all get our panties and underpants and gender-neutral underclothings in such tight-wound wads that it’s a wonder any of us can even breathe.

Mrs. Lambert, some things, like our children’s innocence and safety are worth getting our knickers into a bunch.  It’s kind of biblical:

Matthew 18:6-7

And if anyone hurts the conscience of one of these little ones, that believe in me, he had better have been drowned in the depths of the sea, with a mill-stone hung about his neck. 7 Woe to the world, for the hurt done to consciences! It must needs be that such hurt should come, but woe to the man through whom it comes!

My guess is that standing by and watching it happen without fighting back is probably not such a good thing in the eyes of God.

<Snipping things that don’t have much to do with her case against the boycott.  Feel free to follow the link above for the full post.>

The backstory as I understand it: Target has come out and said that they are now going to allow people to go into whatever bathroom they “gender identify” with.  So if a man identifies as a woman, he is now welcome to use the women’s restroom and dressing rooms.  If a woman identifies as a man, she is now welcome to use the men’s restroom and dressing rooms.  And the whole country has lost their minds about it.  I understand.  There’s great concern from both sides.  The left feels the need to protect the transgendered community, and the right feels the need to protect their values. They have great concern for the safety of their children were perverts and pedophiles to take advantage of this new policy.  So in response, the conservative right has started a movement to boycott Target and the liberal left is living in renewed determination to hate the “homophobic Christian community.”

Fairly accurate, with the exception that Target doesn’t see a problem with anyone “taking advantage.”  As video after video has shown, men clearly being men have asked managers and employees if they may use the women’s restroom, and they have been told, “No problem!”  This was never really a “transgender” move.  And, by the way, not all liberals or even transgendered people think it a great move.  It’s usually the ones that have children.  Sometimes, even for liberals, there’s a bridge too far.

As the Target statements show, they want everyone to be treated equally.  They don’t care if the person has evil intentions or not.  They certainly don’t care about the innocence of children.  They want us all to be equal.  We are not.  Men and women are very, very different.  Remember when we were told we must celebrate diversity?  Now we’re all supposed to be exactly the same and just accept that our bathrooms look like a scene from the new Battlestar Galactica where we’ve all been reduced to being animals.  I mean, if nobody judges the female and male dogs defecating on the same lawn, why should we care if human men and women do it?  Oh yeah, because God gave us reason and a conscience. We’re not animals.  Huh!  Imagine that.

Since we have established the basics of the boycott, let me tell you why this straight, conservative preacher’s wife and mother of four young girls is still going to shop at Target:

Target is not any more liberal this week than it was a month ago.  Target has ALWAYS been a liberal company and if Christians took even 5 minutes to do a Google search (except if you’re boycotting liberal companies, you’ll have to use a different search engine because hello Lefty-Liberalton!) they would find this to be true.  Target has NEVER claimed to be a conservative, Bible-believing company.  Because they aren’t.  They hold hands with Starbucks, another flamingly liberal company whose CEO takes a yearly vacation solely on the dollars he earns from the coffee addiction of my very own preacher husband.

And this is where her argument starts to derail.  First of all, we’re not naïve, thanks.  This is not my first go around with the Dayton Hudson Corporation.  In fact, I probably know a lot more about their liberal leanings, because I and my pro-life clan used to fire off letters to them (back when letters were done on paper with a pen and a stamp was needed).  Does Mrs. Lambert know who the heck the Dayton Hudson Corporation was? Does she know that they stopped giving to Planned Parenthood after the boycott caught on? (And that was loooonnnnngggg before the internet made a boycott pretty darn speedy.)  So, let me clear it up.  Dayton Hudson was the founding company of Target, Mervyn’s, and a few others.  In 2000, a rebranding was done and the Target Corporation appeared.

If I was willing to spend my (errrr…husband’s) hard-earned dollars at Target a month ago (when their bathroom policy was exactly the same) then there doesn’t seem to be much reason to withhold those dollars now.  *Also note the HUNDREDS of other LGBT supportive companies Christians should be withholding business from if they’re really serious about all this boycotting jazz, including, but not limited to: Amazon, Apple, AT&T, CVS, Disney, Ebay, Facebook (say WHA?!?), Microsoft, Nike, Office Depot, Pandora, Twitter, Visa…just to name a few.

Really, Mrs. Lambert, you don’t think there’s a difference?  I really didn’t care when they took down the pink and blue aisles.  Children wouldn’t notice.  I didn’t have a problem with them making some gender neutral room décor for children, because, whatever their intention, it doesn’t really fall into the evil category.  Tents with aqua coloring are hardly an affront to God or would hurt the innocence of a child (what child wouldn’t like a tent???).  However, there’s a HUGE difference between these things and a man walking in to the restroom or changing room where my child is disrobing to some degree or another.  Granted, the Target we used to shop in has unisex dressing rooms with doors and walls that are really high and go down to the floor.  I’m fine with that.  Anyone wanting to take a peep at me or my child would have to be Spider Man to achieve it.  They built them with that added protection precisely because they were unisex dressing rooms.  But the bathrooms? Much different story.  Maybe Mrs. Lambert thinks all Targets have a “family bathroom” or single stall/sink combo like, say, most Starbucks.  Nope.  It’s men’s or women’s.

And, another thing, just for the record, I do boycott whoever is trying to shove their liberal crud down my throat.  So, yes, I boycott many, including Starbucks, because it’s a minor inconvenience I can give up to tell them to knock it off.  My gosh.  I mean, I really can forgo a mocha to stand up for decency.  Plus, in the case of Starbucks, their coffee is awful and I take my business to Peet’s (that’s awesome coffee for all of those outside of Northern California and a few places in Southern California.)  I’m sure they’re a completely liberal company (born in Berzerkeley) and the owners may give to some nasty organizations, but quite frankly, they don’t try to shove it down my throat by corporately taking a stance on controversial topics or corporately giving my money to controversial organizations.  Their big charity is clean water for third world countries, which is totally awesome and isn’t offensive to the decency of anyone.

I am a supporter of the Hobby Lobbys and the Chick-Fil-As and the Christian bakeries and all the other companies that want the freedom to stand up for what they believe in.  I think it is W.R.O.N.G. when they are forced to either close or comply for maintaining their values.  That being said, it seems a bit hypocritical not to allow other companies (Target, in this case) to do the exact same thing.  We can’t have our cake and eat it too…especially if the Christian bakeries all close.

Um, we’re not suing Target because they disagree with our beliefs.  We’re taking our business elsewhere.  If someone opposes what Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A does, let them take their business elsewhere too. It wouldn’t bother me a bit!  Put your money where your mouth is.  It’s called free will and religious liberty.  The company can either cater to their base or choose to follow their own beliefs.  Either way, there are consequences to taking a stand on your beliefs.  Deal.  Christ did.  Should we do no less?  Not one Christian would have whined if the “Christian bakers” had simply been boycotted.  Why?  Because Christians tend to be (and should be) less whiny.  We’ve pretty much been promised that the world will hate us.  However, it’s a whole other thing when our country’s judicial system gets involved in our sue-happy little world.  Then our religious freedom goes bye-bye.

Target offers a family restroom for our family convenience that we tend to frequent.  Why? Because there are a bunch of us and when everyone has to pee, it’s easiest for this mommy to keep them confined in one small room, with a lock on the door, where no one can escape.  This is still an excellent option to be utilized, but there are others.

Like I said, we don’t all have that.  And, many liberals simply don’t want that.  Their insane goal is to make us all equals, remember?  We couldn’t possibly make a person feel bad by making them use a unisex bathroom where they can’t mingle (because, you know, that’s what bathrooms are for)! Unless, of course, they are a Christian.  You can make them feel as horrible as you like.  Always remember, Christians are horrible, awful, phobic people.

We can pee before we come, we can pee when we leave or we can pee in our pants if we’re that terrified of what we might find behind the restroom door.

Funny thing you say “terrified.”  You probably haven’t seen this: http://bit.ly/1OQVATc  Yep, there are  .3% (that’s point three percent) of people who are considered “transgendered” (remember when that only applied to those who had taken surgical steps to try and alter their sex?) and just about 20% of women have been raped, according to the CDC.  But, yeah, Target has chosen to stand with the super small minority and burden rape victims just a little more.  Bravo!

I am capable of accompanying my children to the main restroom if the family restroom isn’t available. I would like to pretend that I am an amazing mommy who ALWAYS goes to the restroom with her children 100% of the time, but in all reality there are 4 of them so we have been known to do the buddy system, and Mommy continues to shop.

I really can’t remember where she lives, but I live in California, the land of the sick and depraved.  The buddy system (which I have to employ with my boys, although I guess I wouldn’t have to anymore.  I can just stand right next to the guy using the urinal and wait. Sigh!) ain’t going to allow me any sanity to continue to shop. It’s “send them in and make sure the guys entering know mom is right there.”

However, I will now simply accompany my kids into the main restroom when we’re at Target because IF they ever come across a transgender person in the women’s restroom, they might be confused.  And let’s be honest, they might be a little scared.  But if Target’s bathroom policy works as it’s intended to, they probably will never know the physical gender of the person washing their hands at the sink next to them.  (Please Note: I am NOT in support of every Tom, Dick and Harry waltzing their way into the women’s restroom just because they FEEEEEL like it.  I assure you that if I have even the slightest check that something is amiss or that the person in the restroom is there to do anything other than empty their bladder or touch up their lipstick, the police will be my new BFF.)

You’re not seeing the problem.  You can’t stop it.  You just said you send them by themselves sometimes.  It only takes once for something to go awry, and the “Transgender Bathroom Policy” just made it oh so much easier for those with ill intent to accomplish their goal.  I mean, a girl was just raped in the bathroom on my kid’s college campus not too long back.  Quite frankly, it happens way too often.  Yeah, nobody saw the man go in there, but you don’t think it’s going to happen more and more when there’s no reason to question why a guy is in the women’s room?  Talk about naive.  It’s all fun and games until it happens to you or your family.

Transgender people have never hurt my children.  But believe it or not, a whole bunch of church people have.  (Oh, yes, I said that.  Hand slap.  See how that honesty bit gets me in trouble?)  What does that mean?  It means that ANYONE is capable of hurting my children.  ANY.ONE.  And it’s my job to keep them safe.  In the restroom, in the parking lot, everywhere.  But what if they did see a transgender person in the restroom?  Would the world really end?  No.  Because I would then have the opportunity to explain to my children, who don’t have any choice but to grow up in this messy world, that there are some people who feel like they are different and like they don’t belong anywhere.  We could talk about what Jesus would do and how He would expect us to love them and how we would feel if we didn’t belong anywhere.

Let’s just go back to the innocence issue again. Yes, the whole transgender issue has already hurt your children, and the “gay marriage” issue before that, and no fault divorce, birth control,  etc., etc., etc.  The kids in our country have consistently been hurt. Yeah, bad things are going to happen and innocence will be lost at some point, but our main job as parents is to fight like hell so that doesn’t happen.  That’s kind of what’s wrong with this country.  We (the royal we) have just written it off as “Well, that’s the world for you!” rather than trying to take our world back for God.  Did the saints really just throw their hands up and say “Nothing we can do!”  Yeah, not so much.  I would think the least we could do for the children of our country is to skip shopping at Target’s Dollar Aisle until they come to their senses.

The perverts and the pedophiles don’t care about Target’s policy.  Sure it’s one less obstacle in their way, but you really think a store policy is going to keep them from what they desire?  Probably not.  They can find children unattended in all kinds of places (including the Target toy department, if we’re being honest.)  And right now, they’d be stupid to step foot in a Target restroom while everybody is up in arms.

They’ve already used this issue to step into the women’s restroom, honey!  Turn on the news.  Yes, this does make it a whole lot easier.  I don’t just care if they get caught, I care that people never become victims in the first place.  Like I said, it’s all fun and games until it happens to you and your family.  And again, it’s about preserving innocence in some place that’s supposed to be private.

But if they do, if the perverts and pedophiles decide to hang out in the women’s restroom, Target will have Hell to pay for their decision.  That’s on them.

Yeah, sorry, you don’t get to wash your hands of this because the dollar aisle is appealing.  If you sit and do nothing, it is most certainly also on you.  Please think about that from now on when you see a story about some sort of pervert.  The very fact that you’re saying “No big deal!” and that people are somehow hypocritical for boycotting is helping Target’s cause to further the LGBT agenda, which is, frankly, quite uncharitable to the LGTB crew as well as to the innocent.  Your fingerprints are all over every crime that has been or will be committed.  God’s not just going to ask us what we did.  He’s also going to ask us what we didn’t do.  Know how I know that?

Ezekiel 3:18-21

18 When I threaten I the sinner with doom of death, it is for thee to give him word, and warn him, as he loves his life, to have done with sinning. If not, he shall die as he deserves, but for his undoing thyself shalt be called to account. 19 If thou warn him, and leave his rebellious sinning he will not, die he shall as he deserves, and thou go free. 20 Or if the upright man leaves his innocence, and I take him unawares in his wrong-doing, dies he for want of warning? Die he shall, his good deeds all forgotten, but thou for his undoing shalt be called to account. 21 Thine to warn the upright man against the marring of his innocence; and he, sin avoiding, shall owe his life to thy remonstrance; thy duty is done.

Mrs. Lambert suggests:

Women and children need to be paying attention to their surroundings just like when they’re at the park and when they’re at the grocery store after 10pm and when they’re at church (shoot, I can’t even help myself).  Pay attention to your surroundings because perverts and pedophiles like other places besides Target.

Again, duh.  My kids are armed in some fashion.  I’ve told them on more than one occasion, “Don’t be a victim!”  While I worry about them becoming physical victims, I also worry about them becoming spiritual victims of the society in which we live.  You’re seeing things in only one dimension.  Once a child’s innocence has been stolen, there’s no going back.  Sadly, it’s happening earlier and earlier these days.

THE BIG ONE: This boycott is doing more damage to the Christian cause than it’s helping.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe in standing up for our rights and in what we believe in.  But this isn’t a “right.”  This is a privately owned company setting a policy in place.  They are free to do that in America.  Whether we agree with it or not.  And we are free to take our business elsewhere.  But with a public temper tantrum?  For the sake of what?  Of proving a point?

As I’ve already pointed out, some boycotts do work.  It’s not about a public temper tantrum, unless you consider the Revolutionary War a temper tantrum.  How about not being so darn condescending?  If you’re going to go down this route, you should just take a seat every time someone does something immoral.  Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.  If you do, how is it that you feel free to judge anyone else for taking a stand?  If you don’t, well then, you missed more than one part of the life of Christ and the Apostles.

Don’t you see that the other side, the side that doesn’t know Jesus, the side that looks to Christians as the hands and feet of a Savior, don’t you understand that all they see is fighting?  Is hatred?

Don’t you see Christianity in this country is slipping away because too many Christians have just become complacent?  Did you miss the part in the bible about Christ and the money changers?  How about His talk of millstones? How about the command to shake the dust? (Maybe you didn’t know it, but that was an insult to the culture they were in.  Shaking shoes in that part of the world is a big insult.) Yeah, Our Savior spoke out against sin, protected the weak, and never said “It’s enough to be nice!”

I understand both sides.  I really do. But do you really think this boycott is going to grow your church next Sunday.  Do you think this display of “Jesus” is going to make the lost think “Oh yes, I want what they have.  They are such a loving bunch.”  I don’t think so.

I’m not really sure that you do understand my side.  In fact, I’m quite sure you do not.  So, does this mean your husband should never stand with the Truth because it’s going to hurt attendance?  You know what kills the Church?  Lukewarmness.

Maybe continuing to shop at Target isn’t about laying down to the left but about responding differently to those who are different.  Instead of a boycott couldn’t they know us by our love?

Love doesn’t mean rubber stamping evil to be nice.  That is a very false notion.  Like I said, this isn’t the loving move for the LGBT community nor the innocent.  You perceive a boycott as unloving, but maybe it’s unloving to keep supporting bad policy.

Wouldn’t that be a different, BETTER way to handle this situation, an unexpected response?  Wouldn’t responding in love turn the head of the critic?  Wouldn’t there be a better chance that he might say, “Oh.  They aren’t throwing stones at me.  Maybe they do have something different to offer.”

Please, please, please watch the video I posted above.  Watch it all the way until the end when the man who is “transgendered” says this is a bad policy.  He is a parent.  Like I said, liberals can be a bit different when it comes to their children.  Wouldn’t the best thing to say be the truth?  “We love you, but we believe that this is a bad policy for women and children, and it’s not great for you either.  God created you with full knowledge of your inner self, and He doesn’t make mistakes.  You cannot separate your soul and your sex.”  Why is it people don’t believe you can speak the truth and still be loving?

Jesus specifically said in John 13 that “they” would know we were His by our love for each other.  You don’t really think He intended that we exclude “them” from that love, do you?  He never said they would know us by our boycotts, by your stubborn stance for policy and procedure.  Somehow that sounds a whole lot like the Pharisees He fought against, not the messy people with whom he purposely spent His time. And I just really think that if He were here, if Jesus were walking the Earth today, He would be standing outside that Target bathroom…not to freak your children out…but to tell that transgender teen who is so confused and alone that He loves him, that He died for him, that He has more to offer him than anything he will find here on Earth.  I think He would much rather be inside Target with people who are broken and messy than outside of Target signing petitions to make the outcast feel a little more shunned.  Also, with all the Christians gone, it seems like Target might just be the best mission field in all of Suburbia.

But what do I know.  I’m just a straight, conservative preacher’s wife.

Sigh. Remember, again, Christ and the money changers and the millstones?  Can you not see the difference between how Christ treated the sinful but contrite, and how he treated the Pharisees and money changers?  It’s a tired canard to compare Pharisees to Christians speaking out.  Christ NEVER said you cannot judge.  He said not to be a hypocrite and to take the plank out of your own eye FIRST! So, Mrs. Lambert, I think I need to point out that you’re judging when you judge others for judging.  LOL!  Yes, we can judge, and no, Christ likely wouldn’t have a problem with us standing against evil.  In fact, it’s biblical to do so:

Psalm 94:14-16

For the Lord will not cast off his people: neither will he forsake his own inheritance  For judgment shall return unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who shall rise up for me against the evildoers? or who shall stand with me against the workers of iniquity?

Ephesians 6:11-20

11 You must wear all the weapons in God’s armoury, if you would find strength to resist the cunning of the devil. 12 It is not against flesh and blood that we enter the lists; we have to do with princedoms and powers, with those who have mastery of the world in these dark days, with malign influences in an order higher than ours. 13 Take up all God’s armour, then; so you will be able to stand your ground when the evil time comes, and be found still on your feet, when all the task is over. 14 Stand fast, your loins girt with truth, the breastplate of justice fitted on, 15 and your feet shod in readiness to publish the gospel of peace.[1] 16 With all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fire-tipped arrows of your wicked enemy; 17 make the helmet of salvation your own, and the sword of the spirit, God’s word.[2] 18 Use every kind of prayer and supplication; pray at all times in the spirit;[3] keep awake to that end with all perseverance; offer your supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray for me too, that I may be given words to speak my mind boldly, in making known the gospel revelation, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may have boldness to speak as I ought

Ephesians 5: 11-13

11 As for the thankless deeds men do in the dark, you must not take any part in them; rather, your conduct must be a rebuke to them; 12 their secret actions are too shameful even to bear speaking of. 13 It is the light that rebukes such things and shews them up for what they are; only light shews up.

Titus 1: 9-11

9 He must hold firmly to the truths which have tradition for their warrant; able, therefore, to encourage sound doctrine, and to shew the wayward their error. 10 There are many rebellious spirits abroad, who talk of their own fantasies and lead men’s minds astray; those especially who hold by circumcision; 11 and they must be silenced. They will bring ruin on entire households by false teaching, with an eye to their own base profits.

Matthew 12: 34

34 Brood of vipers, how could you speak to good effect, wicked as you are? It is from the heart’s overflow that the mouth speaks; 35 a good man utters good words from his store of goodness, the wicked man, from his store of wickedness, can utter nothing but what is evil. (Here’s a perfect example of “WWJD?”)

Acts 13:9-10

9 Then Saul, whose other name is Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,[2] 10 and said; Child of the devil, versed in all trickery and cunning, enemy of all honest dealing, wilt thou never have done with trying to twist the straight paths of the Lord? (A warm hug from Paul!)

1 Corinthians 5: 1-3

1 Why, there are reports of incontinence among you, and such incontinence as is not practised even among the heathen; a man taking to himself his father’s wife. 2 And you, it seems, have been contumacious over it, instead of deploring it, and expelling the man who has been guilty of such a deed from your company. 3 For myself, though I am not with you in person, I am with you in spirit; and, so present with you, I have already passed sentence on the man who has acted thus.

Galatians 2:11

11 Afterwards, when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him openly; he stood self-condemned.

And the final words from the preacher’s wife:

*A Final Note: Everyone, let’s keep open minds.  I wish we could all step back and take a moment to walk in someone else’s shoes.  But for real.  Both sides need to set their stubborn pride down and breathe.  This is the reason Lamaze was even created.

I’m starting to feel like she thinks we’re all about twelve.

To the left: please listen to yourselves.  You throw out the word “tolerance” like it is your love child, conceived and birthed in some spectacular fashion.  You carry it around like your trophy, your greatest contribution, but as soon as someone voices a differing belief (most notably for religious reasons) you turn around and use your tolerance trophy to bludgeon them into a bloody pulp.  Then your stance for tolerance is no longer credible.  Because you can’t demand tolerance and never truly offer it in return.  It’s not tolerance if you always agree with those you tolerate.

Tolerance is completely over-rated.  We’re supposed to tolerate an annoyance, not sin. Maybe you should give https://onemadmomblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/15/buddy-jesus-is-not-your-buddy/ a good read.

To the right: I know you’re freaking out.  I know you don’t feel heard.  I can hear every single one of your arguments running through my head like a broken record.  I live in your world and I agree with many of your things.  But please be careful.  You’re allowed to stand up for yourselves, but watch the attitude in which you do it. I know some of the left can be abusive to you and what you believe, but don’t return abuse with abuse.

Uh, hang standing up for ourselves?!?  See what I mean about you not quite getting it?  I’m a Catholic.  We’re a Church of martyrs, but we don’t run around yelling “I’m a martyr!  I’m a martyr!”  Like I said, we know how the world will treat us and expect it .  Now, that doesn’t mean we simply sit on our hands as has been shown above.  We are to stand up for the weak, innocent, morality, decency and the laws of God!  THIS is what this is about.

I had a Christian, someone I actually know, call into question the salvation of people who continue to shop at Target.  Legitimately.  And I quote, “if you’re really a born again Christian you will not even cast your shadow on their front door.”

Psh, girlfriend!  People say all sorts of silly things.  No need to put down the whole lot of Christians as over-reacting because someone made a judgment call out of their purview.  It’s a red-herring to the Target boycott situation.

 And 27 people just went to Hell because after reading that they don’t want your Christ.  They don’t want Him if this is how He treats people.  So PLEASE!!!!!!  This is about more than being right or wrong!!!!

Yes. It. Is.

This is about how we handle ourselves!  This is about REAL LIVING PEOPLE IN NEED OF THE JESUS THAT WE KNOW (or say we know).  All I’m asking is that you show kindness when making your decision.  I don’t care one way or another if you ever step foot through the doors of Target again, but for the love of all that is holy (seriously) PLEASE be kind.  And offer mercy.  And grace.  And love.  That is not the same thing as having your beliefs trampled on.  Just walk it out in love.  REALLY step back and ask yourself how you think Jesus would handle this whole thing.  And then walk accordingly.  But remember who you represent, because that includes me.  And I know too many people who are too important to lose over something as eternally insignificant as Target and their bathroom policy.

This, of course, is what I think is the underlying problem with this whole piece.  Mrs. Lambert thinks that showing people love and mercy simply means being pleasant.  I don’t even think she really means it, but this has been the running thread of this post.  There’s so much more to it than that. It’s about truth. Sometimes it means being tough.  Sometimes it means fighting like hell.  As I regularly say, I don’t go with pleasant or tolerant when my child is about to touch a hot stove.  Am I not loving when I scream at my child in an effort to keep him/her from harm?  Of course I am.  I’m totally willing to sacrifice pleasantries to protect him/her.  Maybe, just maybe, the “transgendered community” might actually pause to ask themselves why Christians feel so strongly about it.  Regardless, innocence gets the priority.  If you’re willing to go the tolerant route to the deficit of the innocent, can’t really help you.  America is standing right in front of a big, hot stove and is about to put their collective hands on the burner.  I’m going to make a bit of a fuss and I would hope my fellow Christians would do likewise!

I’ll leave you with this final thought:

Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. ~G.K. Chesterton