Social Oppression, Truth Suppression At Applebee’s. - Comments (1)

Category: Articles
Author: John Malone
Date: 14th August, 2015 @ 11:57:27 PM

Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness;

So, Village Inn closed down temporarily, and I suggested Applebee’s for after the Wednesday night Bible study. No free pie, but half-priced appetizers.

Two of my grandsons and their friend – ever the hungry teenagers – decided to go, too.

While we are chomping down cheeseburger sliders and boneless wings, the boys are ordering three full appetizers each across the restaurant.

There were two men in their mid-twenties – let’s call them Matt and Chris – seated at the table adjacent to my grandsons, and their friend. Let’s call him Jay.

Matt and Chris, speaking loudly enough to be easily overheard, were discussing what the boys thought were unsavory things. Jay decided to engage them about their comments.

One thing led to another, and Jay sat down to talk to Matt and Chris, mainly Chris. Jay took up the subject of the free gift of God of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Interestingly and importantly, he did not take up the subject of homosexual sin, a practice which both Matt and Chris had been discussing openly.

Chris became quite interested in his discussion with Jay, while Matt apparently listened with his back turned: at one point Matt said, “If God is coming back soon, I’m in trouble.” The waitress for both tables apparently took a hostile interest in the polite conversation between the two that was taking place. She found ways to “hang around” the tables. At one point, she asked the older fellows, Chris and Matt, if they were being bothered. They did not say they wee, probably to her chagrin.

At one point, Chris said to Jay, “You have a lot of courage speaking up as you are. Most people wouldn’t do it. I respect you for that.” Later, the waitress would claim that Chris had tears in his eyes. There is a later to this story.

The Manager at Applebee’s – let’s call him Manager Chris – came over to Jay and asked him to quit speaking to the other fellows. Jay asked him why, and told him no one had any complaint. Despite being a teenager, and Manager Chris being somewhere in his mid to late thirties, Jay said he felt he held authority in the exchange.

At that point, Chris and Matt decided to leave without dessert.

I learned of this incident later, when the boys cam to our table across the way, told us about it briefly, and went their way. The details I have described above I got later.

I only knew that the boys had been asked by Manager Chris to stop their discussion when I went to take the matter up with him in person. He came out, we shook hands, and when I began to ask him why he felt compelled to break up a conversation between two will customers, he said that Matt had come to him complaining that they were being bothered. I have reason today to doubt that ever happened. In fact, after reflecting on the vents I’v yet to describe, I’m pretty sure the “complaint” came from the waitress the boys generously tipped!

I conclude this today, because, as I was discussing why Manager Chris decided to do what he did, two waitresses decide to hover around our conversation, just as one of them decided to hover around the one jay was having.

And she just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “This is just gender discrimination!” she said angrily. I said, “Gender discrimination? How is that possible? They were all men?” Then she said something that, I guess, I am supposed to think about. “Two of those guys were homosexuals,” she said. So, apparently, to this generation of “Millennial,” there has become a proliferation of “genders.” No more can one treat a homosexual as a man, I suppose no longer can one treat a lesbian as a woman.

I answered her that she needed to believe on Jesus Christ. Somewhat to my surprise, as she nearly ran away, she threw back at me, “I do.” This could be, for no one is as much trouble as an apostate. No one.

And apparently, no longer can a manager at a chain restaurant regulate the rude conduct of his employees, but CAN regulate the polite conduct of his patrons.

I asked Chris if the subject matter of the conversation entered into his decision to break it up. He wouldn’t answer. He had such an obviously bad conscience, he almost couldn’t answer. I did tell him he would be judged by God Almighty for what he had done, and that i was pretty sure he knew that.

It was this very same employee, the waitress, who, while I was discussing this matter with Manager Chris, told her associate in the hearing of another patron, one of my friends, that “no matter what their attitude is, they (me and my table) need to get their #&%@ing %$#es out of here.”

I came back in to tell Manager Chris about this remark, and as I left, fielded insulting remarks from other employees.

I at once pity and am envious of what faces today’s youngest generation of Christians. On the one hand, they are facing persecution on every side, even as patrons in a restaurant.

On the other hand, there is this:

1st Peter 4:13-14
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you:on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

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