Be holy in all your behavior. 1 Peter 1:15
Every action contributes to culture. While we passionately and deliberately vote every few years, the accumulation of our thousands of smaller actions ultimately contribute more to shape our culture and our country. Our economic actions have far greater impact on our culture than does our biannual votes. And the results of those actions? In general, conservatives are losing American culture. Related, although I don’t know whether Christians had ever “won” American culture, cultural respect for and deference to Judeo-Christian morality wanes in the U.S. While diligent in how we vote, Christians and conservatives, myself included, have been far less conscientious in our daily purchasing decisions than we have been in our infrequent political votes.
To promote his apparently strong beliefs favoring gay marriage, Amazon.com boss Jeff Bezos donated $2.5 million dollars to promote gay marriage in his State of Washington. Hurrah for Bezos coming out strongly in support of his beliefs. I have strong beliefs also, premised in God’s revealed word, as taught in the Bible. Those beliefs clearly teach that homosexuality is wrong. The fact that two men feel strongly and passionately for each other no more make it moral than when a man feels strongly and passionately for a woman other than his wife.
I’ve been a loyal fan of Amazon.com for nearly 15 years. I remember buying a book from Amazon.com in 1998 from my dial-up modem and thinking “how cool is that!” … For the last five years, at least, we’ve purchased “Prime” memberships and did most of our Christmas shopping online through Amazon.com. No more.
While I support Mr. Bezos’ right to spend his money in support of his beliefs, I’m not going to spend my money to further his profits, which he uses to undermine Biblical values in our laws and culture. I have not purchased anything on Amazon since I learned of Mr. Bezos’ efforts in support of gay marriage. With disappointment, we did not renew our Prime membership. It’s been over a month now, and not only has it not been difficult, I’ve found more cost-effective websites from which to make my online purchase. I’ve been particularly pleased with Walmart.com where the books are often several dollars less than at Amazon.com, the shipping is less (though no “Prime” type membership, yet), and you can have items delivered for free to your local Walmart store for pick up.
Best “general” online store: http://www.walmart.com
Best online bookstore, used and new: http://www.bookdepository.com
Best sites to purchase Christian stuff like books, movies, toys, apologetics, and generally Christ-centered, counterculture merchandise:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/store
http://www.visionforum.com
http://www.christianbook.com
http://store.lamplighter.net/storefront.aspx
Happy Shopping!
Sapphire Sky 
17 replies on “Off the Amazon: 2.5 million reasons to shop Walmart.com, and elsewhere”
(Way to go — I was sent here by none other than Ken Ham, who linked to your post today on Facebook. Congratulations!)
It’s hard for me to support either Bezos’s beliefs in “gay marriage” or one of the alternates recommended there — Vision Forum. Much of “Biblical patriarchy” violates solid Biblical hermeneutics in the same way “day age” and “theistic evolution” beliefs do (or even “Christian” feminism and egalitarianism!). Still, thanks for the heads-up. It’s a good issue Christians must wrestle with — especially because almost every new-internet big-corporate company does the same thing!
Howdy! I agree with the principle of your decision – I only buy US and ally-made products (thus from countries with at least decent laws, good labor practices, etc.), and I’ve dropped companies for their lack of basic morality. I’m not sure if I would drop Amazon for the actions of their owner, unless it’s an “official” company policy.
As a note: I thought I would mention that AbeBooks is owned by Amazon.
http://www.abebooks.com/books/CompanyInformation/
Godspeed to you, and Merry Christmas!
Do you know that Bezos also owns “Amazon web services” which runs a large part of the internet? Entire netflix runs on Amazon web services. Are you going to boycott visiting random sites to support your hate?
I’m opposed to adultery, so by your logic I hate heterosexuals also?
Its not my logic, its yours. You are the one who said that you will boycott Amazon. So if you dont boycott Amazon web services then you are being two-faced.
I don’t send money to Amazon Web Services …
Ofcourse you send money to Amazon web services as well. It goes to them indirectly. Thats why your boycott is stupid and two-faced.
Also try http://www.bookdepository.com.
Free shipping world wide, amazing selection and really great prices.
It the first place I go to now.
I have stayed away from amazon for years, it’s doable.
another another: http://www.livingwaters.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=199
Better knock that daily Starbucks off your list, too. And I think I have seen in times past where Walmart and Target have been openly pro-gay. What you should focus on is being the loudest voice in the crowd. Values based shopping will quickly lead you to no options.
Per above, I see a difference between liberal company policies and activism. Starbucks is modestly “active”, particularly its CEO. I avoid Starbucks, as much for their liberalism as for the fact their coffee isn’t particularly good. It was commendable 20 years ago when everyone was serving Maxwell House. Now, the “best” part of Starbucks is they’re everywhere.
I do not agree with gay marriage, that said…before you buy into the Walmart mentality, I’d check into their treatment of the workers and their morals before heralding them as an alternative to Amazon.com. It does not come down to the lesser of two evils..evil is evil. By the way, target supports gay marriage, too.
References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jazb24Q2s94 (The High Price of Low Cost Living)
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/target-and-amazon-are-the-opposites-of-chick-fil-a-on-gay-marriage/
Given the left in general and in particular “labor’s” hatred of Walmart, I’m quite skeptical of what’s reported about Walmart. I’ve never met someone who’s worked there or worked with Walmart, at all levels, that’s corroborates the lefty smears. Further, in my opinion, providing benefits to domestic partners is quite different in kind and affect from spending millions to lobby the public that homosexual marriage is moral and opposition is immoral.
Interesting thoughts here both in the blog post and the comments. As a busy SAHM mother of 5 young children it feels overwhelming/impossible to purchase only from brands and stores whose beliefs I can support. How in the world can I possibly do that? It would take a lot of research and with the number of brands and stores we purchase from would be quite a list. Additionally, we are on a budget and cost is a huge factor in purchasing ability.
I always buy Lowes over Home Depot due to the gay marriage issue. Also I never buy Starbucks, ever! But to give up Amazon, that is going to hurt. I might try it. Regarding the Walmart comments here, I agree with the person that said since the Left-Wing and Unions hate them so much, that is enough for me to support them. Also my wife is from China. She says the people working in these factories for Walmart and many other US companies really appreciate the job. They would be with nothing at all if it wasn’t for Walmart and others providing them the work.
If you extend your inspection beyond the most prominent top people (founders, CEOs, presidents) at companies, I suspect you’ll find that the amount of corporate management pay going to anti-Christian causes is such that applying this approach equitably would require you to buy from very few companies. But, then, this would mean harming all those working at (or invested in) boycotted companies who do not agree with the private opinions of the bad apples in management.
Perhaps, but I doubt we’d find common such substantial “contributions” to such adverse causes at such a pivotal/effective times. Further, I’m not so much advocating “boycott” as I am advocating voting with dollars, i.e. trying to “shop” with companies that are supportive of decent values or at least not aggressively antagonistic. Finally, that such a program of spending cannot be perfectly applied across all times and companies is not, in my estimation, a reason for not applying the program where it is obvious and easy to do so, such as here. The “perfect” remains the enemy of the “good” … No theological implications intended.