Several weeks ago, Budweiser infamously made a brief sponsorship with Dylan Mulvaney, who has become one of the most prominent spokesmen for transgenderism as of late. The response from Budweiser’s customer base has been swift and decisive. With multiple beers to choose from in any given store, people have largely decided to abandon the company that decided to abandon the biological reality of male and female.

Last week, Target also burst into headlines because of transgenderism. Specifically, they have introduced a PRIDE collection of clothing to celebrate LGBTism, which notably includes women’s swimwear with space for male genitalia (I never thought I would need to write that sentence…). Thus, with the continued success of the Budweiser boycott, many are now calling for a boycott of Target.

But how should Christians react to such events? Are such boycotts morally necessary, or do they fall within the bounds of Christian liberty? While the Bible obviously does not address these matters directly, I do believe that 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 can provide us with some biblical wisdom:

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

In these verses, Paul is counseling Christians on how they ought to regard meat that has been offered in sacrifice to false deities, which was a likely scenario given the pagan culture of the first century. Notice that the Apostle does indeed make this a matter of Christian freedom, saying that Christians ought to buy from the markets freely without troubling their conscience (v. 25). However, if someone (which may be an unbeliever or a believer with a weaker conscience than you) explicitly points out that the meat was offered to idols, then Paul says to refrain from eating. Your own conscience on the matter has not changed, but for the sake of the person who told you, you ought to abstain. Indeed, Paul bookends these verses with calls to look away from ourselves and look after others. “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (v. 24). “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (vv. 32-33).

Of course, buying Budweiser or shopping at Target is not exactly the same as eating meat that may or may not have been offered to an idol, yet there are enough similarities to apply the principles of this passage to our present day. Indeed, verse 25 ought to be the Christian’s default stance when looking to purchase anything in the marketplace (either physical or digital). It would probably be safe to say that the majority of the goods in our home come from the work of people who do not hold to the Christian faith, but that reality should not hinder our benefit from those goods. After all, we know, as Paul cites from Psalm 24:1, that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (v. 26). God made all things, and all things ultimately come from Him. Therefore, use your internet provider, buy your clothing, shop for your groceries without worrying about the belief-system of the people that it came from.

However, Paul does say that a Christian should abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols if someone points it out to him. In other words, while we should not be on the hunt for anyone whose values do not align with our own, we ought to take antithetical worldview claims seriously and be willing to respond accordingly. In Paul’s day, again, that meant abstaining from such meat for the sake of the other person’s conscience. In our day, I think it is perfectly reasonable to abstain from companies that proudly align themselves with our modern idols.

Both Budweiser and Target fit this description well. While it is usually safe to assume that executives of massive corporations lean leftward politically, conservatives blissfully continued to purchase from both brands without raising questions. Both companies were responsible for making their cultural allegiance known, siding themselves with the pagan gods of the sexual revolution. For Target, the spiritual connection became a bit more explicit whenever it was revealed that the designer of the clothing in question is something of a satanist, who noted on an Instagram post:

Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean. So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love. So, naturally, Satan respects pronouns. He loves all LGBT+ people.

Of course, from what we see in Scripture, Satan apparently does not care much about whether people believe in him or not; rather, he simply desires to foment rebellion against God. After all, in Genesis 3, Satan did not demand that Eve worship him; he enticed her to take the fruit and become like God, which is the same lie that he sold to that clothing designer today.

Target, particularly, has publicly declared its allegiance to idols, and I certainly believe that the proper response for the present is to abstain from that company until a recantation is made. They made a public, unsolicited confession of faith to a demonic ideology. While each individual Christian certainly still has the freedom to shop at Target, would it not be best to abstain? What witness might your abstinence display personally, and what witness might Christians display collectively? After all, denouncement by refusal to participate can be a powerful cultural witness, just ask Daniel and his friends.

Again, this is still a matter of Christian freedom, so bashing fellow believers over the head for differing opinions must be strongly discouraged, especially Christians who do not keep up with headlines and are blissfully unaware. However, once companies like Budweiser and Target publicly decide to spread satanic ideologies, why continue to buy from them?

Particularly with Target, doing so may certainly mean being inconvenienced. Yet convenience should not be the driving motivation of a Christian. Rather, our motivation should be, as Paul said, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (v. 25). Wouldn’t exposing and pushing back against the demonic beliefs that are sweeping over our society be one of the best goods we can offer our neighbor? I certainly believe so.