I like Starbucks a lot. Lately I’ve been ordering a Tall Passion Tea Lemonade unsweetened, it’s so refreshing! Starbucks has a mission statement about being the third place for people, home is #1, work is #2 and Starbucks is supposed to be #3. Now, I don’t buy in to all of that, but I like coffee and Starbucks is a place to meet high school students, which I do several times a week.

In an attempt to spark conversation Starbucks started a cup campaign for 2007 called “The Way I See It” where people–some famous philosophers, others just your average Starbucks junkies–contribute pithy thoughts and opinions to be printed on each paper coffee cup. The quotes vary in topics from love and marriage to nature and health to society and cultural woes. I’ve gotten some interesting quotes on my own coffee cups some include:

Quote #230

Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can’t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They’re basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell.

– Joel Stein
Columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

Quote #220

Evolution as described by Charles Darwin is a scientific theory, abundantly reconfirmed, explaining physical phenomena by physical causes. Intelligent Design is a faith-based initiative in rhetorical argument. Should we teach I.D. in America’s public schools? Yes, let’s do it – not as science, but alongside other spiritual beliefs, such as Islam, Zoroastrianism and the Hindu idea that the Earth rests on Chukwa, the giant turtle.

– David Quammen
Author.

Quote #211

I believe with all my heart in the power of art to save lives.

– Bill Bartlett
Founder of the Imagine Project

These were all eye-brow raising quotes, and I could have written about each, but I didn’t even consider sharing these until I got quote #247:

Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.

–Bill Schell
Starbucks customer from London, Ontario. He describes himself as a “modern day nobody.”

Now, I realize that this quote is Bill Schell’s opinion. In news articles about this quote many reporters conclude that customers shouldn’t be upset by the quote because after all everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I’m pretty sure that isn’t a Biblical perspective. I can say, the sky is green. And even though that is my opinion and I’m sticking with it and I’m on a soapbox about it doesn’t make it green. The sky is blue and that is a fact, opinions don’t matter, they are foolish. The sky is blue.

When someone starts speculating that there “may well be” no God, this is foolish. God is a fact. It isn’t hard to look all around us, or just in the mirror and realize that we have a Creator. People don’t like the implications of having a Creator because then they must be accountable to Him and His purpose for their life. So instead people make God a matter of opinion. They adamantly declare the sky to be green, despite all obvious facts.

The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.

Psalm 14:1

This verse is a pretty pointed description about the people who deny God. There are many scary “quotes” for people like this, words from God Himself about what the consequences will be for holding this opinion.

These quotes on Starbucks coffee cups really shouldn’t be surprising. This is our world, it is lost. I don’t think this means we need to boycott Starbucks. But this whole cup campaign should be a reminder of the urgent need to be bold in the Lord. We don’t ever need to apologize for it, soften it, or be embarrassed for it. We should always be looking for opportunities to proclaim the truth.

It would be great to submit 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 to be one of the next 30 quotes to be released for June.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

I thought–this would be awesome! So many people could see the gospel right there on their morning latte! But the description for this cup campaign is that they be notable opinions. So, then I realized that no verses would qualify to be printed because Starbucks is looking for opinion, but God’s Word is fact.