Great controversy is stirring among us. It is hot. Red hot. The controversy of the Starbucks “Christmas” Cup. As we should do in the face of all controversies, let us turn to the scriptures to seek the voice of the Lord concerning this important matter, crucial to our salvation. Luckily for you, I have painstakingly poured over canonized scripture, selecting the most relevant verses.
Image from Starbucks
Let us begin with Isaiah: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
For clarity as we move forward, it is important to know that the Oxford English Dictionary defines “scarlet” as “A brilliant vivid red colour.” What color are the Starbucks cups in question? A brilliant, vivid red. The color of SIN. This has nothing to do with the contents of the cups, the very color of the cups taints them and anyone that holds them with the stench of sin.
Not to mention that we are commanded to “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22), and what is more evil than sin? Maybe Satan, but he is only evil because of sin, so…still sin. Nor is this the first time that red cups have been linked to sin. In 2013’s “eat, drink, and be merry” party anthem “We Can’t Stop,” Miley declares “Red cups and sweaty bodies everywhere…We run things, things don’t run we.” Red cups AND sweaty bodies everywhere? Filthy pit of sin. Only sin could devolve someone’s grammar to the nonsensical point of declaring “things don’t run we.”
But that is only the beginning. John reminds us of his experience, writing “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (Revelation 17:3). A beast, full of names of blasphemy, with seven heads and ten horns? Naturally the only color such a hell-beast could be is scarlet. This woman may as well have been sitting on a brilliant, vivid red Starbucks Christmas cup. What else could the names of blasphemy be referring to than the process of writing names on these scarlet cups of sin?
A cautionary tale comes from Proverbs, “She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet” (Proverbs 31:21). If we remember back to the words of Isaiah, snow is linked with cleanliness and righteousness in contrast with the scarlet of sin. This woman has clothed her household so deep in sin that they do not even fear the cleansing power of the snow. Think of how many cups that is! The horror…
Our final piece of divine counsel is fittingly from Lamentations: “They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills” (Lamentations 4:5).
Yes, dunghills. For those that refuse to see the sin of the scarlet cup, they will embrace dunghills. Embrace them. Lovingly put their arms around the dunghill and pull it in close, nuzzling the dunghill gently.
Luckily there is hope. For even if “our cups be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”