It Really Has Nothing to Do with Phil Robertson
Posted by Candace
As this week comes to a close, my mind is worn. I think that the Duck Dynasty controversy has been written about and railed about and run through the ringer from every angle. I may have scrolled past 50 blogs that took this opportunity to share their views with the world (I guess I am jumping on that bandwagon, aren't I?). It has been almost painful to read opinion after opinion until I just had to stop. I am thankful to this controversy though because it has forced me to solidify my beliefs and examine my responses. It has made me passionate and then humble and then resolved. For what it's worth... if you can stomach to read something else about this nonsense... here's my take away...
- The Church is as bad as a political party when it comes unity and loyalty to each other. We have so many factions going on in the family of God and EVERY ONE of them think that they have the right view of things, the right interpretation of the Bible, and the backing of Jesus Himself. The Scriptures say a good many different things that all fall somehow into harmony with each other, but most everything that I have read on this issue has taken one of these different things and made it the only thing to beat other Christians over the head.
- Many people seem to think that if somehow you are angry about a man answering a question about morality truthfully and being put in time out for it in front of God and everybody that you have ceased to care about the lost and dying world or about people being martyred for Christ or about sex trafficking, etc, etc. I can personally attest to the fact that you can do both at the same time.
- Those, (this includes other Christians) attacking Christians for taking a public Biblical stand against homosexuality on the basis that it is publicly denigrating hurting people seem to forget that Christians did not bring this fight into the public arena. We were not on the offensive on this, but rather the defensive and that is only because marriage (an institute that God was very clear about when He created it in the beginning) was brought into the public debate. Don't get me wrong, we love every one of the people trying to shove the agenda down our throats, but we are compelled to say "No, I'm sorry, you are wrong. Your ideas will destroy and kill and steal. They will steal our children...our future generations. There is a good reason this lifestyle has been forbidden by the Lord." The people controlling these loud factions do not want to stop with being accepted by society. This agenda is driven by the devil to infiltrate our schools and be taught as an acceptable and alternative lifestyle to children. Sin is not content until it has sucked in everyone within its reach. With prayer already removed, this agenda will over take our children (our future society) and cause destruction that many will be lamenting in the years to come. In some ways it already has.
- Most of us with real concern about where this is going are not without sin. Rather, most of us have experienced sin at its most destructive. We are rescued and forgiven and we simply cannot sit by and be silent while other are recruited into the strongholds of the enemies camp. We cannot call it love to be silent. We have experienced the truth that sets free and we take seriously our job as ambassadors. We know that the truth often hurts...it often offends...it brings dark things to light and forces people to take a good hard look at their actions...but when accepted, it sets free. I am not condoning truth screamed in hatefulness, but rather truth spoken in love.
- There are sides to the battle of this world. I'm sorry, but that is a Biblical fact, whether you like it or not. If you are not living for Christ, you are living for Satan...you are an open door for the enemy to use you and your life for destruction. None of us are perfect...but you are either covered in the righteousness of Christ or you are not. If you are not, and you die or He returns, your sin will glaringly convict you when you stand before the throne. That is truth. It is love to tell that truth. The only thing that makes me different from someone unsaved is that I have repented of my former way of life and made Jesus my Lord. And that invitation is as open to anyone unsaved as it was to me.
- You can struggle with sin and not be defined by it. I don't believe that there are openly gay Christians, just as I don't believe there are openly liar Christians. If you have a problem with lying and you are letting Christ work it out of you, you do not walk around saying "I'm a liar and proud of it." NO, you are covered with the righteousness of Christ and struggling against lying. It is the same with any sin. When we give our lives to Christ, such WERE some of us, but we are no longer. We pray to walk worthy of our calling, not to continue to be defined by our sin. Sin has lost its hold on us unless we continue to give it that hold... and there is no better way to give it power than to define ourselves by it.
- None of this is really about a stupid TV show or even crazy reality stars, it is about the battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. It is about seeing right in front of our eyes the state that the Church is in. When we can attack and attack and attack, even turning on each other, we are playing right into the hands of the enemy. We don't have to become loud and obnoxious like the world when we want to make a point. When God wanted to make a point, He sent an infant to be born in a stable. We can quietly take our stand and leave room for God's wrath. But even when Christians are loud and obnoxious (some of us completely on accident), are we still worthy of love and grace? Or is that just reserved for the loud and obnoxious sinner? I seem to remember a verse that says "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love ONE ANOTHER."
- Losing freedom of speech and of religion means that all these people blogging and saying that fighting for these freedoms is not a Christian's job, lose their freedom to freely state this opinion. If you believe that this is not an important issue, then shut down your blog immediately...unless of course, you plan on being politically correct ALL the time and on every issue.
- To be very clear, I am as passionate about fornication and adultery as I am about homosexuality and that does not mean that I hate people that do it. I have a myriad of friends and even family who have had children outside of marriage or have been through divorces that included adultery. Why is there this blanket label of hate and rejection and bigotry put on Christians that believe and are willing to stand up for what the Bible says? I wish we were back at the debates about how much fornication is now all over TV, but we've already crossed that acceptance bridge, remember? How many of our children have been caught up in destruction because we have accepted this particular sin as "our culture"?
- We need a lot more time on our face before God. I think we forget that this time in His presence changes the world much more than anything we can do with our own two hands.
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