In our ongoing dialogue with culture, this article prompted some questions and considerations in sincere interest of reply.
Doesn't A&E's decision reveal their OWN organization to be "intolerant," "hateful," "discriminatory," "judgmental"? Doesn't their decision demonstrate that we can not NOT judge? Indeed, disputing this, or anything herein, constitutes judgment.
If we're going to navigate life based upon judgment, ought not the compass be based upon the indisputable, human nature we all share?
In the instance of homosexual activity (not inclination), what argument can counter the one the body has already made: Same genders do not "fit" together; their sexual processes can never accomplish their undisputable, natural end. Does anyone deny that the sexual arousal involving an erection is complementary with a woman's physical receptivity, as are the complementary purposes of sperm and egg?
As such, homosexual activity is un-natural, as un-natural as is eating and intentionally throwing up. As un-natural as any sexual arousal divorced from it's intended purpose, outside it's evident, natural context of commitment between a man and a woman.
Peal back the layers, the heart of the argument for homosexual "marriage" is simply this: "Per sexual preference, to each her own, recognized with rights." No one has the right to question anothers' sexual preference. So much more, homosexual "marriage" insists that we as a society recognize anyone's preference in the form of special rights.
Anyone challenging this is met with the pop-cultural Leviathan unleashed: "hateful," "discriminatory," "judgmental."
What the multitude do not realize is that this Leviathan will not have a leash. It will not play by our selective rules. It turns on us.
What objection can anyone make to "marriage" comprised of multiple partners? Or between a father and a son? Or with a pet? Or with one's Ipad? Answer: Nothing. We've got nothing to say. How dare we be so hateful.
The Monster is unleashed.
When we don't recognize and respect a special something, it becomes everything, and thus, nothing. Thus we find ourselves today, internally and in our relationships - divided, splintered, alienated, incomplete. Something within us constantly beckons for real intimacy and wholeness (the root meaning of "holiness").
Our internal and external worlds reveal us to be at war with ourselves, with our nature. We are a people given a gift as a participation in the life of the Giver. Used apart, using others, using ourselves - we remain in exile. We are in prison. There, we will never find peace.
All this culturally reinforced by false understandings of "tolerance" and "freedom" whose values a false liberalism has enshrined. When we see the Leviathan banish Duck Dynasty, but extol Miley Cyrus, we ought to recognize it has fully morphed into a full-fledged ideology of anti-nature. Unmoored from our anchor, who we really are, whom we are revealed to be, we are adrift. There can be no real freedom.
And yet our enemies are not human, but "spiritual powers in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6:12), those whose rabid jealousy seek to deceive us into rejecting our God-like nature.
Robertson's was a "truth spoken in love" - validated by the sociologically proven fact that we really can't break the law, only ourselves against it. Indeed, what Commandment have any of us ever broken that has not, in fact, broken us?
Which of us, in fact, have not fallen? Are we not all in need of God's abiding, healing, transforming grace and mercy?
In this very moment, with an impassioned heart we could never comprehend, God seeks us back into the Great Fellowship, the Great Intimacy with Him for which we were designed, and in which we are destined if we would choose.
Brothers and Sisters, this Christmas Season He beckons us. Seek. Choose. Believe. He is near. Emmanuel.
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“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong... Sin becomes fine,” he said. “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”
Paraphrasing Corinthians he added: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
The gay and lesbian rights group GLAAD was quick to criticize Robertson for his comments and called on A&E to take action.
"Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe," said GLAAD rep Wilson Cruz. "He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans – and Americans - who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. Phil's decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors who now need to reexamine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families."
Robertson also told GQ his family has lost its privacy since they were thrust into the limelight as the stars of the hit show, but it was well worth it because the series has given him a platform to spread his religious beliefs.
“For the sake of the Gospel, it was worth it… All you have to do is look at any society where there is no Jesus. I’ll give you four: Nazis, no Jesus. Look at their record. Uh, Shintos? They started this thing in Pearl Harbor. Any Jesus among them? None. Communists? None. Islamists? Zero. That’s 80 years of ideologies that have popped up where no Jesus was allowed among those four groups. Just look at the records as far as murder goes among those four groups.”
