A&E Lays Bare the Media Dynasty — Duck!
Media elite in America presume to be the final word on morality, as evidenced by A&E’s dismissal of Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame. That dismissal also puts to rest any question there’s a coordinated and concerted war on Christianity in the land of the free, or not so free, or conditionally free.
Barack Obama got a pass for saying he was against homosexual marriage before he got a pass for saying his viewpoint had evolved to accepting and promoting homosexual marriage. This says a lot about media and the Left, and the shifting sands of man-driven morality. It all depends on who is saying what for what reason, and the way it is being said, according to the hypersensitive who insist Political Correctness is the supreme law of the land instead of the Constitution.
So what did Phil actually say in the GQ interview that got everyone all pissy?
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“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
“We’re Bible-thumpers who just happened to end up on television,” he tells me. “You put in your article that the Robertson family really believes strongly that if the human race loved each other and they loved God, we would just be better off. We ought to just be repentant, turn to God, and let’s get on with it, and everything will turn around.”
What does repentance entail? Well, in Robertson’s worldview, America was a country founded upon Christian values (Thou shalt not kill, etc.), and he believes that the gradual removal of Christian symbolism from public spaces has diluted those founding principles. (He and Si take turns going on about why the Ten Commandments ought to be displayed outside courthouses.) He sees the popularity of Duck Dynasty as a small corrective to all that we have lost.
“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong,” he says. “Sin becomes fine.”
What, in your mind, is sinful?
“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,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “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.”
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Did Phil single out homosexuals in a hateful way? A reasonable person would have to say “No.”
Does Phil have a right to freely exercise his religion, and does he have a right to express his opinions freely. Those who embrace the Constitution would have to say, “Yes”.
Did Phil say anything that contradicts historic Christianity or traditional morality? Of course not.
Elsewhere in the interview did Phil confess his sin, and share his story of repentance, taking responsibility for his sin and his former life, giving Christ the credit for saving him and changing him for the better? Yes, he certainly did.
So in love, Phil spoke truth from the Scripture, and like so many Christians yesterday and today, he is being persecuted for it, ridiculed, marginalized, and in a sense, crucified. No big surprise here. Jesus said we would be hated as he was hated. He said we’d be abused, persecuted, arrested, jailed and killed.
Phil ain’t complaining.
But what does all this say about a media outlet like A&E and most of the mainstream media? Does A&E have the right to dismiss Phil? I suppose so. As a private business, they can do what they like, no matter if it is right or wrong. However, I’m sure the lawyers are looking at the Duck Dynasty contract very carefully today.
Let’s keep in mind however that A&E edited the Duck Dynasty
program, refusing to let the family pray “in Jesus’ Name,” at the end of the show. Let’s also keep in mind that A&E has declared it is actively pro-homosexual, on board with the entire homosexual activism agenda, one characterized by slander, attack, ridicule, law suits and dictatorial moves to force people to comply, a theocracy of a sort, one might say.
You see, A&E is happy to have it both ways: promote the homosexual agenda, and exploit a Christian family for profits, so long as they don’t go all Jesus on everybody. What A&E is learning today is you can’t straddle this Culture War, playing both sides against the middle. It’s a wishbone fantasy believing you can.
After all, there is light, and there is darkness. They don’t mix. They cannot have fellowship, even though it’s obvious which side routinely exemplifies love, mercy, tolerance and grace.
The truth is there are such things as right and wrong, heaven and hell, good and bad, morality and immorality. There is a North Star by which we can navigate. There is also human wisdom, a poor compass, indeed.
Rank filth and depravity are daily broadcast by A&E and any number of other networks and TV production companies, all of it lessening and lowering everyone, all of it encouraging youth to destruction, and that’s all fine, but let a Louisiana redneck quote Scripture and the PC thought police go Stasi on Christians.
The bottom line is this: either we agree the First Amendment applies to everyone, or, it applies to no one. Homosexuals are now actually saying people like Phil should not be allowed to express their views on public air waves. They actually call for censorship, not according to community standards, transcendent morality, or basic common decency, but according to their narrow agenda, an agenda advanced by perhaps 3% of the population allied with powerful media and secular forces.
Those forces are arrayed to destroy Christians and Christian belief, that much should be obvious. And for what? So that people can arbitrarily demand we violate our beliefs and our conscience, accepting that homosexuality is just another way to be human, not a sin, as the God of Love insists. Who gave homosexuals the right to demand anything of the rest of us?
God does not change his mind. Man changes his mind every time he turns around, and it usually has everything to do with his sexual preferences and impulses, a very selfish orientation to begin with.
And by the way, by every measure, the homosexual lifestyle is especially unhealthy and destructive, so, like God and Phil Robertson, preaching against it is in the best interests of homosexuals and everyone else for that matter.
The highest form of love is telling the truth in love, preaching to those who are being led away to slaughter, in hopes they’ll be saved. In preaching thus, Phil is a reflection of his Father, an agent of love no one can dismiss in good conscience.