On Ducking Out or Being Unified

The other day I posted this on my facebook page:

“The deal with Phil is that it is more complex then just his position on homosexuality. He made racist remarks and spoke ignorantly in that regard. He is 100% always crass in regards to sexuality (a reason I personally don’t watch often) even with his wife. He is crude and rude. He is a man proclaiming a message about Christ and his remarks, though biblically true about homosexuality, negate his witness in my opinion because they leave little room for grace, which he received to come out of the lifestyle of alcohol and drugs. I follow this pastor’s blog (he married me) and it is a line of thought I can agree with. http://www.scottslayton.net/2013/12/20/phil-robertson/ I think this is another ploy of the enemy to be distracted instead of focused on Christ this Christmas season. So enough already.”

A few hours later I regretted it. I worried that I was not gracious to Phil and that someone would misunderstand my position. I spent a lot of time worrying about it. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like A&E was the truly ignorant ones to have the Robertsons as their TV brand. To be clear, before Duck Dynasty, the A&E brand was nothing I wanted to watch. I do not think of Christianity or of truth when I think of A&E. But they found a family from Louisiana that quickly became their #1 show, a family that prays at the end of every show. Don’t they know what a Christian believes?

I would say that they are a top billing show because the Robertsons are a family of faith on TV, which is so rare in this day and age, they are genuine, and they play themselves up to be country rednecks in a humorous way that makes people want to watch. Phil as I mentioned is crass. A&E should already know this about Phil. The more I thought about this the more my previous post did not make sense as a total viewpoint. Mainly because this is bigger than Phil’s words. If I am a woman of grace, then I can accept that Phil was simply being himself in his interview with GQ. Then the family made a statement that their position is one of Love.

In Genesis 11, men worked together to build the Tower of Babel, but God confused their language, and they stopped building the tower.

Today, there are numerous towers. With social media, we all have our own platforms whether we use them or not. One reason I got nervous after sharing that status was that I grappled with fear. I was so sick because I knew that there were people waiting to see what I would say so they could know what to think themselves. I am not a powerful woman, but I recognize that I have more influence than I know what to do with. People are watching me. Am I inspiring them to truth? to grace? to Christ? Having all eyes on you is terrifying.

Then today, I read a blog post where my friend mentioned that someone who had revolutionized her faith had now denounced his faith and Jesus altogether. This is a big deal, but it doesn’t have to be, and it made me see the bigger picture.

I never want to be the kind of person that questions my faith so much that I give up the faith, nor do I want my words to leave gaping holes causing others to stumble around in the dark. My blog is growing fairly regularly now, and it is humbling and scary because all of them look at me to speak truth, to give grace. What happens when I am wrong?

This is only a problem if we are following people and their messages over the message of Christ. The problem with social media is that we are all building towers. Towers that do not intend to unite. We each have our little nuances and things we focus on, be it truth or be it grace. Sometimes the nuances become the towers.

There are sects of Christianity that are growing today that say that homosexuality is not a sin. They have built many towers. There are sects of Christianity that say it is a sin. This sect is quickly being told they cannot exist. In fact as is the case for The Duck Dynasty controversy, the homosexual issue is more prominent than the racist remarks. We are told that truth is relative, but truth is not relative. Either homosexuality is a sin or it is not. It cannot be both.

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:18-32

I stand in the camp of Christianity that believes the Bible is the word of God that cannot be changed or corrected. I believe homosexuality is a sin. However, saying this to be true, does not negate the love I feel for humanity including homosexuals. The hope of Christmas is that Jesus came as a babe and later died on a cross so that all mankind can receive amazing grace.

I am a fallible human being and chances are I will mess up and say something wrong (not of God’s utmost truth), and you can stick with me or not. But I want to destroy any towers to me or my message. And if it means that I perish, then I shall perish. I want my tower to point to Christ. When He came, He gave us the supernatural power to be able to love one another with the love of God. Up to that point, He commanded His people to love, but not with a godly love. When He gave His son, He gave more ability to truly love.

Why then does it seem like we have such a hard time with it?

Why must we wait to see what so and so over on that page will say about a subject matter?

Why aren’t our towers being used for unity?

Because currently the towers cause more division than anything else. I think maybe part of the reason is that the towers are more for us and our thoughts than in being beacons to Christ. At first, I was offended at my Christian brothers and sisters who only defended Phil. Phil’s message was not given with gentleness, but then again nothing Phil says is gentle. He speaks truth in a blunt manner. But then I was offended at A&E. I am after all a little slow.

Phil Robertson is truly a man who wants to show the love of Christ, that’s why he has a TV show, watch his I AM SECOND video and you will see. He said words that were received as hate comments. He spoke without thinking, and there are and will be consequences for the way He spoke.

I wonder. Jesus himself sat with a woman at a well, and told her she had numerous husbands. Would we confuse his confrontation with sin as hate if He were here today calling it out? I don’t agree with Phil’s method of speaking truth. His method of the Gospel is offensive to me, but isn’t the gospel always offensive?

But shockingly, I stand with Phil, because we both stand for Christ, whatever anyone else says. Not because he is a star on a show. Certainly not because he spoke ignorantly on race. Not because he is crass, but because he is my brother, and blood is thicker than water, and Christ’s blood covers me and covers Phil. And one thing I know is that God asks us to unite, if we are Christians brothers and sisters, can we join together in unity?

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,^[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹ My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas^[b]”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17