Every day I am reminded more and more, in this day of
instant social media, how important words are. Not only that, but even more
importantly is HOW you use those words.
This morning I was sitting here, reading so many different views on the
Duck Dynasty debacle and one thing kept coming to my mind: Jesus spoke truth,
and he did it in a way that made people stop and think, not bristle in anger.
Honestly, some of the stuff he said was highly offensive at the time, but
interestingly enough, the people it was most offensive to was the religious
leaders of the time! They were deeply offended that Jesus spoke about mercy to
sinners, shared food and space with “vile” offenders, and walked and talked
freely with evil-doers. He was a rebel
because he drew the outcasts to him. I cannot help but think that it was more
HOW he said what he did, the hope he offered, that drew the sinners to him.
Though the meat of his message told them they were doing wrong, it also offered
a simple way to escape and be free. The religious leaders didn’t like that
because what they had preached to the people for years was the law that there
were “hoops” to jump through to make yourself worthy, certain works and ways to
accomplish holiness, and Jesus was throwing all that to the curb. The religious
leaders felt like their self-righteousness was being challenged and they didn’t
like that. It reminds me of the picture of a little kid throwing themselves on
the ground it a fit and screaming “That’s not fair!”
All that to say this: I agree with some of what Phil said,
but not all of how he said it. The WAY we speak God's truths to others can be a
stumblingblock to ourselves and our message of hope and to others that
desperately need that truth. Phil spoke the truth only when he quoted
scripture. His vulgarity in his "anus" and "vagina"
comments made the scripture part not stand out to anyone. It overrode it, it
tainted it. I'm sure that he, himself, is very sorry about that. His opinion and the way he spoke it was what was vastly offensive
to the public. If he had only quoted the Word of God I believe there still
would have been an outcry and upset, but it would not have had much of a leg to
stand on. His OPINION and the way he delivered it is what has people upset the
most. Even though I truly believe he spoke in love and what he says later about
not judging anyone and how if we all just love God and love people the rest
will follow is truly what he believes…well, the crassness of the other just
overshadows all of his heart's meaning in the other statements. Have you read the whole article? You should. I'm
surprised Phil allowed this crude magazine to interview him, writing an article
with foul language from the reporter throughout the article about he and his
family. Ultimately, I feel like allowing the interview from a reporter who is
known to write crass articles was the beginning of the family's bad judgment call
and then it escalated from there. But, even in that, I reminded that we all make mistakes and err everyday! When I read what Phil said about why “a would a guy want an anus”, I immediately knew that he had probably never actually sat and talked to a homosexual person or else he would never make such an ignorant statement. Because that’s just what it is: ignorance. I don’t mean that harshly, I’m just saying that he truly doesn’t know. If had invested any time into getting to know a homosexual person he would know that the “sex” part actually has very little to do with the actuall attraction. Satan knows that too. He created the perfect recipe for disaster using various evil tools at his disposal. And he knows that Christians shy away from homosexuality as if it’s the plague and they may catch it, and that the way the deliver the message that it’s a sin is ultimately only more damaging to the cause of Christ. God has allowed Satan to use those tools and I am wondering today if it's because He is hoping for Christians to let go of "laws" and prejudices and seek to truly reach the people under the sin? I wish that Phil would have only stuck to quoting scripture and saying God’s word says it’s a sin. Period. End of discussion. And I’m pretty sure he probably wishes right now that he would have done the same thing.
This whole situation is a reminder to me that most Christians just don’t see that angry hurtful statements are NOT “loving the sinner, but hating the sin”, and neither are they "standing on God's word". They, instead, too often deliver a message of self-righteousness condemnation. What message is the gay community hearing loudest from us? If all they hear is anger, condemnation, crass remarks, and judgment from a self-righteous “my sin is not as bad as yours” group of religious leaders but no message of hope, love, healing, freedom or repentance, what end do we really expect? I was so glad to see how Phil ended the conversation about homosexuality by quoting scripture and saying it was not his place to judge and that we are all a mess. I honestly feel like that’s what he really believes. I think his first comment was just him stating that he does not understand the draw of homosexuality or how people fall into that particular sin, he just didn’t state that in the best way! To him, I feel like it’s honestly the same as any other sin. Which brings me to my next thought…
I said it awhile back amidst the Miley Cyrus uproar from
Christians, and I say it in regard to this as well:
I AM a homosexual…Without God’s grace, mercy, and daily
forgiveness of my sins I am guilty of ALL and fall right in line with all the others in the Bible
verses that Phil mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
"(9) Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, (10) nor
thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God. (11) And such were some of you. But you were washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God."
Back to my beginning statement, of how Jesus drew the
sinners, but repelled the religious…Well, too often we quote these verses (or
more often than not, throw them!) at unbelievers when in reality these
statements are made to the church, to believers. Paul is telling them that
Jesus washed them from these things and yet some of them are still living that
way. He isn’t talking to unbelievers in this instance and calling them vile
offenders. He’s saying, hey, you church-goers, you know better! And yet, we, as Christians, often quote these
behavioral sins to unbelievers and expect that to change their minds? That
message is not the one that will convince them of their sinful ways! That truth
is spoken by Paul in the previous chapter of 1 Corinthians 5 starting in verse
9 he says: “I wrote to
you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all
meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or
idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am
writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he
is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard,
or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging
outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges
those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
I love how he basically says, Why would it be my job to
judge outsiders? He basically means they aren’t part of our family and so that’s
not my job; just like it’s not my job to discipline or judge anybody else’s
kids but my own. That would just be weird. We are, however, to judge those
within the church family who are guilty of such things. To those outside the
church, we are merely to offer the solution, the hope of Jesus. Paul even says that: “God judges those
outside”.
The message I would most like homosexual people, greedy
people, drunkards, swindlers, adulterers, thieves, revilers (which ironically
is mentioned in the first verse and means to use abusive or scornful language
against someone or something…oh my…how often do we do that?!) to hear is the
one that changed my life: the message of Jesus as Savior. If someone had told me, before I knew Jesus, to stop lying because it's wrong, well, that would not have made me care whether I stopped or not. But Jesus DID make me care. He changed me. Jesus.
What if we just started preaching that louder than any
other thing?
I love, love, love what Phil said at the very end of the
article: If we would all just really love God, and really love people, the rest
would take care of itself.
Because, if we followed those “greatest commandments”, as
Jesus called them, well, then we would love the homosexual and want to draw
them in, offer them the same medicine that saved us from our sinful vile ways,
and we would not want to offend them or push them away.
