The homosexual lobby is sputtering rage in the wake of statements published by a reality show redneck who dared paraphrase scripture. Sure enough, some of his comments were crude. But that doesn’t seem to be the cause of the uproar. The problem seems to be that he (Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty crew) responded to a question about sin with more than the standard definition about it being the transgression of the law. He nearly quoted 1 Corinthians 6:9, which condemns all kinds of misconduct saying the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
“Real Christians know better than that!” the effeminate activists retorted. Evolving logic seems to hold that Christianity means homosexuals never have to get their feelings hurt. If the Bible and Christianity still have anything in common, that’s just not the case. Christianity keeps getting re-defined, most recently by the pope himself. He seems to be a little rusty on the many warnings and pronouncements throughout the Bible condemning everything to do with this subject.
The A&E Network has been cashing in big time on the popularity of the Robertson family who, despite their apparent affinity for the ZZ Top look, say a blessing over every meal and show deference and respect for God and the admonitions in the Bible, at least as far as they understand. Who knows how or whether this little tempest will be resolved. Hopefully A&E will lose the franchise as the price for upholding its progressive “values” just as soon as the X-mas Duck Dynasty marathon concludes.
Speaking of X-mas, it just hasn’t seemed nearly as intrusively irritating this year for some reason. Maybe there have been fewer clanging bells this time around. But as usual, much has been made of the ongoing “war on Christmas.”
Have you ever felt so completely left out?
Those defending the holiday insist that people who don’t indulge, or set out to criticize the practice are trying to destroy America’s Judeo-Christian heritage. That may be true in a lot of cases. Somebody saw fit to spend a fortune on a massive billboard display in Times Square New York which didn’t stop at criticizing the holiday, but went on to deny God and Jesus Christ.
Our organization and its predecessors have been pointing to the true origins of Christmas for many decades now, and yet we recognize and honor our national Judeo-Christian heritage and wish to see it preserved. Unfortunately for those who have so many fond family memories wrapped up in the practice, they can’t seem to separate the fiction from the facts blurred by personal nostalgia. People do lament the commercialization of the holiday, not realizing that is the least of the problems with Christmas.
We certainly don’t look down on others who innocently observe what they believe to be a wonderful national holiday that acknowledges the supernatural birth of the savior. And we don’t recoil at the sight of colorful lights outlining houses. (But enough already with the clanging bells!) We’ve tried to point out the connections with paganism, beginning with the tree and the ancient practices dating all the back to Nimrod. But we simply are not conducting a “war on Christmas.”
We occupy a position with which most are not familiar. That is that we believe in the birth of Christ according to the Biblical narrative. We close our offices on December 25 because it is a national holiday, but don’t string any lights or exchange gifts around a tree. It is just a little frustrating to have this big debate going on, with conventional wisdom insisting that non-participation in these practices is tantamount to disrespect for the values upon which our nation was founded.
Nothing of the sort! We love those values and realize they are the only reason we enjoy the blessings and prosperity of this promised land. But neither we nor politicians nor talking heads are authorized to determine how God is to be worshipped. He made that abundantly clear, and saw to it that we have His Word to go by. But the world, even the “Christian world” knows almost nothing of God’s commanded observances. Furthermore, they’re not interested right now.
Someday in the not too distant future all eyes will be opened, Chrismas will be a thing of the past and all nations will be represented at Jerusalem to keep the Feasts that have real historical and religious significance.
Mark Armstrong