My Take on Phil Robertson, Or: Christians Need to WAKE UP!!

Everybody get out your guns and point them at me, because I’m about to say something scandalous. I have no love for the Robertson family or their duck show. Seeing them on television makes me understand why Elvis put a bullet through one of his television sets back in the day. I don’t know what it is. I find them unpleasant. I hate their beards.

My roommate, however, is a huge fan of the duck show, and I often have no choice but to see at least some of it, and that makes me an expert on anything related to their public efforts. Heck, Phil Robertson might make a similar statement based on the same sketchy foundation as I have.

Speaking of Phil, he said some things recently that have made a small portion of the population very upset. That portion has wielded its influence and he has been removed from further participation in the duck show till further notice. There is a larger portion of the population very upset about his removal, and they are in the process of speaking their mind and wielding their own influence, the effect of which we don’t fully know yet.

I’m not going to repeat what Phil said. Google is your friend, and you’ll find either the exact words he used or a bastardization from a website representing the opposite point of view. I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure it all out.

What I will add is that I don’t disagree with Phil, for the most part; however, I disagree with the opinion among Christians today that the biggest problems in the world are abortion and homosexuals. That seems to be all they (we–I’m one of them) talk about. Abortion is bad, homosexuals are bad, and Obama is the anti-Christ; somewhere along the way, somebody named Jesus walked the earth and said some things but that isn’t as important as talking about how bad abortion and homosexuals are.

I don’t mean to attack the church, per se. What I mean to attack, via the above sarcasm (because one of you isn’t going to get it), is an attitude that has developed where we focus on what we consider the “major sins” while ignoring others, and watering down what the Christian message (redemption and a relationship with God) is all about. I wish Christians got just as upset about the “other” sins as they do about the so-called “major” sins (the Bible makes no such separation, by the way), because everybody in church knows that the person they sit next to is more than likely not a homosexual nor have they ever had an abortion, so those topics are easy to bring up.

What is not easy to bring up, but what the Bible describes as equally awful, are the following (and this is not an exhaustive list): gossiping; gluttony (seriously–nobody in church is skinny these days); selfishness; sleeping with people who are not your spouse; going to web sites you have no business going to (I’m looking at the men now); having a “poor me” attitude that brings others down; anger; jealousy; rage; alcoholism (the Bible doesn’t say don’t drink; it says don’t get drunk, because being drunk can damage your body); addiction (drugs, sex, etc.); being careless with your money (Dave Ramsay has made a fortune off Christians who can’t handle their money and weep about being in debt!); and being a phony, as there are some people who only go to church because they have no idea what to do at a bar.

Where is the righteous indignation about those sins?

But, wait, this is about Phil Robertson being shamed for his views, you say. Of course is it. We’re in a dangerous time right now where Christian religious expression is suppressed while Miley Cyrus is allowed to do disgusting things on television with little or no consequence. The press is careful not to offend Muslims, but then attacks Christians who speak out. (Perhaps Christians need to start crashing planes into buildings, starting with MTV headquarters; maybe then we’ll get some respect.) I understand, but while it is the point, it’s also not the point, because Christians have a problem. We’re too focused on what we hate on the “outside” of the church while ignoring our problems “inside” the church, and it’s rotting the church from within. We cannot be a light to the world if we’re drowning in our own filth; going on TV, or any other public forum, to talk about other problems will not make the interior issues go away. In other words, the church has a big plank in its eye, which needs to be removed before we get the speck out of our brother’s eye. Sound familiar? Those are the lyrics from a Rolling Stones song. Mick Jagger died for our sins.

I’m as upset as the next guy about what’s going on between the Robertsons, A&E, and GLAAD. It will be easy for me to boycott A&E because I already don’t watch anything on the channel. Woo hoo, I’m super spiritual. I’m more saved than you because of that. First Hallucinations, Chapter Two.

I’m tired of a watered down church that claims to teach the truth but doesn’t even get close. If the church got close to telling the truth, there would be no money for the jumbotrons in the sanctuary upon which we see the pastor practice his TV face, because every knucklehead pastor wants to get on TV. Churches have too much fancy stuff these days. It’s like walking into an Apple store. If I’m giving you my money, it better be to keep the lights on and fund overseas missions, not pay for your fancy gee-whiz garbage.

Abortion and homosexuals are not the problem; a fallen world is the problem. If the world had not fallen, there would be no need for a Redeemer. Instead of talking about what we think the problem is, we need to talk about the message of Jesus. We need to take people to the Redeemer and let them make the decision. As we are in the Christmas season, there is no better time to do so. I would like to know what would have happened had Phil stuck to a gospel-style message instead of getting specific; perhaps the same thing; perhaps not. We’ll never know now because both sides are in a staring contest. And that is always productive.