I’ll begin by admitting that I like Duck Dynasty and before I ever saw the show I used Duck Commander calls (they are quite good). Also, I’ll say that while I don’t agree with his wording or the possible implication in his words that he thinks homosexuality leads to bestiality, I do believe that the Bible teaches that homosexual sex is outside of God’s will for sex (this is alongside premarital, extramarital sex, and some other sexual endeavors). Most of my friends who are gay or lesbian know I think this way and I believe, and hope, that they know that I love them and want the same joys for them that I want for the rest of my friends. I’ll end my opening remarks by saying that I am more disturbed by Mr. Robertson’s apparently favorable view of the life of pre-civil rights African Americans and I don’t entirely know what to do with those remarks.
Here’s what I believe will most likely be the result of the whole kerfuffle. Many conservatives, regardless of their religious convictions and practices, will use this interview for their own agenda and many progressives, again regardless of their religious convictions and practices, will use this interview for their own agenda, and there will be little real discussion, conversation, and understanding that actually takes place. That’s the thing that saddens me the most. This will likely just lead to people standing behind their own barriers shouting names at the people on the other side. It will be even worse if the church, the community of God and God’s partner in spreading the gospel of His kingdom, gets sucked in by fear to thinking there is an “us” and a “them” in this whole thing.
Instead I hope to approach all of this with humility, knowing that my sin is just as great, if not greater, than anyone else’s. If I can remember that then I will better be able to discuss with gentleness and love what I believe to be other people’s sin. Neither neglecting the truth, nor falling into the temptation to define another person, who is also created in the image of God, by what I see as their sin rather than as another person loved by God.
If I can do this, then I think I will be focused more on Jesus’s agenda than on the agenda of the left or the right. His agenda seems to usually tick off people on both sides.