I didn't expect to add any more postings to this blog, but the Phil Robertson (Duck Dynasty patriarch) controversy over his GQ interview comments on homosexuality concerns me in many ways.
I could comment on the political correctness issues or the attacks on religious liberty or the liberal/conservative tensions, but those things have been around for years and have received plenty of comments.
What caught my eye was the official Duck Dynasty response found at www.duckcommander.com. Included in that response is the following statement: Phil is a Godly man who follows what the Bible says are the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Let me begin by saying Robertson's interview is a strange expression of "Love your neighbor as yourself."
I suppose he thought he was doing a loving thing by witnessing to the interviewer and saying Americans should repent of their sin and accept Jesus as Savior. When asked what he thought was sinful, Robertson responded, "“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men." Considering all that the Bible says, I found this a strange and generally unhelpful way to explain sin.
How different things might have gone if Robertson's response had defined sin as something other than sex. Suppose he had talked about pride or materialism or prejudice? Surely that would have been less like preaching and more like a heart-to-heart talk.
Discussing the prejudice with which we all struggle, however, would almost certainly not have come easily to Robertson. When asked about growing up in the south during the pre-civil rights era, he commented that he had never seen the mistreatment of any black person. Those he saw during this "pre-entitlement, pre-welfare" era "...were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”
The naiveté of these comments on race relations and the harshness of some of his other statements in the interview reflect little grasp of either the depth of sin or the breadth of grace.
I believe Phil Robertson's family when they speak of the central role God plays in his life; I also believe he has a long way to go in his spiritual journey, especially if he keeps trying to convert those he hasn't bothered to understand at all with a gospel he hasn't bothered to understand much either.
Perhaps this time in Phil Robertson's life will give him a unique opportunity to grow in grace and become more like Jesus. And perhaps it will give all of us an opportunity to reflect on what it means to "love your neighbor as yourself."
