Let me take one last quack at this….……
O.K. pull up a chair and let me take one more swing at making my point. It is the season of peace and joy, and my remarks have not contributed to peace or joy, or so says my wife. We went to church this morning and I was continuing to grumble and she let me know, in no uncertain terms, she was tired of it, and would like to move on to Christmas in peace. Got it, she’s right, so this is my last attempt to clear the air and then I will in fact move on to better, more pleasant subjects….
Let me share with you what, about all this, that got me so exercised. On the second day after the Duck Dynasty thing blew up, I was obsessed with hearing what all the news channels had to say about it, (big mistake)! I know I don’t have to tell you that I’m a born again, evangelical, politically conservative, Christian. That being said, the one TV news outlet that I never watch, because their take on the world is 180 degrees polar opposite from mine, is MSNBC. When I turned over to see what they had to say, two commentators were discussing the issue. To be honest, they were being pretty even handed about Phil Robertson’s right to say whatever he believes, (free speech issue), but I nearly fell out of my chair when they said, “This is and example of extreme hate speech.” I find this to be beyond comprehension!
So as I see it, this is what happened. Phil Robertson did and interview with GQ magazine. During that interview he was asked if he thought being gay was a sin. He should have said, and I quote, “According to my faith, God says it is.” He did say that but he added some descriptions and his opinion about why would a man would prefer another man versus a woman in some rather graphic terms. But essentially he simply answered the question and said, yes in God’s eyes, it is. The MSNBC translation is, “if you say something we don’t agree with or don’t won’t to hear, it’s Hate Speech.”
The Christian faith is based on the belief that there is a God, and He loves us above all else. He loved us so much that He sent His Only Son to serve as an example for us, and then died on a cross to pay the debt of our sins. Our faith teaches that there is no other way to receive forgiveness than to accept Him, repent, and ask for His forgiveness. If I suggest to a sinner, (keep in mind that I am a fully confessed, but forgiven, sinner myself), that all they have to do to be forgiven is confess to God, repent, (which means turn away from that sin), and receive His forgiveness. How is that hate speech? Wouldn’t that be Love Speech??!!
If you do not believe in God, and if you do not believe that anything written in the bible applies to you, I can understand your rejecting what I’ve said here. But even if you think I am wrong and I’m believing in a fairy tale, why would my, in good faith, trying to help you, be hate speech? Wouldn’t I be just kindly, mis-guided
I don’t know much about what happens on MSNBC or TV shows that depict the gay lifestyle, because I don’t watch them. Since I’m not interested in what they portray, I simply don’t go there. If someone thought I was a fool for believing as I do why wouldn’t they just avoid people like me. This is my point. An atheist organization hung up a billboard in New York that said who needs Christ in Christmas? If you don’t believe there is a god, why would you waste your time poking your finger in the eyes of those that do?
I’ll tell you why, because the agenda is being driven in the spiritual realm. The opposing forces to God, (and I’m not talking about human beings), are encouraging the culture war. Nothing would serve the enemy more than to turn us against each other, and deepen our hatred for each other’s actions and beliefs. Jesus said love your enemy and pray for them. Can you see how this attitude defeats evil? I was too quick to try and defend myself, I should have been calmer and recognized where the criticism came from. Let’s have the kind of Christmas God meant for us to have, starting with confessing our sins and accepting Him, and then forgiving those that have hurt or harmed us. Their is no hate in loving others and praying for them.
Merry Christmas,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 22nd, 2013 at 4:33 pm
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I have a question. Not trying to start anything. Just curious. “that all they have to do to be forgiven is confess to God, repent, (which means turn away from that sin), and receive His forgiveness.” Now my question. Don’t you have to be baptized to be saved?
Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
By the word “and,” doesn’t that mean you do?
I understand I’m going to step on toes and make people mad. Over the last bit of time in my life I’ve been elevating myself and the fact that I slipped away from God. I’ve been trying to become a better person and follow His Word. This is where the question comes in. I’m not really sorry of anyone is offended. It’s going to happen. If curiousity killed the human, I’ve would’ve been gone long ago.
Thank you kindly.
Baptism is something most believers desire to do after accepting Christ but salvation is predicated on accepting Christ alone!
There are some branches of the Christian faith that do believe that baptism is required to go to heaven. This is one of the prime differences between faiths that say you must baptize babies and those that say you should wait until they are older and let individuals make decisions about their faith before they are baptized. The “let’s wait” crowd believes that baptism is an outward showing of your inward faith, not a requirement. It is a public display of your excitement as a new Christian to follow in Christ’s lead. I personally believe that the Bible is pretty clear that in the path to Christian salvation you need to place your faith in Jesus Christ and accept that he is your savior (which implies you know that you need to be saved from something – sin), and then repent of your sins. There are many verses that talk about salvation without talking about baptism (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 3:9). If you sincerely accept Jesus as your Savior and ask him to forgive you then you will be forgiven and you can be in God’s presence in Heaven. It doesn’t mean life will be any easier or that you won’t continue to sin, but a loving Savior already paid the price for that sin and you can continue to count on Christ’s grace to forgive you, and the Holy Spirit to guide you away from sin.
You’ll note that Mark says, “but whoever does not believe will be condemned” at the end of 16:16 which implies that believing is the key part of the verse. At the time that was written if you became a new believer you were baptized as soon as possible, if not immediately. The term “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” was rolling baptism automatically into the process of becoming a new believer, not making it a requirement of salvation. Grammatically, it’s like saying “whoever gets a loan and a new car will make loan payments” – the loan and the payments are the important part. The fact that you are buying a car with that money could be left out of the sentence without changing the meaning that if you get a loan you have to make payments. Or, for example, if you are allergic to nuts and I say “if you eat these nuts and sit here and read a book you will get hives” then you will get the hives, but it had nothing to do with sitting there and reading book, despite the “and” statement. I believe that those who read this verse as saying baptism is part of salvation are ignoring the many places where baptism is not mentioned as part of salvation and are using a false positive inference. They are assuming that if I say something is true then I can assume the opposite is false which doesn’t always work. If I say a cat with stripes is a mammal, I can’t say the opposite that if the cat doesn’t have stripes it isn’t a mammal, or that a dog isn’t a cat so it can’t be a mammal. Saying “he who believes and is baptized will be saved” is different than saying “he who believes but is not baptized will not be saved” because based on the many other verses that say belief is the key, not baptism, that is an illogical inference.
Whether you believe in infant or adult baptism I still love you as a fellow sinner and consider you a brother in Christ if you believe Christ is your savior, and we can still do God’s work together!
If Phil Robertson was Jewish or even Muslim and made those remarks this would have never made the media, it is only politically correct to bash Christians. Have a blessed Christmas!
Love you man, have a Merry Blessed Christmas!
Bill, first off thank you for your kind and reasoned responses and comments.
I agree with you that Phil Robertson expressed his views in a very inartful fashion. When you are making a fortune being a star on a major TV show you have an added responsibility to express yourself with a certain dignity and class. Phil is smart enough to know that. I have also heard and read Phil express the Gospel in a much more tasteful and articulate manner.
Second, I still don’t feel that Christians are this down and out entity in America. I think this sense of persecution is overblown and unfortunately exploited by some in the media who make a great deal of money doing so. And yes, I learned a while ago that if you watch the news outlets enough, it will depress and upset you. The news media is not in the truth business, it is in the business of reporting the negative aspects of life in the ways that stir up the most controversy. Go to any city for the first time and turn on the local news. If you formed your impression of the city from its news, you would deduce that any and every city was dominated by crime and tragic accidents.
The great majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians. In spite of any so called political correctness, Christmas is still the most major holiday of the year, and I can turn on any radio station of any genre and hear Christmas songs playing, many which make very explicit references to the real Christmas story and not Santa Claus and the like. In short, to me in American the Christian faith still dominates the landscape.
As to hypotheticals, imagine of someone of Phil’s standing uttered anti-semitic comments…would anyone object to his being called out for that? And I do believe that if a Muslim or person of any other faith were to make similar comments, they would meet the same outcome. It’s just that in America, you could not sell a show based on a Muslim…because here the Christian faith still dominates. The very fact that the Duck Dynasty show exists is proof that Christianity is very popular in America. Indeed, Christianity is big business in America.
Ironically, I believe that the biggest obstacle to the Christian faith in America is a kind of cultural Christianity that at times seems to worship Americanism and capitalism moreso than Jesus. I know Christians who spend more hours listening to Rush Limbaugh than reading their Bible or listening to pastors. It’s a more subtle threat, but a larger one than any other counter religion or ideology.
Sometimes overlooked is the fact that Phil Robertson not only made his comments on homosexuality, but seemed to wax nostalgiac for the Jim Crow pre-civil rights era. He made the unfortunate reference to his idea that African Americans in pre-civil rights America were “happy” and everything somehow better. I don’t believe Phil did this out of any racial animosity, but out of a total ignorance of this history. But it’s not helpful for him to trivialize the suffering of an entire race of people that did occur.
At the end of the day, though, it comes down to love of God and the fact that the most powerful response we have is love. Merry Christmas to all!
Peace on earth , good will toward men!
Never hurts to listen to your wife. I know. God gave us both good ones.
Merry Christmas
You bet on both points!
http://www.qideas.org/blog/a-call-for-peace-among-christians-this-christmas.aspx
If you all have the time, please read these very thoughtfully crafted words by Rebekah Lyons. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas……..Peace and May God Bless
Bill,
Your first response struck a chord with me…so too your second.
By the way, my Duck Commander Call arrived today…..
God Bless and have a very Merry Christ Mass and a Spirit Filled New Year.
Bob
Dear Bill,
Brother, it would appear that we are losing this battle, although I know He is in charge and ultimately He will win. The fact that Christianity is so maligned and battered, is just another reproof to me that what we believe is true. Think about it, does someone say, “Oh Buddha!” when they are frustrated, or whack their thumb with a hammer? Nope! Does anyone take Muhammed’s name in vain in exasperation ? Nope! Do allow all the other faiths more freedom than Christianity in most cases? Yup! You know why, because it’s true and the enemy wants to take a swipe at it every chance he gets. Same reason the left brings the sky down on an effective conservative, fear of the truth, and you know how the enemy hates the truth. So, while we must stand up and continue the good fight, take heart in how we are treated, it’s only because Christianity is the real deal. He is coming back, and it won’t be pretty.
Hope to spend some time with you in 2014! Until then, Joy, Peace and Blessings to you and yours.
Sincerely,
Jim Wilson
Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the net the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries that they plainly do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Someone once reminded me that we never rllleay know. God judges the heart, we can only judge words and actions. We see the effects in life, God knows the causes. even if your father wasn’t what you or I would call a true believer,’ God knows enough to judge not the if’ but the why’, and act accordingly. Have faith in his love, and his compassion.
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!