{"id":9462,"date":"2013-12-22T16:33:15","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T16:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=9462"},"modified":"2013-12-22T18:26:51","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T18:26:51","slug":"let-me-take-one-last-quack-at-this%e2%80%a6-%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=9462","title":{"rendered":"Let me take one last quack at this\u2026.\u2026…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

O.K. pull up a chair and let me take one more swing at making my point. \u00a0It is the season of peace and joy, and my remarks have not contributed to peace or joy, or so says my wife. \u00a0We 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. \u00a0Got 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\u2026.<\/p>\n

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Let me share with you what, about all this, \u00a0that got me so exercised. \u00a0On 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)! \u00a0I 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. \u00a0When I turned over to see what they had to say, two commentators were discussing the issue. \u00a0To 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.” \u00a0I find this to be beyond comprehension!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So as I see it, this is what happened. \u00a0Phil Robertson did and interview with GQ magazine. During that interview he was asked if he thought being gay was a sin. \u00a0He should have said, and I quote, \u00a0“According to my faith, God says it is.” \u00a0He 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. \u00a0But essentially he simply answered the question and said, yes in God’s eyes, it is. \u00a0The MSNBC translation is, “if you say something we don’t agree with or don’t won’t to hear, it’s Hate Speech.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Christian faith is based on the belief that there is a God, and He loves us above all else. \u00a0He 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. \u00a0Our faith teaches that there is no other way to receive forgiveness than to accept Him, repent, and ask for His forgiveness. \u00a0If I suggest to a sinner, (keep in mind that I am a fully confessed, but forgiven, sinner myself), \u00a0that all they have to do to be forgiven is confess to God, repent, (which means turn away from that sin), and receive His forgiveness. \u00a0How is that hate speech? \u00a0Wouldn’t that be Love Speech??!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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. \u00a0But 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? \u00a0Wouldn’t I be just kindly, mis-guided<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t know much about what happens on MSNBC or TV shows that depict the gay lifestyle, because I don’t watch them. \u00a0Since I’m not interested in what they portray, I simply don’t go there. \u00a0If someone thought I was a fool for believing as I do why wouldn’t they just avoid people like me. \u00a0This is my point. \u00a0An atheist organization hung up a billboard in New York that said who needs Christ in Christmas? \u00a0If you don’t believe there is a god, why would you waste your time poking your finger in the eyes of those that do?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ll tell you why, because the agenda is being driven in the spiritual realm. \u00a0The 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. \u00a0Jesus said love your enemy and pray for them. \u00a0Can you see how this attitude defeats evil? \u00a0I was too quick to try and defend myself, I should have been calmer and recognized where the criticism came from. \u00a0Let’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. \u00a0Their is no hate in loving others and praying for them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Merry Christmas,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the pilgrim<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

O.K. pull up a chair and let me take one more swing at making my point. \u00a0It is the season of peace and joy, and my remarks have not contributed to peace or joy, or so says my wife. \u00a0We went to church this morning and I was continuing to grumble and she let me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9462"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9467,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462\/revisions\/9467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}