One More Quack!

Just in case some folks think that I fail to recognize that the action A&E took against Phil Robertson of "Duck Dynasty" is not a free-speech issue, I will reiterate why I stepped in and spoke up. I reissue this statement from one I posted on one of my friend's pages. I do so here with some additions.

The issue is not a matter of free speech, constitutionally defined. Nonetheless, it is a matter of tyranny against the freedom of speech by a large sector of society in the public square. In fact that sector of society, Christians, which is routinely told to shut up, is vastly larger than the homosexual sector of society that screams loudly in the public square with the aid of their obsequious and fawning media advocates who freely give them access to their communication outlets which are protected by the Constitution as free-speech mouthpieces.

Why should anyone be outraged over these things? It is because what takes place in the public square shapes the laws of the land. When tyrannical minority groups, such as GLAAD, gain ascendancy in the public square because they have advocates who hold media positions that magnify their voices in vastly disproportionate ways so as to sound like a majority of Americans, they acquire vastly disproportionate influence upon the political and legal realms of our society to shape laws and judicial actions that have already and will increasingly alter the Constitution and the nature of our society and culture.

Laws follow the morality of society and the framework of culture. Thus, as our culture deteriorates with moral deviancy defined downward so that vile and sinful behavior are now openly celebrated, having been elevated from "alternative lifestyle" status, those who engage in vile behavior not only are celebrated in the public square but also become increasingly protected by laws until it will become impossible to violate the law of the land when we condemn those vile and wicked behaviors that are already being celebrated in the public square and area already being protected by activist legislators and activist judges.

This is why we cannot dismiss what has happened to a backwater elderly hick from the swamps of a Southern state, Louisiana (I write these words with tongue in cheek, of course, for such is the way the Robertsons are viewed by GLAAD and their elitist media advocates.) This is why I raised my voice in open and candid opposition to GLAAD and their media advocates but also to fellow Christians who want Christians such as I to hush up and lay down the weapons of the gospel concerning this latest public square debate.

Give GLAAD and their advocates an inch and they will be our rulers.

Being salt and light, as Jesus instructs us to be, requires us to condemn evil and to commend good. I prefer to heed the directives of King Jesus than to obey fellow Christians who tell me to hush until a more opportune situation presents itself, which, evidently, they will assess for the rest of us and tell us when we should speak in the public square. No thanks! Since King Jesus is also the one who will judge me in the Last Day, I will heed him and speak out against the celebration of evil wherever, whenever, and against whomever it is being done, including a "hayseed" from the swamps of Louisiana.

Also worth reading.

Brian Mattson, Duck!

Doug Wilson, The Scars on Your Forearms

Doug Wilson, A Warehouse Full of Guile

Why I Give A Quack!

Someone asked, "What's your point in posting 'This Is Worth Quacking About!'? So, you disagreed with David Mathis, but you didn't offer an alternative prescription for action. What action are you suggesting that Christians should take?"

 

I offered responses initially on FaceBook.com. Here, I offer a couple of postings, this one and a follow-up, to explain why I offered a response to Mathis's blog entry and what it is that we are called to do and say as Christians. I'm not calling for radical activism. I am calling for well-balanced critical engagement of the culture and of our society that actually challenges and pushes back and refuses to be silent or to bullied into silence by activist elitist leftists and radicals who make their voices very loud because they own the mainstream media.

 

_______________________

 

Did not the apostle Paul admonish us, as Christians, to be wary of the devil's wily ways, of Satan's devices?

It is that wariness that prompted me to write and to publish my piece yesterday concerning the imbroglio of disagreement among Christians that is centered upon the A&E's firing of Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty for expressing his candid beliefs concerning the sinfulness of homosexuality when asked in an interview by GQ magazine. As I said yesterday, the issue is not whether A&E has a right to hire and fire. The issue is the tyranny of wickedness that spreads virally through society by exploiting speech codes imposed by the loudest sector of society, regardless how outnumbered that small sector actually is.

Well, today, Brian Mattson provides an excellent and insightful piece that explains the backstory to my piece in his blog entry, Duck!, though he and I did not converse about this matter. Nevertheless, because we both think biblically, he articulates precisely the thoughts that ignited my taking hold of my keyboard to write what I posted on FB and on my blog yesterday.

What Brian points out is how the devil schemes to impose his evil will upon all of us. If we do not resist those in the public square who feign offense at an outspoken Christian to accomplish their evil craving to bend our wills to do their will and the will of the devil, we will soon find that their exploitation of the tyranny of political correctness in the public square will become state-sponsored tyranny that will enforce the devil's evil will with the power of the sword.

This is why it is not only right but necessary to recognize that it is always seasonable to condemn sin and to uphold righteousness. Is it not? This seems to echo what the apostle Paul said to a young minister of the gospel in his own day.

As for being Christian citizens dwelling in the kingdoms of this world, if we wait until legislators and governors and presidents and judges add their full weight of the law to the cause of immorality, we will find ourselves ruing the day that we refused to engage evil when it was not yet in control of those who wield the sword. Have we not learned anything from history? Have we so quickly forgotten Martin Niemöller's famous quote?

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

If Christians in the USA wait until legislators and governors and presidents and judges determine what can and cannot be spoken concerning issues and sins that God's Word addresses and obligates us to address with candor and with love, then it will be too late. Will it not? Oh, wait, legislators and governors and presidents and judges already are making those determinations. Aren't they? They're doing it state by state.

When the President, who routinely imposes his kingly will upon us citizens by his edicts, speaks out in support of same-sex marriage, as he did in May 2012, what restrains him and those who prop him up from issuing an edict that moves his belief into law?