I have read Phil Robertson’s remarks. I have watched the subsequent responses from A&E and the gay community.
The truth is that crude language about sexuality is common. People tend to refer to themselves in an “earthy” way. Phil talks like my dad and granddad did. My reading of the prophets reveals that even they, under divine inspiration, spoke with crude words to emphasize the depths of Israel’s sin. Too often our proper English translations of the Scriptures rob the inspired words of their intended grit. That is the language which is being suppressed. How dare we speak of one’s sexuality as sinful! How dare Phil Robertson associate homosexuality with bestiality? How dare we define marriage as a civil covenant between one man and one woman?
The real point of offense in this controversy is the word “sin.” No one likes the word. It carries so many negative connotations that are inappropriate for a culture that craves affirmation. But then why is everyone’s default defense, “I’m not perfect?” It seems that we are willing to acknowledge our many imperfections, but how dare we use the word “sinner?”
Further, to suggest that someone is a sinner is to commit an intolerable offense. “Don’t judge me!” We hear it all the time, normally when someone is caught in their “I’m not perfect” moment as they are seeking to be excused. So, in this “I’m not perfect” culture that doesn’t want to be judged, to suggest that we might need to repent is utterly preposterous. Why should I repent if none of us is perfect and the only real “sin” is to be judgmental?
Since we prefer an “I’m not perfect” culture in which no one should be judged we have no need of grace, unless of course we redefine the word grace to mean “tolerance.” So, the brave, new, enlightened world is one is which imperfect humans live in self-justification perpetually tolerating everyone’s imperfections. The only thing we must not tolerate are the religious types who quote antiquated words insisting that we are sinners. These people must not be tolerated; instead, they must be suppressed.
A self-justified world is a self-righteous world in which everyone does what is right in their own eyes. An “I’m not perfect” culture is a corrupted culture that revels in its own dis-ease. A culture of blind tolerance empowers self-righteous, corrupted, and dis-eased humans so that human civilization is locked into a downward spiral into a black hole from which there is no escape.
Into the darkness of this lost world, a light suddenly appears. From the shadows a bearded man emerges and proclaims, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
