I predicted privately some months ago that it would only be a matter of time before the media sniffed out the views of the Duck Dynasty guys about sexuality. I also predicted that when they did, their reception in the popular culture would turn on a dime. Well, here we are. In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, the “Duck Commander” Phil Robertson spoke candidly about his views. In particular, he identified homosexual behavior as sinful. In response, the A&E network has suspended Robertson from the television series indefinitely with this explanation:
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Letting go of family rancor at Christmas
Via Igniter Media.
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Who determines meaning? Author, text, or reader? Some thoughts on 1 Timothy 1:8.
How can you tell the difference between a good interpretation of a text and a bad interpretation? This is the fundamental question that every reader has to answer in trying to understand the message of scripture. The traditional approach has been to recognize the author as the ground and the guide of textual meaning. If you want to know the meaning of the text, then you must discern the author’s intent in writing that text.
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Being Against Gay Marriage Doesn’t Make You a Homophobe
Last April, Brandon Ambrosino authored one of the most compelling articles that I have read all year: “Being Gay at Jerry Falwell’s University.” Appearing in The Atlantic, the essay is his own story of coming out of the closet while he was an undergraduate at Liberty University. What riveted me about his account is how the Christians at Liberty University responded to the revelation of his sexuality. He had feared that they would want to stone him. But instead, he found out that quite the opposite happened. Even though professors and administrators believed homosexuality to be a sin, they loved him and embraced him with open arms. His expectations of…
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A humorous rebuke from Rhett and Link
These guys crack me up. Nevertheless, they’re onto something serious with this one.
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The Christmas Scale
The guys from Igniter Media seem to have a ceaseless flow of creative material. Some devotional, some humorous, but all really well done. Last year, they released “The Christmas Scale,” and it’s a classic. Watch it above. Purchase it here.
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The Left’s Total War on Religious Liberty
This editorial from National Review is wisdom crying out in the streets. It’s just plain old common sense, which for some reason has become increasingly uncommon these days. It takes on two popular tropes from the Left:
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Rob Bell has left the church for a “quasi-intentional spiritual community”?
Jim Hinch argues in The American Scholar that evangelicalism is on the decline in America. This thesis is not new. He’s accessing trends in polling data that evangelicals have been aware of for years. The article focuses on the demise of Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral as a parable of what’s happening in evangelicalism writ large. Hinch then argues that Rob Bell’s flight from the pastorate and from his own megachurch is a leading indicator of where younger evangelicals are trending. In short, they’re leaving the movement. And in Bell’s case in particular, they’re leaving the church altogether. Hinch writes:
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Boeing 777 struggles to land
(HT: Danny Akin)
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Albert Mohler gives a realist portrait of Mandela’s legacy
Albert Mohler encourages Christian readers to take a realistic view of Nelson Mandela’s legacy. While Mohler recognizes the achievements that led to Mandela’s Nobel Peace Prize, he also includes a provocative question about Mandela’s early career: When you think of Nelson Mandela and reflect on his life, and now on his death, there are many worldview issues that are immediately implicated. One of them has to do with the fact that Nelson Mandela was, by any honest analysis, a terrorist. That immediately raises a deep moral issue. How can someone be so honored who had at any point resorted to terrorism in order to achieve a political objective? Mohler follows…