Peter Jones on the Duck Dynasty fallout

My dear Friends,
I think this is perhaps a good place to make a stand with a fellow believer, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, who outrageously stuck his neck out about homosexuality in an interview with GQ, like Hobby Lobby and others in the public domain. He merely quoted Scripture and expressed God’s love for all sinners. In the future, that is all we at TruthXchange can do as well. I have signed up to support his stand. Perhaps you could do the same and send this petition to as many believers as you know. Apparently, not everyone agrees. David Mathis of Desiring God says: "Let’s lay down the weapons on this one. There will be other ducks to shoot,” dismissing the affair as mere commercialism. For me, it may be one of the last occasions where such a stand could hope to have some success. If the star of the number 1 show on cable TV can be immediately thrown off his show by the power of the homosexual lobby, then we have an incredibly convincing indication of just how enormous that power is in our present culture. But this might be an appropriate occasion to test that power. Is it mere bravado or is it true that the simple fact of citing Scripture on this subject can be successfully defined as no longer permissible in the public square? This has nothing to do with constitutional rights of free speech. It is what the powers in the culture or public opinion allow or disallow as acceptable discourse.
A friend wrote to me the other day saying: "I have never heard an argument against homosexual marriage that is even remotely persuasive to someone who does not accept the authority of Scripture.” I think he is right. The only serious argument against homosexuality, the argument St. Paul employs, involves a definition of who God is and who we are, made in His image. This really means that there is no calm, objective “discussion” of this issue. It is who we are as God made us, stamped on the very essence of our being. Rejection of that essence is the very nature of human rebellion. In our culture, from now on, the face-off must take place at the level of presuppositions, where people’s souls and deep commitments are involved. That is why charges of “hatred” are immediately thrown around. Truth cannot be allowed to be heard in any kind of public forum. To dabate truth is to give it too much recognition. The face-off is finally spiritual, between the truth and the lie, between God and Satan. The real conflict is now out in the open. As a Christian lawyer said to me yesterday, in 10 to 15 years preaching the Gospel, will be considered “hate speech.” Wisdom and love are essential, but let’s not be surprised when we are met by visceral venom, and not because we lack love. The frail young woman, Blandina, was thrown to the beasts in Lyons in 177 AD saying just one thing--“sum christianus.”
Obviously this will not ultimately stop the progress of the pagan colossus, but it may give us a little more time to get our act together and more time for God’s word to be heard in our streets.
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. (Isa 59:14-15)
May God grant us wisdom in this difficult times,
Your servant in the Lord,
Peter Jones