“Jesus Christ was the most perfect being to ever walk this planet and he was persecuted and nailed to the cross, so please don’t be surprised when we get a little static.” ~ Phil Robertson @ Church on Sunday morningOn Sunday, the UK's DailyMail posted an exclusive story covering Phil Robertson's remarks made to his Bible study group that morning at the family's church in West Monroe, Louisiana. And unlike many faint of heart out there these days (including said media outlets), Mr. Phil's not backing down! (H/t: TheLid) FYI...I've bolded Phil's words, and I apologize ahead of time for the Mail's 'edu-ma-cated' punctuation...
During Sunday’s speech, he defended himself, saying he was simply quoting from the Bible and even went so far as to say Jesus could save gay people.
‘I love all men and women. I am a lover of humanity, not a hater,’ he added. But despite the criticism Robertson has faced, his family and local community have come to his defense and stood firmly behind him.
Just before Sunday’s Bible study class started, one church-goer actually thanked Robertson for his comments. Robertson replied: ‘I didn’t think much of it at all, but it seems a lot of other people did’.
And at the end of the session he led a defiant prayer, which included the words, ‘I will not give or back off from my path because you conquered death, Father, so we are not worried about all the repercussions.’
Earlier he stood in front of the small class, at White's Ferry Road Church wearing his full camouflage suit and addressed the group for around 45 minutes.
He said: ‘I have been immoral, drunk, high. I ran with the wicked people for 28 years and I have run with the Jesus people since and the contrast is astounding.'
'I tell people, "You are a sinner, we all are. Do you want to hear my story before I give you the bottom line on your story?"
‘We murder each other and we steal from one another, sex and immorality goes ballistic. All the diseases that just so happen to follow sexual mischief… boy there are some microbes running around now.
‘Sexual sins are numerous and many, I have a few myself. So what is your safest course of action? If you’re a man, find yourself a woman, marry them and keep your sex right there.
‘You can have fun, but one thing is for sure, as long as you are both healthy in the first place, you are not going to catch some debilitating illness, there is safety there.
‘Commonsense says we are not going to procreate the human race unless we have a man and a woman. From the beginning Jesus said, "It is a man and a woman." Adam was made and Eve was made for this reason. They left their fathers and mothers and be united to become one flesh, that’s what marriage is all about.
‘But we looked at it and said it was an outdated stereotype. When you look back at the human race, the sins have always been the same: We get high, we get drunk, we get laid, we steal and kill.
‘Has this changed at all from the time God burnt up whole cities because their every thought was evil?’
The piece continues with more from Phil's Bible study:
Then reading from the Bible he said, ‘The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Sexual immorality, is number one on the list. How many ways can we sin sexually? My goodness. You open up that can of worms and people will be mad at you over it.Who would have thought the lib press, especially this one from across the pond, would be in West Monroe, Louisiana attentive to every word of a Bible-thumpin' pioneer man? The Lord truly works in mysterious ways!
‘I am just reading what was written over 2000 years ago. Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom. All I did was quote from the scriptures, but they just didn’t know it. Whether I said it, or they read it, what’s the difference? The sins are the same, humans haven’t changed.
‘If you give them the bad news, they’ll start kicking and screaming. But you love them more than you fear them, so you tell them.
‘A lot of times they don’t even wait for you to finish and say, ‘But there’s a way out, do you want to hear the rest of the story or what?
‘Jesus will take sins away, if you’re a homosexual he’ll take it away, if you’re an adulterer, if you’re a liar, what’s the difference? If you break one sin you may as well break them all.
‘If we lose our morality, we will lose our country. It will happen. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all walk around without stealing from each other and killing each other?
‘Why don’t we just love each other enough that we wouldn’t want to do these things to each other?’ Robertson – who made his fortune from inventing and manufacturing hunting equipment before finding TV stardom – went on: ‘We are a bunch of rednecks from Louisiana, but I am not uneducated, I have a degree from Louisiana Tech.
'But this week I have been called an ignoramus. This week I have been asked, "Is this the first time you have brought up sin?" I said, "Are you kidding? I have been traveling to and fro spreading this message."
Then he said, "Well do you invite yourself to go and get your Bible and tell people what you are now sharing with us?" I said, "No they are inviting me."
‘I have made hundreds and hundreds of speeches and you can pick them apart and the center has always been Jesus Christ.
‘Do many people get up and walk out? Yeah, all the time, do I hold it against them? No. Anybody can get up and stop listening. We are all just humans on this planet.’
He added: ‘Jesus Christ was the most perfect being to ever walk this planet and he was persecuted and nailed to the cross, so please don’t be surprised when we get a little static.’
Related link: Cracker Barrel On Removing Duck Dynasty Products: Nevermind
In a separate Mail piece, it's becoming clearer that A&E was likely in on the setup...
theRightScoop: This is quite a revealing interview with an unidentified source close to the Duck Dynasty family. Not only do they believe A&E is trying to manipulate the family and Phil Robertson ‘back into line’ – meaning they are trying to keep Phil from succeeding at his desire to have more of a strong religious presence in the show – they also believe the show doesn’t sit well with A&E executives because much of America has identified with the family and instead of laughing AT a bunch of redneck hillbillies, they are WITH them.Which might explain all the backtracking now...
EntertainmentWeekly: Regardless of the current controversy and behind-the-scenes tension, A&E has every intention of keeping Phil Robertson on the air.Laughable, huh? As is the silliness of the feigned outrage.
A source close to the situation confirmed that when the network resumes airing new episodes of Duck Dynasty starting Jan. 15, footage featuring the Robertson patriarch will indeed remain intact. The network also hopes the media and fan furor will cool down over the holidays and that tensions over shooting future episodes can then be resolved.
Related link: TMZ: A&E says Phil Robertson fired because GAY employees were OUTRAGED
UPDATE: A&E ducked following Christmas...Phil's back on. Looks like they heard YOU!
