I've been up and down this Duck Dynasty thing probably more than I'd like over the last few days. We've had the pontifications of Britol Palin, and most recently the amazing revelation by her mother unit on Faux News that She Never Even Read the GQ Article before she decided to go out and start defending what Phil said.
“I haven’t read the article,” Palin admitted, clearing her throat. “I don’t know exactly how he said it. But, Greta, what he was doing was in response to a question about a lifestyle that he disagrees with. And yet he has said over and over again, he doesn’t hate the person engaging in a lifestyle he disagrees with. But in response, he was quoting the Gospel.”
“So people who are so insulted and offended by what he said, evidently, are offended by what he was quoting in the Gospel. So that’s another interesting aspect in all of this.”
So obviously in the
Palin-verse which exists in it's own vibratory dimensional plane and is only loosely related to - um - our reality, it's not Phil whose been hateful, (Even when he said being Gay leads to Bestiality, and that "
Homosexuals are Full of Evil, Full of Murder"), it's other people who are
Hateful of the Gospel?
Um. The "Gospels" include the Books by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who were members of the original 12 apostles and documented for us the life and sayings of Jesus. The "Gospels" do not include the Books Romans or Corinthians or Timothy by Paul - who never even met Jesus.
Phil quoted Corinthians, not "The Gospels".
I'm willing to bet that Bristol didn't read the GQ article and doesn't know which are "Gospels" and which aren't either.
But here's the thing, being lazy in the reading and comprehension department might not be a coincidence. Some people often hear what they want to hear despite what's really being said or written.
As another Dkos Commenter in one of my previous Diaries on this pointed out, that just may be the case with much of Phil's anti-gay rhetoric.
If you'd like, you could consider this my personal gift to the Christian Community (both pro and ani-gay) on this Christmas Eve. You're welcome. Merry Christmas and have a Happy Holiday Season.
The Apostle Paul, who is one of the primary sources for the "God Hates Fags" signs, may not have been even talking about gay people, let alone gay marriage when his criticized and condemned them in Romans and Corinthians as original paraphrased by Phil in GQ.
Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
This commenter noted that
Phil did not quote scripture accurately.
He claimed the verse condemns "homosexual offenders," which is wildly incorrect. That term wasn't even invented until 1869. Other translations say "sodomite." Also wrong. The translation you cite says "men who have sex with men." The original Greek word is arsenokoiti. And it is not AT ALL clear what it means. Some scholars suggest it may refer to pedophiles. But no one knows for sure.
This wasn't a term that was in common use at the time, Paul may have actually invented it. From what I can quickly look up from the
Christian Research Institute that it may refer to persons who are married who hire and use male and/or femaie child prostitutes. So in context when is says "male prostitutes and arsenokoiti" it means male prostitutes and
married men who hire child prostitutes.
So what is the proper contextual meaning of this mysterious Greek word? The convincing argument from history that Paul is putting forth, White says, is a condemnation of the “married men who hired hairless young boys (malakois) for sexual pleasure just as they hired smooth-skinned young girls for that purpose.”8
In light of this interpretation of the meaning of arsenokoitai, White concludes with an emotional appeal: “Responsible homosexuals would join Paul in condemning anyone who uses children for sex, just as we would join anyone else in condemning the threatened gang rape in Sodom or the behavior of the sex-crazed priests and priestesses in Rome. So…this passage says…nothing about homosexuality as we understand it today.”
Just to be fair I tried a different source, and found this at
religioustolerance.org.
What does "arsenokoitai" really mean?
Nobody knows for certain.
"Arsenokoitai" is made up of two parts: "arsen" means "man"; "koitai" means "beds."
Although the word in English Bibles is interpreted as referring to homosexuals, we can be fairly certain that this is not the meaning that Paul wanted to convey. If he had, he would have used the word "paiderasste." That was the standard Greek term at the time for sexual activity between males. We can conclude that he probably meant something different than people who engaged in male-male adult sexual behavior.
Many sources have speculated about the meaning of "arsenokoitai:"
- "Homosexual offenders:" The NIV contains this phrase. Suppose for the moment that Paul had attacked "heterosexual offenders" or "heterosexual sexual offenders." We would not interpret this today as a general condemnation of heterosexuality. It would be seen as an attack only on those heterosexuals who commit sexual offences. Perhaps the appropriate interpretation of this verse is that it does not condemn all homosexuals. Rather it condemns only those homosexuals who engage in sexual offences (e.g. child sexual abuse, rape, unsafe sex, manipulative sex, coercive sex, etc).
- Male prostitutes in Pagan temples: One source states that the Septuagint (an ancient, pre-Christian translation of the Old Testament into Greek made between the 3rd and 1st century BCE) translated the Hebrew "quadesh" in I Kings 14:24, 15:12 and 22:46 into a Greek word somewhat similar to "arsenokoitai." This passage referred to "male temple prostitutes" -- people who engaged in ritual sex in Pagan temples. 1 Some leaders in the early Christian church also thought 1 Corinthians was referring to temple prostitutes. Some authorities believe that it simply means male prostitutes with female customers - a practice which appears to have been a common practice in the Roman empire.
This site goes on to consider that
arsenokoiti may also mean Pimps and/or Masterbators, but it's fairly clear that it
doesn't mean "Homosexuals".
In either case, using two independent Christian Scholarly Sources it appears that Phil - like many other Hater Christians, including those named "Palin" - actually don't know what their talking about. One thing that Paul wasn't talking about, even if you use the term "Homosexual Offenders" was not Gay People in general. I think damn near all of us, Gay or Straight, can get on board with the idea of condemning the use of children as prostitutes, male or female, let alone Rape and Molestation.
That's a no brainer, or a Palin-brainer as the case may be.
On top of that, most pedophiles - are not necessarily Gay - even when they victims are mostly male boys. This is an act of violence and forcible rape of a minor, not love, not devotion, not commitment. Yes, that certainly should be condemned - and if Phil had Said That there would be little argument from hardly anyone.
But he didn't.
And what was said about "Black People being 'Happy' during Jim Crow" is a complete crock. I'm Black. My Family is from Shreveport, LA. which is right next to Monroe, LA where the Robertson's are based. Shreveport hosts the State Fair and I grew up hearing stories of how Black people weren't allowed to attend the Fair until it's very last day - by which time many of the exhibits were in the process of being dismantled. This didn't change until all the black attendees decided to protest and boycott the Fair on that one day, in the 60's, the exact period and in the exact same place where Phil Robertson says he "Never Saw anyone mistreated". If he ever went to the State Fair when it was segregated, he didn't just see it - he lived it and participated in it. And if he grew up where my mother and family grew up and didn't know this was the case, he's either a damn fool or he thinks the rest of us are.
Vyan