I never gave the A&E television show "Duck Dynasty' a chance. I generalized it along with all other "country-like" television shows that are becoming all the rage. I just thought that the show was a reality television show of some sort that followed this family who got rich off of duck calls and now have their own show to talk about it. I'm sure that many of you are in the same boat as me, and I'm also sure that many of you are no where near being in the same boat as me. Now, I'm not writing this blog to bash Duck Dynasty, the Robertson family, or the faithful viewers and lovers of the show. I'm just sharing how I feel about the current situation that has gotten everybody up in arms: Phil Robertson's comment. I figured with all of the fuss going on on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Tumblr, I might as well educate myself about who Phil is and what he stands for and why everyone is either hating him or loving him right now.
I watched a couple of episodes of Duck Dynasty and thought that it was a good show. I have nothing bad to say about it, and I did enjoy most of it while I watched it. I wanted to have a good mindset about the show when I decided to do some research on the current issue at hand. I began to watch multiple videos online of the comment that Phil made that got everyone's panties in a bunch, and I proceeded to watch and read more articles about his response to A&E's "suspending" of him on their television show. I can't say that I am surprised at the outcome of what happened, it's something that we can't be overwhelmingly distraught or upset about, but I found that I really appreciated how Phil responded to the never-ending attack of media-dogs hungering for his "plans to take back what was his" or "fight A&E's control of his show".
I found myself watching a documentary video, about 37 minutes long, all about Phil and his wife's history before the show and before the company. Phil talks all about his college life: alcohol, neglect, poor decisions everywhere on his part, as well as his wife's unconditional love for him and his children that she was taking care of at the time. Phil talked about his conversion to giving his life to Christ and how that changed his life completely, as we all see now. I just now finished watching another video that was taken at a conference that Phil spoke at in California; the title of this video was "Phil Robertson Talks About Why His Country Needs More Jesus". Now, if I had seen this title before I did all of my research, I would have moved on, thinking that it was another dumb Duck Dynasty fanatic's video. But now that I have gotten to know who Phil is and what he stands for, I decided to watch it, at least the beginning.
Phil tells a story about how he had the opportunity to convert and baptize a man that he had shared a conversation with over the telephone when the man had called to buy a duck call. He had called the buyer out on his excessive use of the Lord's name in vain and had challenged the caller to come over to his home to hear the Gospel of Jesus. Weeks later, there was a knock on the door and behold, the man who had called Phil was at Phil's doorstep along with one of his friends, waiting to hear what Phil had to say. After bringing tears out of the two men, Phil baptized them in a river by his home and sent them off. At the end of telling that story at the conference, Phil said this quote, "It doesn't matter to me what you say about me. It doesn't matter if you tell me that you hate me, that you don't like me, or that you can't stand the sight of me, I will love you, just as I had loved that man who wanted to buy a simple duck call and received salvation instead."
No matter what I think or what anyone else thinks, Phil Robertson is a man that is fighting to spread Christ's love on this earth. If you or I think that his television show is stupid, it doesn't change the fact that is heart is where all other believer's hearts should be, and that is fighting to change the world for Christ.
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