![\"Brieitbart](\"https:\/\/infanttheology.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/milo_yiannopoulos_journalist_broadcaster_and_entrepreneur-1441_8961808556_cropped.jpg?w=240\")
Post by Nathan Rinne<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n I recently watched a couple of interviews (here<\/a> and here<\/a>) the ever controversial Breitbart journalist Milo Yiannopoulos<\/a> did with \u201cDuck Dynasty\u201d patriarch Phil Robertson about his new movie \u201cTorchbearer\u201d. According to an article<\/a> from the same Breitbart news, the film\u2019s \u201cthesis\u201d is that \u201csin has become mainstream in Western culture, which will soon lead to societal\u00a0destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n Yiannopoulos himself, a vigorous proponent and practitioner of free speech, identifies as both gay (flauntingly so) and Roman Catholic, and so I wondered how he would interact with Robertson, who a few years ago was fired (and then re-hired<\/a> following protests) for remarks about the sinfulness of homosexuality.<\/p>\n Christian persecution is a topic of the aforementioned film, and according to Yiannopoulos\u2019 boss Alexander Marlow, he was \u201cvery touched\u201d during the film at the Cannes festival in France (where the interviews also took place). In Yiannopoulos\u2019 own words, during the movie he was often \u201cclutching [his] crucifixes and having tearful moments.\u201d His being greatly affected by the film was in evidence during the interviews as well, as he complemented Robertson about the movie: \u201cit even changed my mind about you\u2026. I thought \u2018this guy is smart and compassionate \u2013 I want to meet this guy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Recently, at a talk at the University of California \u2013 Santa Barbara, Yiannopoulos expounded on matters like these further, in response to the question \u201chow do you reconcile being a Roman Catholic and a homosexual\u201d. He began by politely suggesting that the man asking the question did not really understand Catholicism, stating in part (see full comment here<\/a>) the following:<\/p>\n The Catholic church is different from the Anglican strain of Christianity not just because they\u2019re wrong\u2026.I can\u2019t remember who said this, but people are Anglicans\u2026 they\u2019re Baptists or Methodists or whatever because they believe they\u2019re good people. Well, Catholics are Catholics because they know they\u2019re not\u2026. we have this thing called original sin\u2026.we go to church because we know we\u2019re not good, and I think for me at least, at least certainly living the lifestyle I do, that\u2019s a more honest approach to theology than other sorts of Christianity have to offer.[ii]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n First of all, when it comes to his claim that some of these groups attribute goodness to human nature \u2013 and hence themselves personally \u2013 this does, in fact, describe the views of many liberal Protestants (not to mention Catholics!). Furthermore, even though many conservative Anglicans, Baptists and Methodists would undoubtedly take issue with Yiannopoulos\u2019 claim here, whether or not the struggle that the Apostle Paul describes with his sinful nature, or flesh (see Romans 7 and Galatians 5) \u2013 as when he cries out \u201cwho will rescue me from this body of death?\u201d \u2013 applies to Paul as a Christian (and hence to Christians today) is evidently an open question in even many of these more conservative churches. So far at least, this \u201chabitual sinner\u201d can really identify<\/a> (throughout our lives we each face our own particular crosses, temptations\u2026and even sins) with Yiannopoulos\u2019 rather striking answers.<\/p>\n And yet, then we get to the issues of Yiannopoulos\u2019 comments about \u201cliving the lifestyle I do\u201d. Is there a fight vs. sin here, or a sense of resignation due to the futility of fighting? Here, it seems, is the crux of the issue, and this is where my challenge to Yiannopoulos lies. He playfully kids about not having feelings<\/a>, and doesn\u2019t put a lot of stock in how \u201cfact-free\u201d people \u201cfeel\u201d. So here I note that however much \u2013 or little \u2013 Christians have disagreed among themselves, they have, until only very recently, always claimed to be putting forth Scriptural teachings that, because they do not change<\/em>, are able to give us the hope we so desperately need. In short, because these teachings are rooted in the very character of God Himself, His eternal law and eternal Gospel do not change \u2013 they, as Robertson was keen to point out, offer an anchor of stability and goodness we can trust\u2026<\/p>\n And what this means is that those teachings have always been seen by Christians as something we today call \u201cobjective\u201d (just subtract any Enlightenment connotations from it!) \u2013 i.e. they exist in a certain way no matter what we, personally, might feel about them (for more, see part 2. here<\/a>) This, of course, holds true even for \u201cthe most fabulous supervillain on the internet.\u201d To put this delicately to Milo (and I hope he sees this), is it not hard to claim allegiance to Jesus Christ when one is frequently giving the impression that he doesn\u2019t need or want His forgiveness \u2013 at least for this or that thing He calls \u201csin\u201d?[iii]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n This forgiveness, of course, is something far more personal than the removal of the threat of punishment \u2013 it is, in fact, the act of continuing in, or the act of being ushered into, the closest of relationships with Almighty God Himself. It is because of the fact of this relationship that when He calls us \u201csinners\u201d and calls our desires and actions \u201csins\u201d, we are able to not only bear with this, but actually able to exult and glory in His companionship! As the One who rescues us from sin, death, and the devil through His atoning death and resurrection, He is our lovely Alpha (and Omega) \u2013 worthy of our highest honor, praise, and worship!<\/p>\n For non-Christians reading this, let me be clear: when it comes to considering our sins vis a vis<\/em> such a One, there need be no \u201canimus\u201d towards any particular kind of sinner here. In other words, when it comes to particular Christians retaining these traditional views, there may well be as little \u201chomophobia\u201d in this or that case (here<\/a> is what I published the day after last year\u2019s Obergefell decision \u2013 homophobic?) as there is with Mr. Yiannopoulos\u2019 purported misogyny, racism, or \u201ctransphobia\u201d. This is something I have no doubt he would say \u201cAmen\u201d to.[iv]<\/a> Blanket charges of \u201cbigotry\u201d and \u201canimus\u201d towards more traditional viewpoints like ours[v]<\/a> are not only careless \u2013 they are, frankly, without a whiff of reason (just because I tell my children they are wrong when they are wrong, for example, doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t love them).<\/p>\n In sum, to talk about the importance of all Christians<\/em> acknowledging and confessing all of their sins <\/em>is not to exult in self-righteousness (\u201cI thank God we \u2018good Christians\u2019 are not like other men\u201d) \u2013 thinking one is a Christian because one, over and against one\u2019s fellow human beings, is or does good.<\/p>\n At the same time, neither is it to assert that our sin cannot sabotage the Christian life God grants. For example, when it comes to particularly nefarious and soul-killing sins like self-righteousness (a species of pride), perhaps Milo might readily say \u201cAmen!\u201d to what one Lutheran Christian on Twitter recently said: \u201cLord, forgive my sin. More importantly, forgive my righteousness, by which I suppose I have no sin, or little sin, or not as much as others.\u201d<\/p>\n The advice is sound \u2013 even as we also realize that such righteousness would not be the true righteousness Christ creates \u201cin us\u201d (sanctification) by His being \u201cfor us\u201d (justification), outside of us (see 2 Cor. 5). Such \u201crighteousness\u201d would rather be that which our \u201cold Adam\u201d claims \u2013 for it is we according to our sinful nature who are always eager not only to count and measure our progress over and against others \u2013 but to earn God\u2019s final approval!<\/p>\n But that we cannot do, nor should we try. As the controversial Roman Catholic writer and renegade priest Brennan Manning said, it is like a plumber looking at Nigara Falls and saying \u201cI think I can fix this\u201d (read Romans 3!). No \u2013 for us it is simply as Jesus said: \u201cSo you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, \u2018We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.\u2019\u201d (Luke 17:10). And the approval that ultimately matters comes in the peace and certainty He gives in, with, and through His own beloved Son\u2019s sacrifice for us (see Rom. 5:1 and I John 5:12-13) \u2013 we stand before Him not because we are good, but He is. Of this we may be reminded again when we pray \u201cLord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.\u201d<\/p>\n Grace for sinners indeed! We bow to our kind Lord and Master \u2013 and perhaps kiss His feet and wipe them with our tears.<\/p>\n I am indeed pleased that Milo wants to identify with Jesus Christ and the great Christian tradition. And yet, if he is going to endeavor to speak for it, I would hope that he would be at great pains to accurately represent it. When something is as good as this \u2013 \u201cas good as it gets\u201d in fact! \u2013 you don\u2019t want to get it wrong.<\/p>\n Dive in \u201cNero\u201d. Jesus Christ, always provocative, had the utter nerve to say that His words were spirit and life, right? He further asserted that we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God! Who did \u2013 Who does \u2013 He think He is? (the caps might give that away)<\/p>\n In sum, Christianity is even better than the most fabulous earthly things we can imagine.<\/p>\n Bow, brother. Of course this habitual sinner is ready to stand by you through it all.<\/p>\n FIN<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n [i]<\/a> Yiannopoulos has, in the past, said both that he wishes that he wasn\u2019t gay, and that he thinks that God made him the way that he is in order to help him to overcome the atmosphere of identity politics, utterly confounding the academic left (and \u201cjust to make the heads of feminists spin\u201d).<\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> More from his comment: \u201cThough here\u2019s the thing: progressives will sometimes demand all manner of complex and weird acknowledgements themselves\u2026they want to be a gender-queer-blah-blah \u2013 throw in cis\u2026 blah, blah but what they can\u2019t seem to understand is other people asking for the same acknowledgement that life is messy and complicated, and that sometimes things aren\u2019t fully recognized or realized or pulled together in your own mind and sometimes it takes a lifetime of study or prayer\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n This part of Yiannopoulos\u2019s answer is perfect if the intention is merely to show that those who oppose him (generally on the left) are often inconsistent and irrational. But of course if he wants to strongly put forth the beliefs of his church as being different \u2013 that is of being rational and reasonable \u2013 his answer falls short.<\/p>\n [iii]<\/a> Yiannopolous is known as a conservative in today\u2019s cultural and political environment. That said, does his theological approach in fact resemble that of another provocateur, Nadia Bolz-Weber<\/a>, whose Christianity, in turn, bears a striking resemblance to the philosophy of Hegel<\/a>?<\/p>\n [iv]<\/a> Yiannopoulos talks in the first interview about Robertson holding a \u201cperfectly respectable opinion\u201d that millions of Americans hold.<\/p>\n [v]<\/a>\u00a0 I have crtically touched on aspects of the \u201ccultural libertarianism\u201d he expounds on here: http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/what-does-the-rise-of-trump-have-to-do-with-science-and-christianity\/<\/a><\/p>\n Image credits<\/em>: Milo Yiannopoulos<\/a>, photo by @Kmeron<\/a> ; Phil Robertson<\/a> speaking at CPAC 2015 in Washington, DC., by Gage Skidmore<\/a> ; Milo on throne used with permission from @KingCrocoduck<\/a> (twitter) ; Palm Sunday 10 by Waiting for the Word<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Post by Nathan Rinne I recently watched a couple of interviews (here and here) the ever controversial Breitbart journalist Milo Yiannopoulos did with \u201cDuck Dynasty\u201d patriarch Phil Robertson about his new movie \u201cTorchbearer\u201d. According to an article from the same Breitbart news, the film\u2019s \u201cthesis\u201d is that \u201csin has become mainstream in Western culture, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2184,"featured_media":2999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[301,143,12,2760],"class_list":["post-2998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity-and-culture","tag-justification","tag-law-and-gospel","tag-milo_yiannopoulos"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Robertson:](\"https:\/\/infanttheology.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/05\/phil_robertson_by_gage_skidmore.jpg?w=247\")
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