Where did all the love go?

I have not wanted to discuss this. I think that talking about this just keeps it in the media and makes us focus on these issues when there are far more important "problems" in the world, but I keep feeling convicted on the issue; therefore, here it goes...
This will be broken into two separate sections. A modern day spiritual take on the last couple of weeks and then a constitutional take on the last couple of weeks. Titus 3:8-11"I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It is obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off."
That being said, if you don't agree with me then lets just leave it at that. We don't have to agree with each other. Agreeing to disagree is the best advice you can give yourself because frankly everyone has their own beliefs and values and IT'S OK. 
Everyone wants to get on the Robertson boycott bandwagon either against him or for him. I am from West Monroe, Louisiana. I love watching duck dynasty. It is hilarious. I am not sure if it is so funny because I am from West Monroe or if it really is that funny. I like Phil. He is a genuinely kind man. He is true to his word and he is not going to back down from his beliefs. And even though his beliefs may differ slightly from mine, I still like the man. I respect someone that can voice their beliefs even though they know that they may cause a rift. So lets talk about that for a minute.

Below are versus from Ephesians 4 with the appropriate versus marked. I used the Message versions because I believe it is the easiest to understand and paints a good picture for it's readers. 6-32 "Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you."
There is a lot of information in these verses and I don't want to dwell on them but I have seen so many people who claim to be Christians not use these verses. Yes it is fine to be angry with how the media is portraying Phil Robertson. But don't use your anger to fuel revenge. I have heard so many hateful things being said about people that are different from us instead of showing them love. How did Jesus treat others that were not like him? Did he condemn them? Did he tell them that he hated them? Did he tell them that they were unclean and he couldn't have dinner with them? He didn't do any of that. He ate with sinners. He did not "hang out" with the morally righteous. I had a young friend on facebook tell other people on facebook to stop acting like the Pharisees. For a teenage girl to have a better understanding of the Bible, is appalling. Jesus never one time picks and chooses one group of people over the other. Jesus LOVES all. 
I am not going to list a bunch of old testament versus that condemns homosexuality because in all reality when the veil broke when Jesus died on the cross the old law was broken and the new law was made in His death. But what did Jesus have to say about homosexuality. Did Jesus himself ever say anything about it? Jesus told us two things Love God. Love Others. These go hand in hand with the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments can be broken into these two truths. And again neither have anything to do with homosexuality. I think we are focusing too much on this issue. It doesn't hurt ME. It doesn't hurt YOU. All it is doing is hurting individuals who would more than anything love to be considered NORMAL in today's society. 
We are focusing on what Paul said to the Corinthian church about how "sexually immoral people will not inherit the kingdom of heaven." However, we fail to talk about what else Paul says, " And if you are married, stay married. This is the Master's command, not mine. If a wife should leave her husband, she MUST remain single or else come back and make things right with him. And a husband has no right to get rid of his wife." 1 Corinthians 7:10-11. Paul also talks about how men should cut their hair because it is a shame for a man to have long hair. He talks about how women should never cut their hair and should always have it covered. These verses are in the NEW TESTAMENT. I don't see everyone following all of these RULES in the BIBLE. Why don't we talk about these verses? Paul says this too. We don't focus on all the divorcee's. We only focus on what makes us uncomfortable. I am not the biggest fan of Paul. I think sometimes that he is conceited and doesn't really like women, but at the end of 1 Corinthians 10 he states, "I try my best to be considerate of everyone's feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be too." Are we being considerate of others? Let's not forget what he has to say about women. "Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands" Ephesians 5. I know for a fact women do not like this verse, especially married women. But we don't make a big deal when the women is the head of the household. And I know many women who believe this is just the Bible being sexist and old school. You can't pick and choose what verses are modern enough to use and which ones are not. 
Let's go back to what Jesus says in Matthew 5. In several of the verses he discusses that a person's heart can be guilty of sin without actually committing a sin. So if you think about hurting another person, if you think about sleeping or being with another person you are guilty. Has anyone ever gone one day without sin? I think the answer would be no. Our nature is to sin. So we are constantly living in sin. So if you think homosexuality is a sin and you think it is a problem because the person is "living in sin" you are no better than them... I know that was a lot but I had to get that out there. Which brings me to my second part; the constitutional part...
Everyone is so upset about Phil Robertson because they believe that his first amendment rights were violated. (But how was his first amendment right violated? Was he not allowed to say it? Was it not published in a magazine? Were people not talking about it for weeks and weeks? Ya'll are upset because A & E used their first amendment right and suspended him. That is their right as a company. Anybody can tell you today that as far as your job goes, there is no such thing as freedom of speech. People get fired for the content of their facebook all of the time. So yes I am for the first amendment, but I am also for a little common sense. If you have lived at all, you know that there are always consequences for your words. ALWAYS.) I am not going to say that as an American I don't support the first Amendment, because I believe that it is necessary for our survival and independence. However, nobody is actually stating the full amendment, "The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances." 
This means that people have the right to choose their own religion. People have the right to disagree with your religion. People have the right to fight for their own rights. They also have a freedom of speech. They can also stand up for themselves even if you don't agree with what they are saying. And please do not say anything about our country being founded on Christianity. That doesn't matter. They put this in the constitution. They wanted people to feel that they could practice their religion with out fear of persecution. That means there is a separation of church and state. That means that at one time women were not allowed to vote and it was changed because it was considered ridiculous. However, women were considered property. The church was on board with women not being allowed to vote and even used scripture to justify their claims. There was a time when we enslaved millions of African Americans and claimed them to be our property. The church believed that for them to be property as well and also used scripture to justify their claims. There was a time when people from different races were not allowed to marry because it was considered immoral. Churches are still believing this to this day. Everyone knows that now that is considered ridiculous. So why do we care if two people of the same sex love each get married? How does that hurt me and you? If we are going to use a constitutional argument for Phil Robertson, we can use a constitutional argument for love. Our religion, our beliefs in Christianity has no place in whether these people get married. You don't have to agree with it. You can think it's wrong. But it is NEVER your right to decide who someone can marry. If two people love each other and want to marry, so be it. 
I will leave this debate, argument, truth, etc with you. In 1 Corinthians 8 Paul talks about being a stumbling block for others. He talks much about meat and how we shouldn't eat meat if our brother is struggling with not eating meat, etc. He goes on to say the following:"Christ gave up his life for that person. Wouldn't you at least be willing to give up going to dinner for him - because, as you say, it doesn't really make any difference? But it does make a difference if you hurt your friend terribly, risking his eternal ruin! When you hurt your friend (which is your neighbor, which is technically everyone), you hurt Christ. When you use your words to hurt others, you are hurting Christ. When you use the Bible to hurt others, you are hurting Christ. Christ only asks two things of us to Love God and to Love others. Everything else will fall into place. I like Phil Robertson. I will probably will continue to watch Duck Dynasty just because it's funny. But I am tired of everyone spreading so much hate. It's time to start loving people even the ones that are different from us.